A punk sci-fi 21st Century rebel yell: Extremophile by Ian Green

(Head of Zeus, £20)

Aberdeen’s Ian Green is the author of a fantasy trilogy and the holder of a PhD in Epigenetics, the study of how environmental influences can turn genes on and off without altering their DNA sequence.

This means we can expect him to excel in at least two things: world-building and convincing tech-speak, both of which are central to Extremophile, a pre-apocalyptic thriller that hinges on alterations to the human genome.

Anyone acquainted with cyberpunk (which is, by now, basically everyone) will find the territory reassuringly familiar. Basically, whatever else may have changed by the late 21st Century, punk rockers will apparently still be with us, albeit augmented by wi-fi contact lenses.

Extremophile’s central characters play in an industrial band trying to make their mark on the punk scene with vocals, bass and a vintage Casio keyboard. Charlie (she/her) and lover Parker (they/them) share a dingy flat overlooking marshland some way outside London’s thriving Zone 1. Charlie was once a bioengineer with a good job, but now works freelance, her current project being a service that provides bespoke DNA augments based on clients’ astrological charts – pure hokum, but it pays the bills.

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Outside, the world is in climatic and political freefall. Corporations rule the roost, backed up by the police. People are divided into Greens (militant eco-warriors doing what they can to save a choking Earth), Blues (corporate types) and Blacks (those who have no hope for the future and live accordingly).

The Blues are naturally the villains of the piece, embodied by John Birchley, an amoral corporate bioengineer who receives commissions in red envelopes from someone known only as the Postman. His latest request is from a Mexican cartel that wants him to punish an embezzling accountant by transplanting his brain into a pig. Although their politics and ethics are light-years apart, John and Charlie are probably more alike than they would want to admit. It’s not just about money: they both like the challenge of doing “the weird shit”.

Charlie and her crew are enlisted by a group of eco-warriors to carry out a heist, which involves killing a biohacker known as the Ghost and stealing data from corporate servers which, they are assured, will go a long way towards solving the climate crisis and saving the world. By accepting, Charlie will have to face up to the things she did, and the enemies she made, when she worked in the corporate sector herself.

Charlie’s highly technical explanations of genetic manipulation might shoot over most of our heads, but otherwise it’s a straightforward, simply structured thriller, and the central trio of Charlie, Parker and their friend Zoot are actually quite endearing, blessed with a naïve faith that their belief in each other can prevail against a powerful multinational, which inserts a sliver of humanity into a grim dystopian vision.

Extremophile by Ian Green is published by Head of Zeus (Image: free)

Green’s confident handling of the underlying science makes the scenario seem believable and frighteningly real. The world he conjures up with such impressive detail and vividness feels intrinsically unstable and constantly shifting.

As the planet teeters on the brink of environmental collapse, this marriage of cybertechnology and genetics has brought forth a society in which people’s identities, on the most fundamental genetic level, are mutable and negotiable, and terrifying new weapons targeted at the DNA of specific individuals are emerging all the time. It’s a queasy prospect.

Even Charlie, who is immersed in this world more fully than most, gets freaked out by it, sometimes wishing she could be back in Scotland, curled up in her mother’s armchair with a comforting cup of tea.