Random Walk
It is 2035, and as lives collide, choices have to be made between the real and the virtual worlds.“Brave New World meets Big Brother meets The Road – this is a future world both strangely familiar and edgily strange.’ Jon Gower
“Welcome to dystopian Wales! This is a chilling cautionary tale, but one which is consistently warm and tender. A wonderful debut novel.” Rachel Tresize
Random Walk, published by Gomer Press, is the debut novel of dancer-turned-writer Alexandra Claire. Taking her inspiration from a belief in humanity’s ability to ‘do the right thing’, the novel is a keenly-felt tale of the struggle to find courage in the face of despair.
Following a devastating flood, a city lies isolated from the outside world. Food and resources are scarce and its hungry inhabitants scrape a living in what remains of their former society. Balancing the city on a knife edge, Oswald White, watches their every move and, using a sociological software that was created decades before, he controls the behaviour of the critical mass. Elements of Parkour and gaming feature strongly in this fast-paced novel as Remi, a free-running rebel, takes it upon himself to fight back against the constant surveillance of e-Tel. The relationship between eight-year-old Osian and his grandfather depicts the innocence that was washed away during the flood, whilst the compulsory 3D headsets highlight the danger of denying children the freedom to harbour their own thoughts and ideas. As each of the characters struggle against these pressures, what could the arrival of naĂŻve outsider, Lisa, mean for them? Echoes of the present reverberate throughout the novel and by combining this with popular sub-culture, the author creates a haunting landscape of a once-and-future Wales. Alexandra Claire has taken the unusual and innovative approach of producing a trailer to promote her novel and has collaborated with Italian street-artist, Duca, whose illustrations are included in the book.
Born and brought up in Cardiff and an alumnus of London Contemporary Dance School, Claire is a very enthusiastic young author who began to write short stories in 2005 and has been published by Parthian, Honno and the Western Mail. A Facebook page has also been set up for the novel – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Random-Walk/116782665051846 Random Walk is available from all good bookshops and online retailers. For more information, please visit www.gomer.co.uk
