Life in the Caspian Republic has taught Agent Nikolai South two rules. Trust No One. And work just hard enough not to make enemies.
Here, in the last sanctuary for the dying embers of the human race in a world run by artificial intelligence, if you stray from the path – your life is forfeit. But when a Party propagandist is killed – and is discovered as a “machine” – he’s given a new mission: chaperone the widow, Lily, who has arrived to claim her husband’s remains.
But when South sees that she, the first “machine” ever allowed into the country, bears an uncanny resemblance to his late wife, he’s thrown into a maelstrom of betrayal, murder, and conspiracy that may bring down the Republic for good.
WHEN THE SPARROW FALLS illuminates authoritarianism, complicity, and identity in the digital age, in a page turning, darkly-funny, frightening and touching story that recalls Philip K. Dick, John le Carré and Kurt Vonnegut in equal measure.
Film rights to Nicole Glover’s The Conductors have been acquired by Queen Latifah’s Flavor Unit Entertainment in association with the Jim Henson Company, via Geoff Morley at UTA in association with Jennie Goloboy.
Gangster, soldier, priest. Queen’s Man. Governor.
Booklist: Burke’s third novel after her Semiosis Duology (Semiosis, 2018 and Interference, 2019) is a fast-paced hard-sf thriller set in a near future where power is tilted in favor of large corporations and a fascist government foments intolerance and bigotry among its sheep-like followers. In Wisconsin, three women who are seemingly unrelated are embroiled in a mutiny against a bigoted president who wants to restrict the rights of clones and other genetically enhanced persons under the guise of patriotism. Avril, Berenike, and Irene are living perfectly normal lives until revelations of their origins thrust them into action to protect themselves and fight for their freedom. Amid the chaos of rebellion, a mysterious virus previously thought to be a common cold turns deadly and increases panic and paranoia across the nation. Told through alternating points of view by the three women and a mysterious scientist called Peng, Burke imparts detailed discussions on genetics within a dramatic and thought-provoking story of inequality, humanity and family. For fans of the Orphan Black television series or Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers (2019).
They call it Stormland: a sprawling, largely abandoned region of the southeastern coast of the USA, where climate change’s extreme weather conditions have brought about a “perfect storm” of perpetual tempests; where hurricane-strength storms return day after day, 365 days a year.
Maria is, in no particular order: a concept artist at a videogame studio, the goddess of Mount Makiling in the Philippines, and in love. And when Maria falls in love, tragedy and death follow. It’s going to take everything a goddess, her newly-befriended demon-horse, and Canadian national treasure Margaret Atwood have to break the cycle.