Lambda

Description

Outwardly alien arrivals from a distant sea, the lambdas are genetically human. They slip quietly into low- to middle-income jobs and appear to want nothing more than to be left alone. For Cara Gray, they are first a haunting presence in her otherwise ordinary childhood, then the inscrutable target of her police surveillance work. When a bomb goes off at a school, a nebulous group of lambda extremists claims responsibility for the attack-but how could a vulnerable community of tiny aquatic humans, barely visible in society and seemingly indifferent to their own exploitation, be capable of something so horrific? In Cara's world a toothbrush can be legally alive, a quantum computer has the power to decide who dies, and a government employee made of slime mould protein needs help to relieve his neuroses. As Cara's relationship with the lambdas deepens, she must decide whether to accept her place in a pattern of technology, violence and deceit, or to take action of her own.

David Musgrave was born in North East England and now lives in London. He has exhibited widely as a visual artist, and his work is held in many collections worldwide.

"An accomplished, thought-provoking novel that is also darkly humorous." * The Sunday Times * "Rife with suspense, intrigue and menace, the story is an allegory for current events that parallels books like Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm." * Reading the West * "Musgrave uses his tale to provide some affecting commentary on current political, emotional and health crises, as well as the future of technology." * Buzz Magazine * "Literary SF at its best." * The Guardian * "Ceaselessly inventive yet grounded in a world we recognise - an eloquent, insightful and funny demonstration the future is now. And always will be." * Richard Beard (The Day That Went Missing) * "A science fiction novel not quite like any other I've read." * Ananyo Bhattacharya (The Man from the Future) * "Part cyber-thriller, part sci-fi parable, part glorious social satire." * Tim Baker (Fever City) * "A neat idea..... a scathing critique of the attitude towards migrants in Brexit Britain." * The Financial Times * "Lambda harks back to the utopian preoccupations of early pioneers of the genre like Orwell or Zamiatin, leavening its tale with wry humour and quiet social commentary and satire that scores and hits the target with systematic ferocity..... Most definitely a novel of ideas, where the plot insidiously burrows into the reader's mind to unsettling effect. A fascinating curiosity and well worth the detour." * Maxim Jakubowski, CrimeTime *