{"product_id":"beautiful-shining-people-paperback","title":"Beautiful Shining People - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMichael Grothaus\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA damaged teenage tech prodigy meets an enigmatic waitress in a tiny Tokyo café, sparking an epic journey across Japan that will change everything, forever ... a captivating, masterful novel with an extraordinary mystery at its heart... \u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' Set against a tech heavy backdrop \u003ci\u003eBeautiful Shining People\u003c\/i\u003e blooms into an emotional and soulful tale that reckons with the isolation we can all feel as outsiders' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSciFi Now\u003c\/i\u003e Book of the Month\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' That \u003ci\u003eBeautiful Shining People\u003c\/i\u003e isn't just a slipstream novel with pretensions to being literature is in great part down to the deftness and tenderness with which Grothaus draws his central relationship ... to let us explore a world of robots and deepfakes that's just unfamiliar enough to be exotic' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSFX Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e Book of the Month\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' A fascinating exploration of what it means to be human in a world where everything can be faked ... wonderful, insightful and thoughtful' \u003cb\u003eJames Oswald\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e- - - - - - - - - - - - - \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis world is anything but ordinary, and it's about to change forever... \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt's our world, but decades into the future... \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn ordinary world, where cars drive themselves, drones glide across the sky, and robots work in burger shops. There are two superpowers and a digital Cold War, but all conflicts are safely oceans away. People get up, work, and have dinner. Everything is as it should be... \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eExcept for seventeen-year-old John, a tech prodigy from a damaged family, who hides a deeply personal secret. But everything starts to change for him when he enters a tiny café on a cold Tokyo night. A café run by a disgraced sumo wrestler, where a peculiar dog with a spherical head lives, alongside its owner, enigmatic waitress Neotnia... \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut Neotnia hides a secret of her own - a secret that will turn John's unhappy life upside down. A secret that will take them from the neon streets of Tokyo to Hiroshima's tragic past to the snowy mountains of Nagano. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA secret that reveals that this world is anything ordinary - and it's about to change forever... \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e- - - - - - - - - - - - - \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' Poetically written, every word of this adventure leaps off the page with passion. A wonderful and enlightening trip' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Sun\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' Cyberpunk meets \u003ci\u003ebildungsroman\u003c\/i\u003e - a real joy' \u003cb\u003eOscar de Muriel\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' Exquisite world-building, this book had me invested from the very first page. Vivid plot and irresistible characters and a real tug at the soul ... you'll drown in it' \u003cb\u003eLisa Bradley\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' A life-affirming, epic book about what it is to be human: to live, to dream, to hope, to love ... at a time when we most need reminding of these things' \u003cb\u003eDavid F Ross\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' Totally engrossing from the start - the story, characters and settings will linger in your imagination long after you're finished ... truly wonderful' \u003cb\u003eJonathan Whitelaw\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' Masterful ... truly breathtaking and achingly beautiful. It builds anticipation and suspense before coming together in a thrilling, captivating conclusion' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Bookbag\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' Outstanding! Sci-fi showing how the past might impact on the future ... a glimpse into a (very plausible) terrifying future' \u003cb\u003eMichael J Malone \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat readers are saying...  \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e***** \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' A beautiful, emotional and thought-provoking read' \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' A striking and strange novel - and a searing statement about the dangerously thin lines between utopia and dystopia' \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' Just devastatingly beautiful' \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' My book of the year ... no question' \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' Masterful storytelling' \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' Grothaus has a bewitching ability to stop time in a moment, and then run seemlessly into action with unstoppable momentum' \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e' Succinctly captured the feeling of Japanese fiction. I was very much put in mind of Haruki Murakami or Toshikazu Kawaguchi' \u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Grothaus\u003c\/b\u003e is a novelist, journalist and author of non-fiction. His writing has appeared in \u003ci\u003eFast Company, VICE, The Guardian, Litro Magazine, The Irish Times, Screen, Quartz\u003c\/i\u003e and others. His debut novel, \u003ci\u003eEpiphany Jones\u003c\/i\u003e, a story about sex trafficking among the Hollywood elite, was longlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and named one of the 25 'Most Irresistible Hollywood Novels' by \u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 276\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 x 7.8 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 10, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51764911538464,"sku":"9781914585647","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/b610f90b3146478b8c598b6d6735e003.webp?v=1780257535","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/beautiful-shining-people-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}