Books by Claire North
“Sweet Harmony is a novella, currently digital-only. The title character, Harmony, lives in the near future where everyone is completely infused with nanotech of some unspecified sort. By paying a bit for upgrades, you can give yourself that little boost. If you need a good hair day, if you need to be a little sharper, if you want nice, even teeth, if you want to be a bit fitter or more clever… hit the button! Set up that monthly withdrawal, and wham, you’re that little bit better. Harmony is a completely ordinary person. The book walks us through the addictive nature of subscriptions and microtransactions and how easy it is to get caught in a cycle like this. We see the dangers of it – of selling a little bit of yourself to distant corporate overlords, one piece at a time, who are going to act like they’re working in your best interest. But at the end of the day, the instant you can’t make a payment is the instant that your teeth fall out.” Read more...
“It’s so cleverly done. It leans on that Arthur C. Clarke concept that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. It’s beautifully written. Such a good book on every level, including as a thriller. It completely and excruciatingly looks at how we have behaved, what we have done, and what we have become as a result.” Read more...
Manda Scott, Novelist
Interviews where books by Claire North were recommended
The Best Eco Thrillers, recommended by Manda Scott
‘Eco thrillers’ are books that combine suspenseful plotting with environmental themes. Here, the bestselling novelist and chart-topping podcaster Manda Scott selects five thrilling novels that explore the climate emergency and other ecological crises through fiction, with an emphasis on books that envisage a route forward.
The Best Cyberpunk Novels, recommended by Jared Shurin
Cyberpunk focuses on the near future, and on the impact of technology on human affairs, says Jared Shurin, anthologist and editor of The Big Book of Cyberpunk. He takes us from prescient writers of the past, up to those asking the same questions today: five stories from worlds that are plausible, challenging, and – above all – deeply human.
