James Smythe was born in London in 1980. Since completing a PhD at Cardiff University he has worked as a computer game writer/narrative designer and currently teaches creative writing. He lives on the grounds of a boarding school in West Sussex.He can be found on Twitter @jpsmythe

‘[An] utterly gripping and highly original debut novel…a tour de force of virtuoso writing that explodes off the page’ DAILY MAIL‘As if Philip K Dick and David Mitchell had collaborated on an episode of The West Wing … unsettling, gripping and hugely thought-provoking’ FHM‘A fiercely-imagined dystopia of the near future. Intelligent, visionary and compulsively readable’ ALEX PRESTON, author of The Revelations‘A literary post-apocalyptic novel built around a clever conceit’ GUARDIAN