ALISTAIR McNAUGHT
Imagine a nation of ancient rival kingdoms in the aftermath of a distant yet disastrous war … Imagine its parliament under the sway of a populist party supported by big business and neo-fascist militias … Imagine an economy rife with inequalities and corruption, a society atomised by ideology and social media … Imagine a thriving port city built on a tidal river near a coastline steeped in myths and legends … Imagine a group of people negotiating their lives under the shadow of a murderous conspiracy, whose destinies are connected in ways they cannot know … Welcome to V, the city by the sea.
The City by the Sea
FICTION
‘In precise and glittering prose, Alistair McNaught constructs a portrait of a city that feels both familiar and deeply strange. His cast of characters, grappling with various forms of desire and loneliness, enact a series of interlinked liaisons as they move around the labyrinthine streets, candlelit bars, apartment blocks and luxury villas. The novel exerts a hypnotic hold, the kaleidoscope slowly shifting until it resolves into a climax both inevitable and shocking.’
Jill Hopper
‘A striking and flavoursome Dystopian SF novel that provides a welcome, astringent literary alternative to genre shelves saturated with tired Space Opera and candyfloss Romantasy.’
Stephen E. Andrews
‘Set in a land that is somehow Eastern Europe and Britain both, this is a book full of mystery, misery, loneliness, desire and fear. A world like our own. The book draws you in with strong characters and a strangely luminous prose, and then steadily tightens the knot of suspense.’
Jonathan Neale