So yeah? Yeah? Hugh works for this company in Berlin whose virtual head honcho madman/genius has bought a planet just like earth, only problem is there’s no safe way to travel to it. Hugh’s problem is exactly that problem too, and he fears his space race might be stalled on the launch pad. No job, no money, no future in Berlin’s dreaming. Doesn’t help his overall mien that his wife’s addicted to puffing legal highs and his friends and acquaintances are driving him mad with either squalls of bullshit or earnest lessons in life. Too strait-laced, too much of a worrier to go with the flow of a world dominated by AI, franchised drugs, all-encompassing weirdness and the follies of a ‘Bro’ken workplace, Hugh’s a man on the edge, overstimulated, and worried to distraction. Can he save his wife, his job, his sanity? And will his endless amounts of patience and pluck get him to the bottom of whatever’s going and, maybe, even save the future? Susan Finlay’s The Ultraviolet Catastrophe is a novel of a future imperfect (but happening right now in a trillionaire’s space agency as I write) turned up to a high pitched eleven, with elements of Philip K Dick and Kurt Vonnegut comedy-slapping each other in the face for good measure. Welcome to the monkey-house, things just got weird. Totally recommended.

The Ultraviolet Catastrophe – Susan Finlay – Publ. by Zero Books £12.99

Steven Long