Denver Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club

THE GONE-AWAY WORLD
by
NICK HARKAWAY
US hardback cover of The Gone-Away World The Gone-Away World (2008)

Knopf hardcover (left)
cover art by Jason Booher
498 pages

Heinemann hardcover (right)
544 pages (right)

 		UK hardback cover of The Gone-Away World
From the front flap of the hardback:
       There couldn't be a fire along the Jorgmund Pipe.  It was the last thing the world needed.  But there it was, burning bright on national television.  The Pipe was what kept the Livable Zone safe from the bandits, monsters, and nightmares the Go-Away War had left in its wake.  The fire was a very big problem.
       Enter Gonzo Lubitsch and his friends, the Haulage & HazMat Emergency Civil Freebooting Company, a team of master troubleshooters who roll into action when things get particularly hot.  They helped build the Pipe.  Now they have to preserve it -- and save humanity yet again.  But this job is not all it seems.  It will touch more closely on Gonzo's life -- and that of his best friend -- than either of them can imagine.  And it will decide the fate of the Gone-Away World.

A product description from Amazon.co.uk:
       The Jorgmund Pipe is the backbone of the world, and it's on fire.  Gonzo Lubitsch, professional hero and troubleshooter, is hired to put it out -- but there's more to the fire, and the Pipe itself, than meets the eye.  The job will take Gonzo and his best friend, our narrator, back to their own beginnings and into the dark heart of the Jorgmund Company itself.  Equal parts raucous adventure, comic odyssey and Romantic Epic, "The Gone-Away World" is a story of -- among other things -- love and loss; of ninjas, pirates, politics; of curious heroism in strange and dangerous places; and, of a friendship stretched beyond its limits.  But it also the story of a world, not unlike our own, in desperate need of heroes -- however unlikely they may seem.

Read for group discussion on August 11, 2010
RATINGS:
How we each rated this book
Dan - Amy 8 stack of books 10   Wow! Don't miss it
8-9  Highly recommended
7    Recommended
5-6  Mild recommendation
3-4  Take your chances
1-2  Below average; skip it
0    Get out the flamethrower!
U    Unfinishable or unreadable
-    Skipped or no rating given
Cheri - Barb -
Aaron - Cynthia -
Jackie - Ron 5
Bob - Molly -
Eneasz 8    
Bibliography:
Nick Harkaway (1972-    ) is a UK writer.

Novels:
-- The Gone-Away World (2008), his first novel

Links:
The Gone-Away World Official Website
Nick Harkaway - Wikipedia
Review: The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway | Books | The Guardian
The SF Site Featured Review: The Gone-Away World
Strange Horizons Reviews: The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway

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 This page was last updated September 30, 2010