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Not the end of the world
A comic fantasy novel set on another planet
Here is some information about this forthcoming novel:
Synopsis
Sometime in the near future, on a planet called Luxuria, very similar to our own, Merc Swingly, a young, naive employee of one of the seven multi-national companies which control the planet through figurehead politicians, dreams that the world has come to an end, and is instructed by a weird creature who calls himself a ‘Third Degree Representative’ to go back and prevent this happening. Merc quickly finds himself promoted and sent across the world to a slave labour factory, where he survives an earthquake (and the sexual advances of his assistant, Hyacinth), insists that the local boss agrees to changes in the conditions, and brings a spirited young orphan, Alexa, home with him. Meanwhile, ‘Mr Brown’, a non-human yuppie, appears and disappears on various occasions to give Merc advice and assistance, often by mobile phone. Merc arrives back to find that a secret society, the Twisted Rosebud, which is running a type of terror campaign to eliminate, as far as possible, the leaders of the seven companies, has blown up his company’s premises in an attack on the life of the Chief Executive, Flacker Winterbotham. Merc is appointed by Winterbotham to lead a team, whose object is to catch the leader of the Twisted Rosebud and dismantle the organisation. Merc at first feels some sympathy for the Twisted Rosebud, but this vanishes when his wife Seraphina and his baby, Lucy, are threatened by them, to Merc’s great anger. He infiltrates a meeting of the terrorists, but the leader escapes him. He saves the life of the Chief of another company. Then he himself is kidnapped, and is rescued by Alexa. He and his family and friends survive another attack by the Twisted Rosebud. He finally unmasks the leader, but on the way to this, manages to persuade Winterbotham to confirm the changes Merc has set up in the slave labour factory, and to change his attitude to other people.
Reviews and comments
"Gerry McCullough combines a fierce and tight narrative drive with humour, imagination and lust. What more do you want?" Malachi O’Doherty - writer and arts critic, Belfast
"Welcome to the planet Luxuria, and Merc Swingly, young, naive employee of one of the seven multi-national companies in control of the planet, and possible saviour of Luxuria’s many wacky inhabitants.
In Not The End of The World, McCullough has created a fantastic cosmic fantasy world peopled with fabulous and outrageous bigger-than-life characters on a par with Terry Prachett’s hallucinogenic masterpiece, Discworld: Merc’s boss, Flacker Winterbotham; the non-human yuppie, Mr Brown; the harbinger with dire warnings, Third Degree Representative; spirited young orphan with a social conscience, Alexa Darnhurst; and, of course, Merc’s assistant, the extremely sexy, if somewhat lecherous, Hyacinth Duckworthy, to name a few on the must-read list of invited guests in Not The End of The World.
McCullough’s story-telling ability to keep all the plates spinning is impressive. Effortlessly, she takes your conscious mind out of your own world and guides you into the atmospheric surrealism of Luxuria, smoothly and expertly, with page-turning ease. The story and writing proceed at a furious breath-taking pace, followed by a conclusion that has you screaming: Roll on the sequel!
I, for one, can’t wait to order my next flight ticket to Luxuria."
Sam Millar - best-selling author of The Dark Place, Belfast
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