Yarn

From the neo-feudalistic slubs, the corn-filled world of Tane's youth, to his apprenticeship among the deadly saleswarriors of Seattlehama--the sex-and-shopping capital of the world--to the horrors of a polluted Antarctica, Yarn tells a stylish tale of love, deceit, and memory.Tane Cedar is the master tailor, the supreme outfitter of the wealthy, the beautiful, and the powerful. When an ex-lover, on the run from the authorities, asks him to create a garment from the dangerous and illegal Xi yarn--a psychedelic opiate--to ease her final hours, Tane's world is torn apart.Armed with just his yarn pulls, scissors, Mini-Air-Juki handheld sewing machine, and his wits, Tane journeys through the shadowy underworld where he must untangle the deadlymysteries and machinations of decades of deceit.Following up on his highly acclaimed and Philip K. Dick Award-nominated "fashionpunk" novel Grey, Jon Armstrong explodes back on the scene with Yarn.Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Armstrong's stand-alone prequel to his 2007 debut, Grey, is set in the same superficial, dystopic near-future ruled by fashion and consumerism. Cities like Seattlehama are towering bastions of "sex and shopping" where "saleswarriors" and "salessoldiers" battle for customers. Most people live in the sprawling agricultural areas called slubs. Tane Cedar, one of the world's top fashion designers, is confounded when his former lover Vada, a fugitive revolutionary, inexplicably appears near death in his showroom and asks him to complete the impossible task of finding illegal yarn and making a coat of it in just one day. Tane's quest confronts him with the tyranny and hopelessness of the world outside of the cities while answering his questions about his nightmarish childhood and enigmatic father. Armstrong's stylized tale is a profoundly moving fusion of visionary images and compelling social commentary. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Jon Armstrong is the author of the critically acclaimed “fashionpunk” novel Grey. The son of parents trained in the Arts, he was raised in the shadow of Modernism and misspelled his way through school. In college, he spent a formative year in Japan. That neon/noisy culture forms the roots of the world in his novels. After college, he traveled the world as a by-product of stints at travel agencies and an airline, studied fashion design, did stand-up comedy, worked as a temp doing graphic arts, and (still to this day) designs web sites. Jon lives with his wife and daughter in New York City. He is currently working on the third book in the Grey/Yarn series as well as the golf swing of the future.

Reviews

News