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City of O by CM Taylor

City of O

CM Taylor

This surreal satire will have you laughing at the relationships of a band of harlequins and cringing at the decadence of the City of O, where citizens routinely buy extreme body modifications or even order mountain ranges to be placed in view of their penthouse suites! Anyone seeking a witty, fantastical read with razor-sharp social commentary should grab a copy today.

Extract

I wanted to ask Sarah about the Extras and the Intrans but didn't know if I should. Was it bad for a Boundless to to be interested in them? I asked her anyway.

'Extras are disposable, broken people. They are mad, alone, practically useless. If it wasn't for their menial functions we'd cull them all.'

'And the Intrans?'
'The Intransigents are a little different. They're useless too, but they've got reason, or think they have. They're not broken like the Extras, they could seriously earn if they wanted to, but they choose not to. Can be dangerous. They have grudges. I've met some very smart Intrans who could have been Boundless, but they won't let go.'
[...]
I asked Sarah if that was it: Extras, Intrans and Boundless? She explained about the Shapers, 'The Shapers are above the Boundless. The Boundless move with the city, but the Shapers move faster than the city and they make it. Alex shapes. I would have thought the Shapers brought the beach.'
'And what was I when I arrived in the city - I wasn't Boundless then, was I an Extra or an Intrans?'
Sarah blinked at me in surprise, 'I thought you knew Juan. When you arrived, you were nothing.'
Parallels
  • A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Marukami
  • 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • Brazil - the film

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