The n-Body Problem

A generation ago, the zombie uprising proved anticlimactic, the undead posing no real danger to the living. In stark contrast, efforts to deal with vast number of corpses %E2%80%94 by catapulting millions of into them into space %E2%80%94 had the undesired side-effect of dooming the people of Earth. WasteCorp, the corporation that devised and managed the space solution, is dedicated to urging people on their way; Sellers wander the world convincing entire communities to commit mass suicide. Glenn Dixon is one such Seller, a master of manipulation stalked by the novel's hapless narrator, himself once a Seller turned bounty hunter. Dixon proves finely adapted to his blighted world; his opponent is less fortunate, consigned to defeat and humiliation as he documents the last days. Barely more than a novella, the work nevertheless manages to provide a massive tome's worth of violence and depravity. Uninhibited by any sort of logic or realism, Burgess (Pontypool Changes Everything) is free to revel in torture and execution, dismemberment and nihilism, crafting a self-slain world where the worst prosper and would-be altruists are harshly punished. The author shows considerable talent at this questionable pursuit, offering the world a memorably repellent, absurdist vision of a dying planet. (Oct.)