{"product_id":"dengue-boy-isbn-9781662602658","title":"Dengue Boy","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"I can’t remember the last book that pushed science fiction’s potential for weirdness as far as \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"A wildly original anti-capitalist satire.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"A psychedelic fever dream.\"—\u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"An exuberant, gore-spattered romp of a climate fiction novel, shot through with cosmic terrors and delivered in a pyretic, exclamatory style.\"—\u003ci\u003eLocus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor fans of David Cronenberg's films and lovers of Kafka, this gaucho-punk, sci-fi novel set in 2197 offers an explosive interpretation of an ultra-capitalistic society on the brink of climate collapse.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe protagonist of this story has no understanding of the words “winter”, \"cold”, or \"snow\" because he has never experienced the phenomena they describe. We find ourselves in Victorica, a province of La Pampa, Argentina, some time after 2197 – the year in which the last of the Antarctic icecaps melted and an unprecedented climate catastrophe ensued, radically transforming the landscape of the region into a Caribbean Pampas. It is here that the Dengue Child grows up, a mutant mix of child and mosquito, the result of crazy experimenting driven by ultra-capitalistic corporations racing against each other to own viruses and their cures, destroying even their very own children’s existence to cash in on the stock exchange.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnother of the surprising effects of the thaw is the appearance of powerful telepathic pebbles from the bowels of the earth that seem to encapsulate the world's original wisdom, and which are the subject of lucrative smuggling. Meanwhile, the wealthy of the region chose to cruise around on ships where they can experience ice-skating and hand carve ice from valuable remains of glaciers. In their ultra-air conditioned homes, their kids play Indians vs Christians, a brutal video game set in the historical 19th century. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe future according to Michel Nieva looks frenetic and shocking. His is one of the most exciting literary voices emerging from Argentina, packing punches in a deeply intelligent, informed, and humorful prose which takes root in Latin American storytelling and sci-fi tradition.\"I can’t remember the last book that pushed science fiction’s potential for weirdness as far as \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e. Nieva’s writing is consistently revolting — he goes too far, then keeps going. But his long sentences, which flutter and swirl like a mosquito in flight, prove irresistible.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eCharlie Jane Anders, \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The book is classic dystopian pulp: global warming, pandemics, radioactive mutation; rich people surviving in climate-controlled enclaves; poor people living short, wretched lives. But it's also a wildly original anti-capitalist satire . . . It's all delightfully whimsical and absurd, but the core drama—capitalism’s discontents coming home to roost—couldn’t be more realistic.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eMax Pearl, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Dizzyingly quick and bizarrely propulsive, \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e is a fresh, freaky and often perverted novel, just how they should be.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eOur Culture\u003c\/i\u003e, \"The Best Books of 2025\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Equally wacky and raunchy . . . \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e shines when Nieva muddles gleeful writing with horrifying subject matter. If the end-times are coming, we might as well go down laughing.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Maddie Bender, \u003ci\u003eScience\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A brilliantly strange new novel . . . [\u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e] is a grimace that turns into a grin . . . It is weirdness sliced up, spun in a salad spinner, and served with some indescribable gunk on top. It’s delicious, if you can stomach it.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eMatt Reynolds, \u003ci\u003eWIRED\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e] is a demented fever dream, bilious, splenetic, awash with spilled bodily fluids and shot through with the blackest of humour . . . [Nieva splices] Ballard, Borges and Lovecraft to create an almost unclassifiable piece of work that’s both utterly engrossing and unrepentantly gross-out.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJames Lovegrove, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[A] psychedelic fever dream.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eAdam Morgan, \u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"As you might expect from a novel whose central character is a giant human-mosquito hybrid, 'stylized' doesn’t quite do justice to how offbeat \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy \u003c\/i\u003ecan get . . . It’s frequently a dizzying read, true, but there’s plenty of righteous anger at this novel’s core—and a haunting sadness that runs throughout.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eTobias Carroll, \u003ci\u003eReactor\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"an exuberant, gore-spattered romp of a climate fiction novel, shot through with cosmic terrors and delivered in a pyretic, exclamatory style.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJake Casella Brookins, \u003ci\u003eLocus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Michel Nieva’s \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e is a wild book, surprising on every page; insightful, funny and grotesque. A unique hybrid of body horror, absurdist satire and dystopian science fiction, this novel critiques capitalism and colonialism with an entrancing humorous tone and a gruesome plot.