Venomous Lumpsucker
“Venomous Lumpsucker” by Ned Beauman, published by National Geographic Books on June 13, 2023, is a darkly humorous exploration of environmental collapse and capitalism. Set in the near future, the narrative unfolds against a backdrop where countless species face extinction, leading to the rise of an industry aimed at preserving their remnants. The story follows Karin Resaint, an animal cognition scientist grappling with the consequences of human actions on nature, and Mark Halyard, an executive entangled in the extinction industry. Together, they embark on a quest to find the venomous lumpsucker, the most intelligent fish on the planet, after a catastrophic cyber-attack wipes out vital biobanks containing the last traces of lost species.
Readers will encounter a richly imagined dystopian world in the 2030s, featuring toxic waste-filled nature reserves and floating cities. As Resaint and Halyard navigate these landscapes, they delve deeper into the mystery surrounding the biobank attack, raising questions about responsibility and the future of biodiversity. This edition, comprising 336 pages, presents a narrative that intertwines themes of nature, environmentalism, and the absurdities of modern life, all delivered with Beauman’s signature wit and insight.
Official synopsis Publisher
A dark and witty story of environmental collapse and runaway capitalism from the Booker-listed author of The Teleportation Accident.
The near future. Tens of thousands of species are going extinct every year. And a whole industry has sprung up around their extinctions, to help us preserve the remnants, or perhaps just assuage our guilt. For instance, the biobanks: secure archives of DNA samples, from which lost organisms might someday be resurrected . . . But then, one day, it’s all gone. A mysterious cyber-attack hits every biobank simultaneously, wiping out the last traces of the perished species. Now we’re never getting them back.
Karin Resaint and Mark Halyard are concerned with one species in particular: the venomous lumpsucker, a small, ugly bottom-feeder that happens to be the most intelligent fish on the planet. Resaint is an animal cognition scientist consumed with existential grief over what humans have done to nature. Halyard is an exec from the extinction industry, complicit in the mining operation that destroyed the lumpsucker’s last-known habitat.
Across the dystopian landscapes of the 2030s—a nature reserve full of toxic waste; a floating city on the ocean; the hinterlands of a totalitarian state—Resaint and Halyard hunt for a surviving lumpsucker. And the further they go, the deeper they’re drawn into the mystery of the attack on the biobanks. Who was really behind it? And why would anyone do such a thing?
Virtuosic and profound, witty and despairing, Venomous Lumpsucker is Ned Beauman at his very best.
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