Dead Astronauts: A Novel (Borne, 2)

A 2020 LOCUS AWARD FINALISTJeff VanderMeer's Dead Astronauts presents a City with no name of its own where, in the shadow of the all-powerful Company, lives human and otherwise converge in terrifying and miraculous ways. At stake: the fate of the future, the fate of Earth―all the Earths.A messianic blue fox who slips through warrens of time and space on a mysterious mission. A homeless woman haunted by a demon who finds the key to all things in a strange journal. A giant leviathan of a fish, centuries old, who hides a secret, remembering a past that may not be its own. Three ragtag rebels waging an endless war for the fate of the world against an all-powerful corporation. A raving madman who wanders the desert lost in the past, haunted by his own creation: an invisible monster whose name he has forgotten and whose purpose remains hidden.

CHELSEA LEU, The New York Times Book Review

"[A] darkly transcendent novel filled with phantasmagoric visions, body horror and tortured beings traversing a blasted desert hellscape . . . terrifying and so compelling."

ADRIENNE WESTENFELD, Esquire

"A Mobius strip of a novel, with each chapter containing worlds upon nested worlds, all of them dreamlike and dark. In this shattered landscape, VanderMeer explores urgent ideas about capitalism, greed, and natural destruction."

Kirkus (starred review)

"VanderMeer is a master of literary science fiction, and this may be his best book yet."

ROBIN SLOAN, author of Sourdough Praise for Jeff VanderMeer

"For any adventurous fan of sci-fi, fantasy, and/or horror, this book offers not only a rewarding read but, like, a thing to possess."

COLSON WHITEHEAD, author of Nickel Boys

“Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy was an ever-creeping map of the apocalypse; with Borne he continues his investigation into the malevolent grace of the world, and it’s a thorough marvel.”

STEPHEN KING, on The Southern Reach Trilogy

“Creepy and fascinating.”

NISI SHAWL, The Seattle Times, on Annihilation

“[Jeff VanderMeer] makes the horrific beautiful.”

KAREN JOY FOWLER, BookPage, on Annihilation

“Unsettling and un-put-down-able―like an old-fashioned adventure story, only weirder, beautifully written and not at all old-fashioned.”

N.K. JEMISIN, The New York Times Book Review, on Authority

“More than just a horror novel; there’s something Poe-like in this tightening, increasingly paranoid focus. But where Poe kept his most vicious blows relatively oblique, VanderMeer drives them deep―albeit in a corkscrewing way that is not less cruel and exquisite.”

About the Author

Jeff VanderMeeris the author of Hummingbird Salamander, the Borne novels (Borne, The Strange Bird, and Dead Astronauts), and The Southern Reach Trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance), the first volume of which won the Nebula Award and the Shirley Jackson Award and was adapted into a movie by Alex Garland. He speaks and writes frequently about issues relating to climate change as well as urban rewilding. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, on the edge of a ravine, with his wife, Ann VanderMeer, and their cat, Neo.

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