A LOCUS AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL!
The Guardian's Pick for Best Science Fiction Book of the Year!
A timely and uncanny portrait of a world in the wake of fake news,
diminished privacy, and a total shutdown of the Internet
BEFORE: In Bristol's center lies the Croft, a digital no-man's-land cut
off from the surveillance, Big Data dependence, and corporate-sponsored,
globally hegemonic aspirations that have overrun the rest of the world.
Ten years in, it's become a center of creative counterculture. But it's
fraying at the edges, radicalizing from inside. How will it fare when
its chief architect, Rushdi Mannan, takes off to meet his boyfriend in
New York City--now the apotheosis of the new techno-utopian global
metropolis?
AFTER: An act of anonymous cyberterrorism has permanently switched off
the Internet. Global trade, travel, and communication have collapsed.
The luxuries that characterized modern life are scarce. In the Croft,
Mary--who has visions of people presumed dead--is sought out by grieving
families seeking connections to lost ones. But does Mary have a gift or
is she just hustling to stay alive? Like Grids, who runs the Croft's
black market like personal turf. Or like Tyrone, who hoards music
(culled from cassettes, the only medium to survive the crash) and
tattered sneakers like treasure.
The world of Infinite Detail is a small step shy of our own: utterly
dependent on technology, constantly brokering autonomy and privacy for
comfort and convenience. With Infinite Detail, Tim Maughan makes the
hitherto-unimaginable come true: the End of the Internet, the End of the
World as We Know It.
