Descendants

Diamond-hard Australasian post-punk science fiction.

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.

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.