Lauren Beukes – författare

A grieving daughter’s search for her mother becomes a journey across alternate realities in this dazzling new thriller from the author of The Shining Girls that is "sheer thrilling madness with a big, beating heart that reminds us we're all connected" (Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author).There are infinite realities. She's looking for one . . .  Twenty-four-year-old Bridge is paralyzed by choices: all the other lives she could have lived, the decisions she could have made. And now, who she should be in the wake of her mother’s unexpected death. Jo was a maverick neuroscientist fixated on an artifact she called the “dreamworm” that she believed could open the doors to other worlds. It was part of Jo’s grand delusion, her sickness, and it cost her everything, including her relationship with her daughter. But in packing up Jo’s house, Bridge discovers Jo’s obsession hidden amongst her things. And the dreamworm works, exactly the way it’s supposed to, the way Bridge remembers from when she was a little girl. Suddenly Bridge can step into other realities, otherselves. In one of them, could she find out what really happened to her mother? What Bridge doesn’t know is that there are others hunting for the dreamworm—who will kill to get their hands on it. Bridge is a highly original, reality-bending thrill-ride that could only have come from the brilliant mind of award-winning novelist, Lauren Beukes, about mothers and daughters, hunters and seekers, and who we each choose to be. "A fantastic high-wire act of a novel . . . at once a cosmic narrative and a deeply intimate human story." —Catriona Ward "Ass-kicking, mind-bending entertainment." —Kirkus Reviews “A suspenseful, deeply immersive odyssey that will make you consider the alternate possibilities inside us all.” —Katie Gutierrez"Spiders out into alternate universes yet manages to be very much about us and our fractured now." —Paul Tremblay"Lauren Beukes is a major, major talent." —George R. R. Martin

A speculative fiction safari that riffs on the traditional ideals of automata to explore our strange and competitive relationship with the natural world. Biomimicry is no stranger to literature, with canonical authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hans Christian Anderson, and Jules Verne setting the tone for a trope that has expounded and expanded upon what exactly separates humans from the animal kingdom as well as the boundary between machines and living beings. Featuring 15 original stories by today’s top science fiction and fantasy authors and contextual mecha-fauna essays by artist and Insect Lab Studio maker, Mike Libby, and SF encyclopedist and author Jess Nevins, Mechanical Animals presents a biomimicry menagerie of animalistic machines that will blur the lines between what is and isn’t nature’s design.

Edited by Selena Chambers and Jason Heller

Featuring:Mike LibbyJess NevinsTessa KumDelia ShermanMaurice BroaddusSarah HansLauren BeukesJesse BullingtonAn OwomoyelaStephen Graham JonesHans Christian AndersenMolly TanzerAliette de BodardNick MamatasNathaniel HawthorneKat HowardMichael CiscoAdrian Van YoungRobert T. ToombsJoseph S. Pulver, Jr.Alistair RennieJules VerneCaroline YoachimCarrie Vaughn

Brought to you by Penguin.Three years after a virus wiped out 99% of the men on earth, a mother and son are on the run . . .All Cole has left in the world is her boy, Miles.With men now a prized commodity, keeping him safe means breaking hastily written new rules - and leaving her own sister for dead.All Miles has left in the world is his mother.But is one person enough to save him from the many who would kill to get their hands on a living boy?Together, Cole and Miles embark on a journey across a changed, hostile country, towards a freedom they may never reach. And when Cole''s sister tracks them down, they''ll need to decide who to trust - and what loyalty really means in this unimaginable new world.The compulsive and long-awaited new thriller from the author of Richard and Judy bestseller The Shining Girls and the prize-winning Zoo City''A major, major talent'' George R. R. Martin''Beukes deals with slightly surreal things in very real ways. I''m all over it'' Gillian Flynn© Lauren Beukes 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Brought to you by Penguin.In a troubling, near-future Cape Town four broken people try to carve out a place for themselves before a brutal storm of change hits them . . .Kendra, an art-school dropout, brands herself for a nanotech marketing program. Lerato, an ambitious AIDS baby, plots to defect from her corporate employers. Tendeka, a hot-headed activist, is becoming increasingly rabid. Toby, a roguish blogger, discovers that the video games he plays for cash are much more than they seem.Four hurt and damaged individuals trying to make lives for themselves in a broken, uncertain future. But as events send them on a collision course their worlds are about to change in unexpected - and explosive - ways.''Beukes deals with slightly surreal things in very real ways. I''m all over it'' Gillian Flynn''You don''t have to be an SF aficionado to love this novel that is fast, brimming with original ideas'' Guardian''A major, major talent'' George R. R. Martin© Lauren Beukes 2018 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Brought to you by Penguin. WINNER OF THE 2011 ARTHUR C CLARKE AWARDLauren Beukes'' tale of a young woman trapped in a brutal city but looking for a way out . . .Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheque, she''s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job - missing persons.Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions reside.Instead it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she''ll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives - including her own.''A major, major talent'' George R. R. Martin''Beukes is very *very* good. It feels effortless, utterly accomplished'' William Gibson''Beukes brings a secret tenderness and humanity to her off-kilter portrait of the here and now'' Guardian''Exquisitely paced and impeccably controlled. An enormously satisfying novel'' New York Times Book Review© Lauren Beukes 2018 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Brought to you by Penguin.The mind-bending masterpiece from the multi-award-winning author of Apple TV''s smash hit literary adaptation SHINING GIRLS, starring Elizabeth Moss.In infinite parallel universes, there''s a version of you who already has everything you''ve ever wanted. But 24 year old drop-out Bridge is paralysed, by all the other lives she could have lived, the choices she could have made, and now, whoever she''s supposed to be in the wake of her mother''s premature death.They''ve always had a complicated relationship. Jo was the teenage runaway turned maverick neuroscientist who threw everything away chasing after an impossibility - a mysterious artefact - the dreamworm - that allows you to switch between realities. And now she''s dead and any chance of reconciliation with her.But is Jo really gone... or only in this universe? When Bridge and her best friend Dom stumble on the dreamworm, that does indeed open the doors to other worlds, otherselves, she becomes convinced her mom is lost out there. But the dreamworm is more dangerous than she can imagine, and she''s not the only one hunting across time and space.Page-turning and ambitious, BRIDGE is a dazzlingly inventive speculative thriller with an unforgettable cast of characters, and the work of a novelist at the height of her powers.For fans of RUSSIAN DOLL, STRANGER THINGS, EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE, from Sunday Times bestseller and multi-award winning writer Lauren Beukes.PRAISE FOR LAUREN BEUKES:''A smartly written thriller that opens with a satisfying bang . . . splendid'' STEPHEN KING''Powerful and intelligent'' GUARDIAN''A major, major talent'' GEORGE R.R. MARTIN© Lauren Beukes 2023 (P) Penguin Audio 2023