“We had just one rule – nothing is sacred…” Stu Jones and Gareth Worthington on Omniviolence

From authors Stu Jones and Gareth Worthington (under the combined pseudonym Jones Worthington) new sci-fi action novel, Omniviolence tells the story of Jackson Cross, who kills strangers with nothing more than a drone and a computer in exchange for crypto—all from his mother’s basement.

When his accounts are scythed, and he’s pegged at the top of the most popular slaysite, Jackson is ejected from his virtual comfort zone and forced to go on the run.

Meanwhile, Joseph “Bones” Carboni is an old-school mafia hitman with a lot of demons and one big problem: he’s developed a conscience. When tasked with slaying fifteen-year-old Jackson, Joe breaks rank. Now, he must decide if playing the hero is worth having a target on his own back.

Attacked from all sides and struggling to survive in a world where your elderly neighbor or an angry kid on social media can be your executioner, neither Joe nor Jackson realize they’ve become entangled in a global power struggle that could change what it means to be human…

We sat down with Stu Jones and Gareth Worthington to find out more about their novel, cyberpunk aesthetics and what they have coming up next…

Omniviolence presents a world where violence is not just inevitable but systemic—what inspired this concept, and how does it reflect our own society today?

Gareth Worthington: The original premise came from an article by Èmile P. Torres, an American philosopher, intellectual historian, and activist whose research focuses on eschatology, existential risk, and human extinction. The article discusses “Omniviolence,” a term coined by Dr. Daniel Deudney of Johns Hopkins University, which describes non-state actors having access to weapons of mass destruction like nuclear arms. Torres mentions how the term could mean more now, when the democratization of technology has given everyone everywhere the ability to inflict harm at the touch of a button. As we watch social division grow, with social media pouring fuel on the fire, the ability to act rashly in a deadly way is all too real.

Stu Jones: Think about the last time you looked at the comments on anything – social media, YouTube, a news article – the unchecked ugliness and cruelty you’ll find there is off the charts. We are in the midst of an era of unprecedented technological advancement as well as extreme social intolerance. What happens when those things intersect? What does the world look like when it becomes socially acceptable and technologically viable to murder anyone on the planet simply due to a difference of views? That’s the terrifying world of Omniviolence. And it’s on our doorstep.

Your novel blends cyberpunk aesthetics with tough philosophical questions. How did you balance the explosive action with intellectual depth?

Gareth: I think this is where the collaboration between Stu and I really shines. We play to our strengths. I had a really strong sense of what I wanted the book to ‘say’. I’m a scientist by training and look at life through an evolutionary lens. I’m also a voracious reader of books on social construct from authors such as Yuval Harari. In his line of work, Stu is a real-life action hero who lives and breathes online hate bleeding into real life. We discovered this combination when we wrote our first collaborative novel: It Takes Death to Reach a Star. Stu, would you agree?

Stu: One hundred percent. It’s interesting that you mention cyberpunk as the tropes of that genre have always fascinated me and led to the creation of my own cyberpunk series, The Zone. I never really considered Omniviolence cyberpunk, but it does line up with many of the classic “high tech, low life” tropes found in the genre. As for balancing explosive action and intellectual depth, that’s what Gareth and I do! I like to think we’ve gotten pretty good at honing that balance over four novels and a decade of working together.

Omniviolence is credited to Jones Worthington, you have both written books under your own names. How did the writing process differ for you as a collaboration?

Stu: Creatively, I feel like the Big Bang when writing solo. A huge explosion of ideas followed by an overwhelming wave of possibilities. It can be a touch aimless, and I can sometimes feel lost in the worldbuilding and vastness of a project. Gareth is the scalpel to my creative explosion. He has a way of honing things to a razor-sharp point and doubling down on making sure everything is plausible and backed by scientific theory and real-world explanation. What we do together shouldn’t work – but it does!

Gareth: I love writing with Stu. It’s organic. He writes one character and I the other, in alternating chapters. I really get to experience how his character reacts and sees the world. It makes it authentic. Sometimes, I won’t know how he sees his character, or even how his character sees mine. It is a technique we have honed over several books together, and now it’s almost boring to write on my own!

There’s a strong socio-political undercurrent in the story. Were there any real-world events or movements that directly influenced your writing?

Gareth: This book took three years from beginning to end; to write, edit, and get published. The world was starting to lean in a direction, and Stu and I played on it. We looked at the vitriol online and imagined if that actually happened in real life. Anonymity can lead to significant cruelty. Initially, it was only text on a screen. However, advancements in technology are enabling such actions to happen in reality, at the push of a button.

