Gingerbread Economy

Gingerbread Economy is a 2004, fiction novel written by Lee McGeorge. The story is set in an unnamed British town, ten years after a catastrophic global collapse of law and order. The story follows the principal governors of a small community as they rebuild their lives using a radical new currency based on the drug LSD

Plot summary

The Environment

After two decades of economic devastation, the Western World has all but collapsed. Law and order, health systems, government and infrastructure have all ceased resulting in a return to ancient communities built around farming and subsistence. In this harsh new world, violence has become a frightening expectation and most people live with a survival of the fittest mentality.

Yet in one small community, a charismatic elderly lady named Cassandra Dawes has organised the town by turning violent thugs into a militia police force and former drug dealers into traders. Her ability to exert control over the environment comes in the form of "Gingerbread"; An LSD based currency manufactured by her leading chemist and economist, Michael Hope Anthony.

When the rest of the world is still bartering to exchange goods and services, Cassandra Dawes has created a system of economics by having a currency that people will work for and trade with. This has made her community (named Gingerbread Land) grow faster and stronger than any other location in Britain.

Plot

Peter Price is an insecure teenager who tries to better his life by stealing marijuana from a farm. Discovered (and betrayed) by his local militia, Peter is sent for punishment before Mark Brutus, the town's magistrate and chief justice. Brutus is a fierce and violent character who dominates through his expert use of fear, intimidation and disproportionate violence.To set an example for others not to steal, Brutus disfigures, mutilates and executes Peter Price for his petty crime, but in an outburst of stunning viciousness, also attacks the small home community of Peter Price, blinding them by stabbing each member of the community in one of their eyes. Brutus threatens the community further and orders that Trevor & Elizabeth Price, the parents of Peter, be exiled.

Banished from town, injured, blinded and without resources, Trevor and Elizabeth Price know that they have little chance for survival. After a night of painful acceptance, Trevor Price swears vengeance on Mark Brutus for killing his son and destroying their lives.

Whilst trying to steal food from a large farm, Trevor Price is discovered by an armed militiaman. They fight desperately until the militiaman is killed by Trevor, allowing him to escape with 2 Kalashnikov machine guns. With these guns, he and his wife, Elizabeth, devise a suicidal plan to murder Mark Brutus.

Setting an ambush, Trevor & Elizabeth Price launch their attack on Brutus. He escapes, but not after noticing that his attackers had bandaged and patched eyes signifying that these people were probably from the recently blinded commune. Seething with rage and aggression, Brutus orders the militia to arrest the commune members and bring them to him for questioning; but when the militia arrive and the commune discover the intentions; they fight back against the militia in a desperate and vicious battle for their own survival before fleeing town.

Hearing of this battle, Brutus believes the town is slipping out of control and orders a tight clampdown on dissent as he begins cruising the principality with a militia gang, hunting for Trevor & Elizabeth Price.

Meanwhile, Cassandra Dawes, the pseudo-president of the town, learns of the chaos and sudden violent downturn in events and heads out with her own militia guards to find Mark Brutus and wrest control from him. In their confrontation, Brutus is so psyched and angered that he refuses to listen to Cassandra; when she publicly dismisses him from his role as chief law enforcer, Brutus shoots and kills her and claims Cassandra's mantle as leadership figure.

With little time to spare, Brutus finalises his coup d'état by seizing all reserves of Gingerbread, the town's valued currency. However, Brutus doesn't understand or appreciate the complex mechanisms of economics which keep the town flowing. By taking the Gingerbread and murdering the leadership figure who held everything together, he has destroyed the confidence of the populace.

The very next day, the value of Gingerbread as a currency falls alarmingly until it is near worthless. The failure of the currency triggers a return to bartering with commodities and goods; and as people try to unload Gingerbread for goods, the situation becomes slowly more intense until culminating in a riotous stampede through the local markets which kill and injure hundreds of people.

Desperate to regain order over the town, Mark Brutus takes his militia force to the market to calm the situation. With thousands of people reverting to their survival of the fittest mentality, they begin acting as a mob and swamp the militiamen. Brutus, because of injuries sustained in the ambush, is unable to flee or evade the ensuing trouble and is trampled to his death in the riot.

Viewpoint

Despite the focus of the plot residing with Mark Brutus, the majority of Gingerbread Economy is told through the eyes of Michael Hope Anthony, the troubled and psychologically scarred chemist who created the Gingerbread currency. A largely reactive character, he stands between the opposing forces of Mark Brutus and Cassandra Dawes. Although primarily focussed on keeping the town and its economy stable, Michael has become so ill with clinical depression that he is struggling to cope. His only solace is a teenaged prostitute named Melanie Trent.

As Michael feels the world and its responsibilities are crushing him, he plots to silently slip away to Algeria (one of the few civilized countries of the world) taking Melanie Trent with him. But as he lays his plans, the events of Mark Brutus escalate, unfold and ultimately thwart his plans.

Quotes

The book has a prologue and 5 sections. Each is preceded by a philosophical quote from Michael Hope Anthony.

(Prologue) History - "People spend their entire lives under the influence of money and business. If you take away the economic structure under which the population operates, you take away your control over them."

Law & Order - "Policing can only be done with consent, without consent, it is oppression."

Economics - "No system with more than three variables can remain flat and steady. With economics, the variables are near limitless."

Management - "Economics is like an ecological system running at ultra high speed. Food chains develop from suppliers to manufacturers to retailers to consumers, climates control spending and output, and changes to the system require both organisms and businesses to adapt or die. The difference comes through management. In business, it is our choice of actions that determine whether we live as plankton or apex predators."

Stability "Whether times are good or bad is irrelevant. It is the future which people work towards, and as such economic forecasts must, above all things, be accurate."

Instability "With a non-linear system like the economy, small events can escalate into severe instability quickly. It is inevitable."

Trivia

Author, Lee McGeorge, was born and raised in Hartlepool in the North East of England. Although the town is never mentioned by name, the streets and place names in Gingerbread Economy are all locations in Hartlepool.

The period setting of the novel is somewhat ambiguous, however clues reveal it to be somewhere in the mid point of the 21st century. The character of Michael Hope Anthony's father, Hope, is mentioned as being born on 9/11. He was originally to be named Michael, but when the events of 9/11 happened; his parents felt that he represented Hope for the world. Further clues are alluded to in the introductory timeline that covers 25 years and begins by saying that economic terrorism has already been happening for 8 years.

Author, Lee McGeorge has stated on his own website that the storyline for the book was in development for 12 years.

External links

* [http://www.lee-mcgeorge.co.uk Author's Website]