The dissolute scion of a powerful merchant family, and a woman living in seclusion with only her dog and her demons for company, have become infected by a copies of a powerful chunk of alien code.
Driven to discover what it wants from them, they become caught up in a conflict between a policeman allied to the Jackaroo and the laminated brain of a scientific wizard, and a mystery that spans light years and centuries. Humanity is about to discover why the Jackaroo came to help us, and how that help is shaping the end of human history.
Born in Gloucestershire, Paul McAuley has a Ph.D in Botany and worked as a researcher and lecturer in various universities, including Oxford, St Andrews and the University of California, Los Angeles. His first novel won the Philip K Dick Award; his fifth the Arthur C. Clarke and John. W. Campbell Awards. His novels and stories have also won the British Fantasy, Sidewise and Theodore Sturgeon Awards. Although he lives in London, he spends as much time as possible getting lost in the woods.You can find his website at: www.unlikelyworlds.co.uk