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eVenezia Paloma, \u003ci\u003eThe Skinny\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Freaky, bizarr-o, and oftentimes disgusting . . . \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e is hilarious, surreal, incredibly ambitious, but not so serious enough to refrain from a good sex joke . . . I haven’t read anything like it—Nieva’s kind of freaky is the one the literary world desperately needs.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eSam Franzini, \u003ci\u003ePizza Bagel Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e is] brutal and shocking, but those who buckle up are in for a wild and visceral ride.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eNathalie Atkinson, \u003ci\u003eEverything Zoomer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e★ \"Delightfully gonzo and hilariously surreal, this novel turns nightmarish visions into vital art. It’s a sui generis showstopper.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e★ “A dystopian fever dream that’s equal parts poetic and profane, beautiful and splattered with gore.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJohn Keogh, \u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Nieva’s English-language debut boils both into a hallucinogenic cocktail about the end of one world and the beginnings of another . . . [\u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e is] a hyperkinetic, audacious grotesquerie about metamorphosis and the inevitability of change.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An incredibly exciting new voice in speculative fiction . . . \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy \u003c\/i\u003eis a striking reminder of the power of genre fiction to speak truth to power and to vividly reveal the uncomfortable inequalities our society is built on. It mixes plausible biological and technological speculation with cutting satire and imaginatively surreal imagery. Nieva has created a modern masterpiece, and established himself as a key new voice in speculative fiction.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJonathan Thornton, \u003ci\u003eThe Fantasy Hive\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Michel Nieva has placed a strong bet with this steampunk novel that imagines the disappearance of the south of Latin America between gaucho literature, violent videogames and monetized diseases. Intelligent, entertaining and brutal.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Mariana Enriquez, author of \u003ci\u003eA Sunny Place for Shady People\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An incandescent imagination that illuminates the strangeness of everything around us with just the right amounts of unease and tenderness.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Valeria Luiselli, author of Lost Children Archive\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Do not lick this book! \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e is a psychedelic literary funhouse like no other, its richly imagined narrative mutating and reconfiguring chapter by chapter like the Dengue Boy himself. Michel Nieva's vision of our beleaguered world two centuries into the future is at once hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking, with no mercy shown for any of its survivors. Be warned though: the psychotropic effects of \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e have not been studied, but their hallucinogenic impact will linger long after you turn the final page.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—David Demchuk, author of RED X and The Bone Mother\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Michel Nieva’s \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e is a wild book, surprising on every page; insightful, funny and grotesque. A unique hybrid of body horror, absurdist satire and dystopian science fiction, this novel critiques capitalism and colonialism with an entrancing humorous tone and a gruesome plot.\"\u003cb\u003e —Venezia Paloma, \u003ci\u003eThe Skinny\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"As you might expect from a novel whose central character is a giant human-mosquito hybrid, 'stylized' doesn’t quite do justice to how offbeat \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy \u003c\/i\u003ecan get . . . It’s frequently a dizzying read, true, but there’s plenty of righteous anger at this novel’s core—and a haunting sadness that runs throughout.\" —\u003cb\u003eTobias Carroll, \u003ci\u003eReactor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eMichel Nieva was born in 1988 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In his native Spanish he has published several novels, poetry collections and essays. His prose mixes science fiction and speculative genres with Argentinean historical and literary traditions, a blend dubbed gaucho-punk. In 2021 Nieva was named among the best young Spanish writers by Granta magazine. His short story \u003ci\u003eDengue Boy\u003c\/i\u003e (basis for the novel with the same title), won the O. Henry Award in 2022. Michel lives in New York and teaches Latin American literature at NYU.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTRANSLATOR BIO:\u003c\/b\u003e Rahul Bery translates from Spanish \u0026amp; Portuguese to English, and is based in Cardiff. He has translated books by David Trueba, Afonso Cruz, Simone Campos and Vicente Luis Mora and his translations have also appeared in Granta, the TLS, the Stinging Fly, Words Without Borders, Freeman's, the White Review and elsewhere. His most recent translation is What is Mine by José Henrique Bortoluci, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions. His translation of David Trueba's Rolling Fields was shortlisted for the 2021 TA First Translation Prize.","brand":"Astra House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302575722725,"sku":"NP9781662602658","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/dengue-boy-isbn-9781662602658","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}