The Obsoletes: A Novel

Simeon Mills

May 2019 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by Ramón de Ocampo

About this audiobook

In this “inventive, moving, and funny” (Jess Walter, #1 New York Times bestselling author) coming-of-age novel, two human-like teen robots navigate high school, basketball, and potentially life-threatening consequences if their true origins are discovered by the inhabitants of their intolerant 1980s Michigan hometown.

Fraternal twin brothers Darryl and Kanga are just like any other teenagers trying to make it through high school. They have to deal with peer pressure, awkwardness, and family drama. But there’s one closely guarded secret that sets them apart: they’re robots. So long as they keep their heads down, their robophobic neighbors won’t discover the truth about them and they just might make it through to graduation.

But when Kanga becomes the star of the basketball team, his worrywart brother Darryl now has to work a million times harder to keep them both out of the spotlight. Though they look, sound, and act perfectly human, if anyone in their small, depressed Michigan town were to find out what they truly are, they’d likely be disassembled by an angry mob in the middle of their school gym.

“Curious, sweet, heartbreaking, and redemptive” (Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestselling author), this is a funny, poignant look at brotherhood, xenophobia, and the limits of one’s programming.

About the author

Simeon Mills is a graphic artist, writer, and teacher. He majored in architecture at Columbia University and received his MFA in fiction from the University of Montana. Simeon now teaches middle school English in Spokane, Washington, where he lives with his wife and two children. Visit SimeonMills.com.