typofoto

Alex Dale · @typofoto

29th Mar 2020 from TwitLonger

I am delighted to announce the publication of my Young Adult novel PNEUMOTOPIA


I am delighted to announce the publication of my Young Adult novel PNEUMOTOPIA through Penguin books. Here is an extract to whet your appetites.

PART ONE
AN ILL WIND

My name is Cassandra Gale and I am a Covid.

You wouldn’t know just by looking at me. Outwardly I’m just a regular teenage girl. Well, as regular as anyone is these days.

I’m heading for the district market to get supplies. My mum has to stay in our apartment and look after my kid brother. He’s a Covid too, but you can tell. He can’t control his cough in the way I can, in a way that gets you past the Feepers.

I stop at the statue on the outskirts of town where I usually take my Locket. It helps with the cough. If the Feepers see you cough, they shoot first and ask questions later, even if you stay two metres from everyone. My mum said they used to give you the benefit of the doubt once, long ago, before I was born.

I look up at the big concrete statue, inspecting it properly. It’s always just been there; an oversize figure on a plinth, headless and leaning over, with the steel rods at the feet inside exposed and rusting. I read the inscription on the base again, what’s left of it. Who was BORIS? What happened in 2025? Grandad used to hint at things before he disappeared, but no one can tell me for sure, or wants to.

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