“The most exciting sci-fi read of the year.”
NIMA Books, publishers of the South African bestseller War in Peace
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Press kit
Everything needed to write about The Synthetic Hunger and its author, in one place. The biography, cover art and photographs below are approved for publication and free to use. For review copies, interviews and anything not covered here, please get in touch.
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Synopsis
The Synthetic Hunger
The PanTerran Nutritional Authority controls the food supply, and through it, the fate of every settled world. Its ships cross the galaxy carrying the nutrient gel that keeps billions alive, its officials regulate what can be grown, and its influence reaches into every colony, station and household. For most people, the Authority is unavoidable. For Captain Lorian Vance, it is simply an excellent target.
Aboard The Audacity, Vance and his mismatched crew make their living somewhere between legitimate courier work and carefully justified piracy. Their jobs are dangerous, their paperwork is questionable, and their survival usually depends on confidence, quick thinking and leaving before anyone notices what has gone missing.
But when a routine delivery takes them to an isolated mining colony, Vance begins noticing details that do not fit. Workers speak in half-finished warnings. Authority officials deny problems no one has publicly mentioned. Scientific readings remain perfectly normal, even as something increasingly unnatural begins spreading through the edges of civilization.
Soon, strange cargo is moving under sealed orders. Ships are found drifting silently between worlds. Familiar systems begin behaving as though guided by an intelligence of their own. People disappear, messages arrive from impossible places, and the Authority seems more interested in preserving control than uncovering the truth.
At the centre of it all is a name almost erased from the records, a missing scientist who may hold the only explanation for what is happening.
Drawn into a mystery far greater than any theft or smuggling run, Vance and his crew must follow a trail that leads beyond forgotten colonies, abandoned vessels and the hidden machinery of the Authority itself. Whatever is unfolding has already begun to spread, and it may know more about them than they know about it.
Biography
Approved short bio
Free to reproduce in full or in part, without further permission.
Sebastian Howarth is a South African author, musician, and lifelong chaser of the next great story. His life has been shaped by travel, adventure, and more than a few on-a-whim escapades that have landed him in hot water. He believes in living deeply, breathing freely, and occasionally taking the road that sensible people would avoid. That restless spirit runs through his writing, where strange worlds, dangerous choices, dark humour, and unforgettable characters collide. The Synthetic Hunger is his debut novel.
A longer biography is on the about page.
Identifiers
ISBNs
The Synthetic Hunger, by edition.
| Edition | ISBN |
|---|---|
| Hardcover | 978-1-0483-2046-6 |
| Softcover | 978-1-0483-2047-3 |
| Electronic | 978-1-0483-2048-0 |
| Audiobook | 978-1-0483-2049-7 |
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High-resolution and cleared for editorial use. The photographs and cover art are large files, intended for print — please credit Sebastian Howarth where a credit line is used.
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