What’s been scary to watch are our predictions playing out in real life. The murder of a company CEO to thundering applause, drones becoming the primary means of warfare, an online beef moving into the streets, crypto becoming a leading currency, and even a human-AI relationship that resulted in suicide. I’m sure Stu gets to see it first hand in his job…

Stu: We really wanted to avoid ‘taking sides’ while writing this story. Gareth and I are on opposite sides of the political aisle, so in writing Omniviolence we had just one rule – nothing is sacred. From the start we intended to take a shot at everybody, which is why our trigger warning says Insert Here [All The Triggers]. We want the reader to know they’ll likely come across something that might sting, and in feeling that bite, maybe come to realise just how ridiculous we all can be.

Your worldbuilding is incredibly immersive. Can you share the process for constructing such a detailed and brutal future?

Stu: Worldbuilding is always something I enjoy. It’s the asking of a single question – what if? And then seeing what blooms from that seed. Very often I find myself surprised at what develops and how terrifyingly real it can seem. The world of Omniviolence is a great example. When Gareth and I work together, the worldbuilding is almost always founded in some creepy or mind-bending scientific theory. Right, Gareth?

Gareth: Right! I took a lot of cues from a scientific experiment called Universe25, conducted in the late 1960s/early 70s. The experiment was designed to look at overpopulation in mice, providing as much space and resources as possible to allow a boom in numbers. But the scientists saw that the mouse population never reached its peak; instead, it collapsed early with the breakdown of social norms. The mice forgot how to mouse. You had groups of incel mice, infighting, some that only cared about preening but not engaging in social activity, mothers that abandoned their young. It was fascinating to draw comparisons with our own social groups in the western world, which is arguably the closest to utopia in human existence.

Omniviolence explores themes of rebellion and resistance. Do you see your protagonists as heroes, antiheroes, or something in between?

Stu: I wrote Joe “Bones” Carboni and Svanire, both scary mafia types. Joe is most definitely an antihero. It’s a little cliché to use the old hitman with a conscience. But in this instance, it really works. Joe’s a killer and he’s good at what he does, but like a samurai he also has a code. There are lines he won’t cross. This allows the reader to see Joe’s humanity as he struggles to see something good in the world – and it’s in young Jackson where he looks for it. Svanire on the other hand is a truly despicable villain. Gareth and I knew in any other book our protagonists would be the villain – so our “Big Bad” so to speak had to be really terrible.

Gareth: So, I wrote Jackson and Anja. For me, Jackson isn’t an anti-hero or even a hero, but the inevitable product of the society we predicted/created in the novel. What I tried to do with his journey is showcase that his environment shaped him, and with a little steering, his worldview can alter—but that, ultimately, his personality is what it is. There is a lot of research on the idea that psychopaths had a role to play in historical societies where violence and being raided was more commonplace. We needed someone violent and unhinged to be able to do the things others couldn’t. Anja, on the other hand, thinks herself the hero. She is trying to restore order and wants nothing but peace—no matter the cost. And that’s the other point I wanted to explore: essentially, in our quest for peace and equality, are we unwittingly erasing what makes us human?

If Omniviolence were adapted into a film or series, who would you envision in the lead roles, and what director would best capture its vision?

Gareth: As for a director, I would like someone such as Neill Blomkamp as he creates great movies using sci-fi to explore social themes. I could see Seth Carr as Jackson.

Stu: Sylvester Stallone would be a great Bones, and I think Paul Bettany would make an amazing Svanire. I also totally agree on Blomkamp directing. Love his work.

What are you reading right now?

Stu: I’m currently reading A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher. It’s a heartfelt and moving exploration of human nature (and our love of good dogs).

Gareth: Oh, this always gets me in trouble. I read mainly non-fiction. So, I’m reading Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis, and The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times by Adrienne Mayor. They may seem like two ends of a spectrum, but they are both related to one of my solo projects.

What’s next for you?

Gareth: So, this is going to make me sound extremely ADHD, but I have several projects in development: a space horror co-authored with another friend of mine; a solo novel linking ancient Greece to CRISPR (gene-editing technology); and a joint book with Stu—which is thematically quite far from what we’ve just written—in honour of a mutual friend who has glioblastoma.

Stu:  So many projects, so little time! I am currently wrapping up edits on book two of The Zone, my cyberpunk saga, as well as jumping off into a new project with Gareth. It should be a little more light-hearted than Omniviolence. Beyond that, I’ll be starting a second book in my Superhero series, S.H.R.E.D (Super Humanoids for Reconnaissance, Espionage, and Defense).

Omniviolence is OUT NOW. Read our review here and buy it here on Kindle