Become as God

'Some books entertain you, and others, like A. B. Watts's Become As God, rewire you.' Welcome to Modrinia, the Delivered Kingdom, where magic is so feared and forbidden that it is referred to only as "the m-word." Here, humans and canines live as equals, while sleep is thought to be nothing more than a myth used for centuries to keep slave dogs obedient. Detective Linen Cobskin has spent his nights watching a television screen, waiting for his aunt's old house to materialise between two terraced homes on Shepherd Street. When number 34 finally appears, he finds children who have been missing for eighty-two years, still alive and unaged, with something pink emerging from their scalps. A nine-foot canine scientist, Professor Mithba Harland, pursues forbidden research into immortality after a chance encounter leaves a stranger dead, but perhaps not forever. Far away in Purronto, soldier Gabelle Davles pays a terrible price attempting to free canine slaves. Three seemingly separate stories gradually intertwine, drawing Cobskin towards a conspiracy of ancient gods who control society. Old wounds are torn open. A police procedural escalates into an interdimensional catastrophe. Become As God is filled with cunning wit, from cosy comfort to blunt darkness. Factions will collide with earth-altering consequences in this weird science fantasy epic. Become As God has received glowing reviews for its superb storytelling, multilayered and finely developed characters, deep emotional undercurrents, subtle humour, and well-crafted subplots with cliffhangers. Reviewers have called it 'stunningly original and delightful', 'a one-of-a-kind novel', and a 'mind-boggling epic fantasy', with one reviewer describing the storytelling as 'superb'. Its intricate world-building, intense body horror, dialect-driven narration and mythology have been highly praised.