The Gone-Away World - (Vintage Contemporaries) by Nick Harkaway (Paperback)

About the Book

This hilarious, action-packed book takes a look at the apocalypse that combines a touching tale of friendship, a thrilling war story, and an all-out kung-fu-infused mission to save the world.

Book Synopsis

A hilarious, action-packed look at the apocalypse that combines a touching tale of friendship, a thrilling war story, and an all out kung-fu infused mission to save the world.

"A flat-out ferociously good novel.... Reads like a surrealist smashup of Pynchon and Pratchett, Vonnegut and Heller." --Austin Chronicle

Gonzo Lubitch and his best friend have been inseparable since birth. They grew up together, they studied kung-fu together, they rebelled in college together, and they fought in the Go Away War together. Now, with the world in shambles and dark, nightmarish clouds billowing over the wastelands, they have been tapped for an incredibly perilous mission. But they quickly realize that this assignment is more complex than it seems, and before it is over they will have encountered everything from mimes, ninjas, and pirates to one ultra-sinister mastermind, whose only goal is world domination.

Review Quotes

"A flat-out ferociously good novel.... Reads like a surrealist smashup of Pynchon and Pratchett, Vonnegut and Heller." --Austin Chronicle

"Harkaway delivers plenty of action and surprises.... Likely to be this season's major conversation-starter." --San Francisco Chronicle

"A gripping, satirical, postapocalyptic war epic populated with mimes, ninjas, bureaucrats, chimera, and gun-toting nerds." --New York Magazine

"Very funny and hugely entertaining.... And brilliant. Read it." --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Bewilders, amazes, entertains.... a Catch-22 for the 21st century.... a work of extraordinary imagination and charisma...genius" --The New York Observer

"Leaves the reader gasping for both adjectives and description. It's a powerful and accomplished first novel that weaves elements of romance, mystery, SF/F and--yes--thriller together in a way that leaves no doubt that the master storyteller gene really is something that can be passed along." --January Magazine

"Vivid and exciting. Harkaway manages to meld a vision of war more germane to today's world, and take it to its most horrifying, apocalyptic conclusion." --Charleston City Paper

About the Author

NICK HARKAWAY is the author of five novels, Titanium Noir, The Gone-Away World, Angelmaker, Tigerman, and Gnomon, as well as a nonfiction work about digital culture, The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World. He is also a regular blogger for The Bookseller's FutureBook website. He lives in London with his wife, a human rights lawyer, and their two children.