Matthew Schafer, Pandora's Market

I was walking past the State Library in Melbourne last week and saw the author Matthew Schafer personally at a table site selling his book. When I read it I really liked the unique voice that the author uses for his characters, especially James Madison and Raymond Valchesky. They are great creations. I think before I bought the book, I would've liked to know more about the author's professional background. But all in all, I think Pandora's Market is a great story, timeless in its own way. I would also really like to know where the book is going if there is a sequel or what have you.

Pandora's Market is a highly stylized and savagely satirical, sometimes cynical, sometimes humorous look at the world through the eyes of New York's Wall Street's elite.

As I first began reading it I was at once drawn into the story of Solomon and his motivations behind creating the fictional "Human Development Market" that the book describes. In this book, the futures of human beings have become the ultimate commodity to buy, sell and make money from. There are three stock characters that have been designated to be changed into the different professions that the market has in mind for them.

One a politician, one a priest and one a prostitute, hence the themes are mainly focused around the ideas of sex, religion and politics. My favorite character in the story by far was Raymond Valchesky, the stockbroker who has his own quirky sense of humor and is definitely one of the more original characters I've read in a long time. All in all, this is a book I would highly recommend to anyone.