Future Perfect

Not many people knew Leo Parrish or were aware of his science-fiction stories. Even fewer people noticed when he disappeared. So why, 50 years later, is everyone looking for his work? The police, the FBI, the cult of Ascendancy, religious fanatics. And how is all this linked to President Muvart of Khanistan and his wild threats against the USA, or Ryan Carmichael, the notoriously unpredictable Hollywood star? Nick Randall, head of Xponential Films, simply wants to make a movie based on one of Parrish’s stories. But he’s being followed, attacked, interrogated, misled. His office is burgled and his computer hacked. Being caught up in one conspiracy would be bad enough. But he seems to be involved in several. And no one wants him to find Parrish’s stories. Not even the woman he loves. FUTURE PERFECT is a modern thriller with lots of military, scientific and political intrigue, set both in the UK and the US. Readers will have their own views as to whether it's science fiction or not. But the world of science fiction is integral to the story from writers, magazines and political paranoia in the 1950s to modern books, TV, graphic novels, digital newszines, an international SF-related cult, a World Science Fiction Convention and even an American theme park inspired by science fiction views of the future. "Aficionados of conspiracy theories, hi-tech thrillers and parodic science fiction will find something to enjoy in Chris Evans and Roy Kettle's first collaboration, Future Perfect (Pitchblende Books, £11.99). When cutting-edge film-maker Nick Randall and his business partner become interested in making a film based on the work of the enigmatic 1950s SF writer Leo Parrish, they find their efforts thwarted by the US government and a crackpot religious cult, akin to Scientology, both of which want the work of Parrish expunged from history. The authors ramp up the tension and paranoia as down-at-heel divorcee Nick attempts to work out the reason for the interest in Parrish, whose stories seem to be eerily predicting future events. The many pleasures of this novel include an affectionate and acutely observed portrayal of the SF world of fans, collectors and authors, everyday characters whose emotional lives leap off the page and a couple of large-scale disaster scenarios that threaten life on Earth. Future Perfect cries out to be filmed." Eric Brown THE GUARDIAN 20 August 2014 “Future Perfect is a sharp, witty, ingenious conspiracy thriller set in the worlds of science fiction geekery, political chicanery and crackpot cultery that skewers real-life analogues with merciless precision while advancing unsettling notions of the way our lives have been shaped by fifty years of true believers. Roy Kettle and Chris Evans know this world from the inside, and yet open it up to the uninitiated. I enjoyed this book immensely and the alien waves penetrating my tinfoil hat convince me that you will too.” Kim Newman - journalist, film critic, and award-winning fiction writer, author of the ANNO DRACULA series. “A dogged amateur sleuth, a trail of clues through the jungle of mid-twentieth-century pulp fiction, and a startling conspiracy theory. The revelations keep you hooked and the detail sparkles. Unmissable.” Stephen Baxter - award-winning science fiction writer, author of THE LONG WAR with Terry Pratchett. http://www.pitchblendebooks.com/future-perfect.html