Williams Burroughs meets Philip K. Dick in this dystopian drug-fueled novel set in the not-so-distant future.
Synth is a drug able to induce hallucinations indistinguishable from reality. But it’s brand new, highly addictive, and more than likely dangerous. Even the dealers peddling the pills don’t know what long term effects the drug will have on its users. For Markus Olsen, Synth offers an easy escape to his crumbling life. Markus, an ex-hacker, has been caught red-handed, and while his friends were sent to jail for thirty years, Markus decided to cooperate, agreeing to lend his services and particular criminal expertise to Viborg City’s secret service, aiding the oppressive state power he’d been fighting to break in exchange for his relative freedom.
But Markus’ past as an anarchist comes back to haunt him, in the form of a credit card with no account but an seemingly unlimited balance as well as the discovery of a mysterious novel in which he is a main character. How much of his reality is being produced by Synth? How disconnected from real life has Markus become? Forced to face his past and the decisions he’s made, Markus must decide to choose between the artificial comfort of his constructed life and the harsh reality of treason and the struggle for freedom.
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
Industry Reviews
"Seb Doubinsky is a great writer, both rambunctious and subtle, who can do anything and often does, playing with genres and literary conventions at will. Read his work. Read this book."
Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times-bestselling author of the Southern Reach Trilogy
"Doubinsky's dark, drug-soaked fable will remind American readers of Philip K. Dick. . . at once gritty and dreamlike, somber and sexy, this is a powerful tale of guilt, addiction, and self-discovery."
Publishers Weekly
"A science fiction novel that explores a personal odyssey through the process of detox and rehab, a kind of Pilgrim's Progress for the narcotized."
Lucius Shepard, author of The Jaguar Hunter
"The Song of Synth is about memory and how it can haunt us. It is about the addiction to escape, to virtual or chemically induced worlds that help us block out our misery. It contains a dystopian government, hackers, freedom fighters, writers, rebels, literary references, a powerful drive, and well-developed characters. It has surprises. It is really f***ing interesting. It is really f***ing well written."
Book Punks
"Doubinsky owes something to Burroughs not only in the sly ironies and anarchies of his style but in the mix of highly analytical intelligence and unrestrained imagination he brings to his work. Like Burroughs, he's a cold-blooded satirist with the sensibility of a poet."
Paul Witcover, author of Waking Beauty and Dracula: Asylum
"An exceptional work out of the mainstream but still accessible for those who don't mind a little work while they read ... While [Philip K.] Dick was essentially a pulp writer who tackled philosophical issues, Doubinsky is a poet who not only understands the subtlety of the themes, which Dick certainly did, but endows them with a poetic beauty."
The Novel Pursuit
"Seb Doubinsky is a great writer, both rambunctious and subtle, who can do anything and often does, playing with genres and literary conventions at will. Read his work. Read this book."
Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times-bestselling author of the Southern Reach Trilogy
"Doubinsky's dark, drug-soaked fable will remind American readers of Philip K. Dick. . . at once gritty and dreamlike, somber and sexy, this is a powerful tale of guilt, addiction, and self-discovery."
Publishers Weekly
"A science fiction novel that explores a personal odyssey through the process of detox and rehab, a kind of Pilgrim's Progress for the narcotized."
Lucius Shepard, author of The Jaguar Hunter
"The Song of Synth is about memory and how it can haunt us. It is about the addiction to escape, to virtual or chemically induced worlds that help us block out our misery. It contains a dystopian government, hackers, freedom fighters, writers, rebels, literary references, a powerful drive, and well-developed characters. It has surprises. It is really f***ing interesting. It is really f***ing well written."
Book Punks
"Doubinsky owes something to Burroughs not only in the sly ironies and anarchies of his style but in the mix of highly analytical intelligence and unrestrained imagination he brings to his work. Like Burroughs, he's a cold-blooded satirist with the sensibility of a poet."
Paul Witcover, author of Waking Beauty and Dracula: Asylum
"An exceptional work out of the mainstream but still accessible for those who don't mind a little work while they read ... While [Philip K.] Dick was essentially a pulp writer who tackled philosophical issues, Doubinsky is a poet who not only understands the subtlety of the themes, which Dick certainly did, but endows them with a poetic beauty."
The Novel Pursuit
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