Alpha Omega

Stranger Things meets Black Mirror and Ready Player One in this unsettling, near-future science fiction standalone.

Something is rotten in the state of the NutriStart Skills Academy
 
With the discovery of a human skull on the playing fields, children displaying symptoms of an unfamiliar, grisly virus and a catastrophic malfunction in the site's security system, the NSA is about to experience a week that no amount of rebranding can conceal. As the school descends into chaos, teacher Tom Rosen goes looking for answers - but when the real, the unreal and the surreal are indistinguishable, the truth can be difficult to recognise.

One pupil, Gabriel Backer, may hold the key to saving the school from destroying itself and its students, except he has already been expelled. Not only that - he has disappeared down the rabbit-hole of "Alpha Omega" - the world's largest VR role-playing game, filled with violent delights and unbridled debauchery. But the game quickly sours. Gabriel will need to confront the real world he's been so desperate to escape if he ever wants to leave..."By the final chapter each thread has been skillyfully unravelled... Nicholas Bowling is a thrilling writer who keeps the reader permanently on edge."  Telegraph

"Inventive, playful bonkers writing... and an explosive finale that ties up all the story's threads with a beautiful, pitch-black bow." SFX Magazine

“A relentlessly entertaining ride – memorably oddball characters, spot-on satire and smart, deadpan humour. I read it in a flurry.” Tim Major, author of Snakeskins 

“Too-close-for-comfort dystopia… A frightening picture of a repressive near-future, but it’s the glints of humanity and humour in its telling that set it apart.” Louis Greenburg, author of Green Valley 

“Wonderfully twisty and atmospheric... One not to miss." The Bookseller

"The author is one to watch." Historical Novel AssociationNicholas Bowling is an author, musician, stand-up comic and Latin teacher from London. His critically acclaimed debut WITCHBORN was published in 2017 by Chicken House, and was followed in 2019 by IN THE SHADOW OF HEROES, which was shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award. In 2020, Titan published ALPHA OMEGA, Nicholas’s first adult fiction novel, and it will be followed by the supernatural thriller THE FOLLOWER in 2021.