First published 2008
Mitch Courtenay writes ads that make people buy things they don't need in a world where corporations rule everything. Water costs more than gold. Fuel barely exists. The government serves only massive companies that control every aspect of life through relentless advertising campaigns. Venus has been declared ready for human settlement, though colonists will face generations of brutal conditions before the planet becomes livable. Mitch works for Fowler Schocken, a top advertising agency, and his bosses hand him the Venus colonization campaign. His job is to convince people to leave Earth for a hostile world. But Mitch discovers that his assignment involves more than writing clever copy. People around him hide their true intentions. His colleagues at the agency may not be who they claim to be. As he digs deeper into the Venus project, Mitch finds himself caught in a web of corporate espionage and conspiracy that threatens his life. The campaign forces Mitch to question everything he believes about his work, his company, and the world he helps sustain through his persuasive words.
Genres: science-fiction, dystopia, satire
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: corporate-corruption, questioning-reality
Setting: Venus, Earth
Period: 20th-century
222 pages · Hardcover · Minotauro