Extremophile

By: Ian Green

Narrated by: Grace Calder

Length: 14 hrs

Publisher's summary

Charlie and Parker are punks by night, biohackers by day, living in the stuttering decay of near-future climate-collapse London.

They pay for the beer they don't steal with money from their sketchy astronomy site Zodiac Code, while Charlie's bio-bespoke augments equip the criminals, punks, and eco-warriors of London. They have to deal with disgruntled clients, scene kids who don’t dig their band, and a city that's run by corporates and criminals. Their world is split into three factions: Green – who are still trying to save the world; Blue – who try to profit while they can, and Black – who see no hope left.

When a group of extremist Green activists hire them for a series of jobs ranging from robbery to murder, Charlie – who struggles to feel anything except Black – wants to walk away. But Parker still believes they can make a difference, and urges her to accept.

As they enter an escalating biological arms race against faceless corporations, amoral biohackers, and criminal cyberpunks, Charlie will have to choose what she believes in. Is there still hope, and does she have a right to grab it?

©2024 Ian Green (P)2024 Head of Zeus

Critic reviews

'A radical, explosive story full of wild hope and venomous rage. Its near future apocalypse is not just prescient and subversive, but full of life, love and thrill in a way that makes it only breaths away from the world we are now. Its voice is challenging, unrelenting, and veering between heartbreak and humour. I feel like this book was written for me, specifically, but I know it’s for us. All of us. With its queer community, found family, the dilemmas of resistance and the agony of survival, Extremophile was a song to my soul and a punch in the gut. Read it.' (Hannah Kaner)

'Absolute dirty-nailed cutting-edge biopunk. A world you can taste like a film of grime on the tongue. Phenomenally imaginative.' (Adrian Tchaikovsky)

'A thrilling ride, full of invention and excitement' (Josie Long)

'Vivid, visceral and utterly compelling, Extremophile blasts new life into the cyberpunk genre. A heady mash-up of biology, punk, art, activism, hackers, murky morality and ultimately, hope, it had me hooked from the first page to the last.' (Stark Holborn)

'Extremophile is a pure shot of literary adrenaline - achingly smart, gritty, funny and a hell of a lot of fun. Green’s background in genetic research elevates his portrait of a biohacking-addicted near-future London into a compelling and deeply plausible experience. Viscerally dark but full of hope, with characters who stay with you long after the last page, it’s an explosive joyride through our wildest impulses and darkest fears. Cyberpunk brought thrillingly up to date - absolutely brilliant.' (Molly Flatt)