Spotlight: If Then – Matthew de Abaitua
About the Book
In the near future, after the collapse of society as we know it, one English town survives under the protection of the computer algorithms of the Process, which governs every aspect of their lives. The Process gives and it takes. It allocates jobs and resources, giving each person exactly what it has calculated they will need. But it also decides who stays under its protection, and who must be banished to the wilderness beyond. Human life has become totally algorithm-driven, and James, the town bailiff, is charged with making sure the Process’s suggestions are implemented.
But now the Process is making soldiers. It is readying for war — the First World War. Mysteriously, the Process is slowly recreating events that took place over a hundred years ago, and is recruiting the town’s men to fight in an artificial reconstruction of the Dardanelles campaign. James, too, must go fight. And he will discover that the Process has become vastly more sophisticated and terrifying than anyone had believed possible.
Publication date: September 3rd, 2015 (Angry Robot)
About the Author
My first novel is The Red Men, shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award and reissued by Gollancz.
The Red Men is currently in development as a feature film by directors Shynola and produced by Film4 and Warp Films. The teaser short film Dr Easy, adapted from the first chapter of The Red Men, can be watched for free on Vimeo.
The American and foreign rights to publish The Red Men are available.
My second book is The Art of Camping: The History and Practice of Sleeping Under the Stars, published by Hamish Hamilton and Penguin. The Economist made it one of their books of the year. It was widely and positively reviewed in the national press. I have a site dedicated to camping.
My second novel IF THEN is complete and has just been delivered to my agent Sarah Such.
