Utopianoids by Michael Mulvihill


In the Utopianoid Republic, perfection is mandatory and freedom is a rumour whispered by the desperate.
Martynchoko, a loyal but painfully ordinary citizen from the Failure Class, becomes an unlikely symbol of patriotism in a regime where dogs testify in court, clowns preach ideology, and the state watches every thought. As the Republic descends into paranoia, surveillance, and absurdity, Martynchoko is pulled into a world of propaganda, cosmic ambition, and quiet rebellion.
Guided by a talking donkey who teaches state doctrine, haunted by ravens that read minds, and confronted with leaders who see themselves as gods, Martynchoko begins to glimpse the machinery behind the myth. In a nation preparing for apocalypse and building underground cities for the chosen few, he must decide whether to dissolve into the collective “We” or reclaim the fragile, forbidden idea of a self.
Darkly satirical, philosophical, and disturbingly familiar, Utopianoids exposes the comedy, cruelty, and madness of a society that abolishes individuality in the name of perfection.
The Utopianoids is published by The Failure Class Press, December 2025.

Popular posts from this blog

The Dinner Show and Other Consumptions By Ben Arzate Reviewed by Michael Mulvihill

Image
The Dinner Show and Other Consumptions is Ben Arzate’s collection of short stories, and the terrain it covers is gruesome, tragic, extreme, dark, and unmistakably horrific. The themes are rooted firmly in the contemporary world: the poor and working class exploited by the powerful; the disgruntled and the oppressed attempting to redress imbalance; ecocide, mass homicide, prison breaks, corporate cults, reality television, and cannibalism. Arzate makes certain that armchair fans of horror will not be left wanting — though the question remains: where, exactly, does the horror reside? Throughout the collection, I was reminded repeatedly of the traditions of Hammer Films and Amicus Productions. More than once, I found myself thinking that this work could be adapted into a retro Amicus-style anthology film — something in the vein of The Uncanny — and it would work remarkably well in that format. The opening story, “The Clown Show,” prompted an unexpected association with Sigmund...
Read more

Utopianoids by Michael Mulvihill

Utopianoids is a literary dystopian satire examining how ideological systems sustain themselves through routine, obedience, and moral conformity rather than overt force. Set within a rigidly ordered society divided into a “Failure Class” and a “Non-Failure Class,” the novel follows a world in which bureaucratic processes, language, and institutional logic replace empathy, dissent, and individual thought. Rather than depicting tyranny as spectacular or violent, Utopianoids focuses on the banal mechanisms of control: paperwork, self-regulation, internalised shame, and the quiet absorption of ideology into daily life. Citizens participate willingly in systems that classify, monitor, and neutralise them, often believing such structures to be necessary, benevolent, or inevitable. Through repetition, satire, and controlled absurdity, the novel explores how utopian rhetoric masks coercion, how failure is constructed as a moral defect, and how systems persist even after belief in them has erod...
Read more

Failure Class Press

Image
There’s something strangely liberating about building your own imprint. No committees, no gatekeepers, no marketing departments trying to sand the edges off your work. Just the raw thing itself — the book you wrote, exactly as it is. Failure Class Press began with one simple idea: Some books don’t fit inside the “success” box. They belong to the outsiders, the broken places, the forgotten suburbs, the people who live between the lines. If traditional publishing is the temple, then Failure Class Press is the house down the street that’s falling into itself at the perfect angle. I wanted a place where odd, dark, literary, grotesque stories can exist without apology. A place for the kind of fiction that doesn’t pander or beg. A place for novels that smell of rot, myth, madness, humour, violence, and the strange poetry of everyday life. A place where the margins are the point. That’s Rot Land. That’s the beginning of Failure Class Press. This imprint is for anyone who ever wrot...
Read more