Theatre of the Gods

Steampunk space opera? Damn right.

Matt Suddain’s debut is a crazily multilayered odyssey through space, time and the universe next door…it’s definitely not dull. No book in which the Pope addresses his enemies as ‘Bumface’ runs that risk.

Wholly original, and by turns annoying and exhilarating, this antidote to formula fiction reads like Douglas Adams channeling William Burroughs channelling Ionesco, spiced with the comic brio of Vonnegut.

An extremely literate and clever story… This is a delightful book, full of surreal twists and turns of invention and humour, written in a breezy and engaging manner.

M. Suddain was born on a farm in New Zealand. When he was eight, he wrote a novella called Between &amp; Beyond, about an explorer who travels between universes. After becoming a successful journalist and satirist he moved to London in 2008, where he wrote a radically expanded version of Between &amp; Beyond. It was renamed Theatre of the Gods and published by Jonathan Cape in 2013. Hunters &amp; Collectors is his second novel.

This is the story of M. Francisco Fabrigas, explorer, philosopher, heretical physicist, who took a shipful of children on a frightening voyage to the next dimension, assisted by a teenaged Captain, a brave deaf boy, a cunning blind girl, and a sultry botanist, all the while pursued by the Pope of the universe and a well-dressed mesmerist. 
 
Dark plots, demonic cults, murderous jungles, quantum mayhem, the birth of creation, the death of time, and a creature called the Sweety: all this and more waits beyond the veil of reality.

M. Suddain

On the one hand, it’s a galaxy-spanning space opera with intrigue, adventure and fascinating tech extrapolations. On the other, it’s a hilarious, almost Nabokovian account of a food critic’s gastronomic misadventures as he conducts a tour of restaurants on dozens of far-flung planets. Suddain manages the almost impossible task of balancing cosmic scope with slapstick, intricate wordplay and dialogue at times worthy of PG Wodehouse… Hunters &amp; Collectors is a misanthropic joy ride by a ridiculously talented writer and one of the most unusual novels of the year.

Aside from being packed full of stimulating ideas and smart observations, Suddain’s turn of phrase conjures an exhilarating ambience of chaos… Previous comparisons to Douglas Adams witty wordplay are entirely fitting… Suddain captures the surreal desperation of the modern world with a sharp eye.

On evidence of Hunters &amp; Collectors let me make a prediction: M. Suddain…is destined for greatness.

It’s beautifully written, and this labyrinthine and sharply satirical novel will surely draw you in.

John Tamberlain is The Tomahawk, the universe’s most feared food critic – though he himself prefers the term ‘forensic gastronomer’. He’s on a quest, in search of the much-storied Hotel Grand Skies, a secretive and exclusive haven where the rich and famous retreat to bask in perfect seclusion. A place where the waiters know their fish knife from their butter knife, their carotid from their subclavian artery, and are trained to enforce the house rules with brutal efficiency. 
 
Blurring the lines between detective story, horror and sci-fi, Hunters &amp; Collectors is a mesmeric trip into the singular imagination of M. Suddain – a freewheeling talent whose poise, invention and sensational sentences have already earned him comparisons to Vonnegut, Pynchon and Douglas Adams.

M. Suddain

Praise for Hunters & Collectors

On the one hand, it’s a galaxy-spanning space opera with intrigue, adventure and fascinating tech extrapolations. On the other, it’s a hilarious, almost Nabokovian account of a food critic’s gastronomic misadventure ...

Aside from being packed full of stimulating ideas and smart observations, Suddain’s turn of phrase conjures an exhilarating ambience of chaos… Previous comparisons to Douglas Adams witty wordplay are entirely fittin ...

On evidence of Hunters & Collectors let me make a prediction: M. Suddain…is destined for greatness.

On the one hand, it’s a galaxy-spanning space opera with intrigue, adventure and fascinating tech extrapolations. On the other, it’s a hilarious, almost Nabokovian account of a food critic’s gastronomic misadventure ...

Aside from being packed full of stimulating ideas and smart observations, Suddain’s turn of phrase conjures an exhilarating ambience of chaos… Previous comparisons to Douglas Adams witty wordplay are entirely fittin ...

On evidence of Hunters & Collectors let me make a prediction: M. Suddain…is destined for greatness.

On the one hand, it’s a galaxy-spanning space opera with intrigue, adventure and fascinating tech extrapolations. On the other, it’s a hilarious, almost Nabokovian account of a food critic’s gastronomic misadventure ...

Aside from being packed full of stimulating ideas and smart observations, Suddain’s turn of phrase conjures an exhilarating ambience of chaos… Previous comparisons to Douglas Adams witty wordplay are entirely fittin ...

On evidence of Hunters & Collectors let me make a prediction: M. Suddain…is destined for greatness.

Books by M. Suddain

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter