Diamond-hard Australasian post-punk science fiction. Paperback, 228pp.

‘As eerily prescient as it is deeply satisfying.’ — Artshub Australia

Mass hysteria overwhelms a suburban mall. A monk recalls a strange path to enlightenment. An ancient professor serves as his tribe’s frontal cortex. A firebrand lawmaker discovers what’s left after her soul is stolen… And everywhere, in this vivid panorama of the next five centuries, we find the spectral traces of ourselves. These are worlds, sometimes disturbing, where you may not recognise your descendants.

‘…mastery of narrative technique and sparseness.’—Jane Crowley, AAWP/Ubud Writer’s Festival

Lee Hana turned to short form to find out just how lean a novel’s worth of ideas could go. The result is a wild ride through the Asia-Pacific region after our long carbon spree, and the spiritual evolution of the people that come next. With each story an existential thriller shot with moments of sublime beauty or terror, Descendants marks the luminous intersection of Le Guin’s cultural empathy and Borges’ infinite mirrors, resulting in a collection both timeless and urgently now.

‘Engaging and original… dread pervaded, slightly unreal and yet still familiar.’—Justin Smith Ruiu, The Hinternet

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Lee Hana has worked for electoral and peacebuilding projects throughout Asia, from Kabul to Kathmandu, from designing national ballot papers to writing and producing Timor Leste’s most loved telenovela. An Aotearoa-Australian writer, Lee Hana’s work has appeared in New Australian Fiction, Cordite and Dark Mountain.

Book

‘Descendants’ — Lee Hana