Jam (novel)

Jam is a science-fiction post-apocalyptic young adult novel by British-Australian video-game critic Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. It is his second published novel after Mogworld in 2010.

The concept for the novel can be seen in his weekly Zero Punctuation review of the survival horror game Dead Island where he says that people would not be able to cope if civilization ends in any other way than a zombie apocalypse.^[1]

Plot

The novel centers around a group of survivors in Brisbane, Australia after the city is covered with “carnivorous” strawberry jam that eats organic material.

Characters

Travis: The main protagonist of the novel, which is told through his perspective. Travis is an unemployed twenty-something who lives in the heart of Brisbane with his flat mates Tim and Frank. Travis doesn’t have much of a personality, willing to go along with everyone else’s plans rather than take any direction of his own, and many of his actions are entirely reactionary. He has a habit of “going off” whenever he witnesses someone’s death. He is also oblivious at times, often revealing important information and stating the obvious. Early in the disaster, Travis discovers a goliath bird eater tarantula, whom he adopts and names “Mary.” Though afraid at first, he soon grows emotionally attached to it, almost to the point he believes she’s talking to him towards the end of the novel.

Tim: Travis’ flat mate, who previously worked as a freelance musician. Unlike everybody else, Tim is actually excited about the jam-apocalypse. He revels in the prospect of rebuilding society, and mainly focuses on finding a settlement and becoming self-sustained, growing into a natural leadership role. However, he goes insane after it is revealed the Jam did not cover the entire world.

Angela: A girl who lives in Travis and Tim’s apartment, and had previously worked at Starbucks. She is a journalism student, who spends most of the novel carrying a camcorder, intending on documenting everything. She frequently challenges X over her lying, and believes the jam was released as part of a conspiracy that she intends to get to the bottom of.

Don Sunderland: A game-designer who lives in Travis and Tim's apartment. Don is perpetually angry, cynical and sarcastic, and butts heads with nearly every member of the group. He frequently clashes with Tim over the group’s motivations, as he believes they need to wait to be rescued. As a game-designer, Don attempts to recover his “build,” a hard-drive containing his work, and spends the vast majority of the novel trying to recover it after it is stolen. Don had previously appeared as one of the human characters in Mogworld.

X: A female government agent who speaks in an American accent. She and Y crash land a helicopter into Don’s apartment after mistaking a sign for HELP as “HEPL.” It becomes apparently clear early on that X knows something about the jam, but she continually denies it and feigns ignorance, to the immense frustration of Angela, who cites she’s horrible at lying. Later on Travis overhears that she is responsible for the jam, which turns out was caused by an accident.

Y: A male soldier who is X’s bodyguard. Y rarely speaks or changes facial expression. He is extremely muscular, and is an expert in combat scenarios. Despite his cold demeanor, he is fiercely loyal to X, obeying her orders and protecting her from harm. He is tasked by the residents of the Hibatsu Building to suppress the population of those in the Briar Center, and eventually goes kill-crazy.

Lord Awesomo (real name Gerald): The cult-of-personality and the leader of the survivors in the Briar Center. He leads the “plastic people” through an “ironic” worship of “Crazy Bob” (although he frequently misuses the word “irony”), even going as far as to “ironically” execute people. He and Princess Ravenhair used to post on an internet forum. Tim challenges him for leadership of the mall via election, and almost succeeds.

Princess Ravenhair (real name Deirdre): The “princess” of the mall’s residents. Even though she is the princess, Ravenhair is unsure about the “ironic” nature of her followers and isn’t comfortable being a leader. She bonds early on with Travis, and becomes friends with him. Ravenhair also owned a Budgerigar named “Whiskers,” which Travis unwittingly fed to Mary, causing her friendship with him to fall apart. Her fate is left unknown by the end of the novel.

Crazy Bob: The subject of “ironic” worship by the residents of the mall, in reality Crazy Bob was the janitor whose keys were used to open the shops. He is a confused elderly man who shows signs of dementia; frequently asking for tea and threatening to call the police. He is completely unaware of the jam-apocalypse, the fact he is worshiped or that people have executed in his name.

Kathy: The head of “acquisitions” department of the Hibatsu building.

Gary: The head of the board of directors in the Hibatsu building, who makes decisions.

Frank: Travis and Tim’s flat-mate and friend. He is the first to be devoured by the jam in the novel.

References

External links

• Jam at Dark Horse