by Steve Feasey
‘For now, we have no choice but to run. But we won’t run for ever. We owe it to ourselves and to all mutants to see that true justice is done. It’s time the Mutes made a stand. It’s time we said no to the tyranny we’ve been made to suffer for so long. It’s time for a mutant rising!’
Acknowledgements
Stories can be belligerent so-and-sos, and at times it seems they are doing their utmost not to be told. When this happens, an author needs a strong team behind him to make sure the tale he wants to tell can come about. For this book there is a special trinity who need a big ‘thank you’:
My agent, Catherine Pellegrino, and I had a brief parting of ways before I realised that, although there are others out there, none of them ‘get me’ like she does. I’m glad to have her back and grateful she found this book such a great home at Bloomsbury Publishing.
My editor and I were also reunited after a brief sojourn. The brilliant Rebecca McNally is responsible for whipping this book into shape, rejigging chapters and events with great craft to make it ‘work’. It’s always a pleasure to work with Rebecca and I look forward to doing so on the rest of the books in the series.
The final person in this Big Three is my wife, Zoe. It’s not easy being a writer’s partner, but she’s still clinging on to the bars of the rollercoaster cart, screaming at the top of her lungs and waiting for the next big dip or loop-the-loop. Thanks for holding my hand and riding along with me.
I’d like to thank everyone at Bloomsbury for all the hard work they’ve done in getting this book to market. Although this is my first project with them, I already feel that I’m in the right place, with the right people.
Finally, I’d like to thank my fans for all the emails and terrific support on social network sites like Facebook and Twitter. You’ve all been very patient waiting for this book to come about. When I’m at my lowest and the words won’t come, you guys pick me up, dust me off and get me back on the horse. Yee-haa!
SF
Mutant City sprang out of my love of sci-fi/fantasy books and comics. When I was a teenager, I devoured everything in this genre I could get my hands on. Thanks to my wonderful local library, I was able to transport myself to an alternative world filled with characters like Elric, the albino prince with his soul-drinking sword; Slippery Jim, the Stainless Steel Rat; Judge Dredd; Professor Xavier and his X-Men and many more. I don’t pretend that some of these works haven’t heavily influenced this book – it would be really weird if they hadn’t.
I set out to write the type of story I loved then, and still love now.
Scorched Earth is a world of two disparate societies: the haves and the have-nots, the technologically rich and the poor, the Pures and the Mutes. As I began to write it, I became aware of how many of these themes still ring true in our own world, and how the mistakes of the past could so easily be repeated in the future.
Always a backer of the underdog, I wanted to create a group of young characters who, despite being ‘born’ on the wrong side of the walls, had the capability to really shake this world up.
And what better way to do that than to give them superpowers? Hell, what kid in the world hasn’t dreamt of having a superpower?
It’s been a blast writing this book – and things have only just started! Our mutant heroes have a long and arduous road ahead of them. Melk is not the sort of man to take the attack on City Four lying down. The battle lines are being drawn, and neither side can afford to back down now. If you enjoyed Mutant City, look out for the next book in the series, Mutant Rising.
Steve Feasey
About the author
Steve Feasey lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and kids. He didn’t learn much at school except how to get into fights and chat up girls – he wasn’t particularly successful at either – but he was always a voracious reader. He started writing fiction in his thirties, inspired by his own favourite writers: Stephen King, Elmore Leonard and Charles Dickens. His first book, Changeling, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize and became a successful series. Mutant City is his first book for Bloomsbury and will be followed by Mutant Rising in 2015.
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, New Delhi, New York and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in May 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP
This electronic edition published in May 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Copyright © Steve Feasey 2014
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
eISBN 978 1 4088 4304 8
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