About

Seeking a beta reader for a 95,000-word dark speculative novel. The novel is in its final stages and requires detailed feedback on character development, pacing, and consistency. Ideal candidates should be comfortable with mature content. Here is the pitch: They told the world it was a show. They told the cast it was a chance at redemption. They told Martun nothing at all. In the near future, reality television is no longer just a guilty pleasure; It’s a global religion. Wasteland, a show streamed directly into viewers’ brains through the platform known as The Verse, has captivated billions. They can taste the blood, feel the frostbite, smell the burning skin, and they relish every second of the content. When disgraced immigration officer Kiril is offered freedom in exchange for “playing a role,” he’s dropped into the frozen ruins of civilization with a woman he barely knows and a baby he didn’t ask for. As cameras hidden in every eyeball document his every move, and drones enforce the rules with military precision, Kiril becomes the accidental patriarch of a society of ex-cons scraping by for a chance at unimaginable wealth. But not everyone in Wasteland is who they seem. And The Director will spare no expense to keep the drama rolling. Kiril decides that the life of his daughter is worth more than his freedom, and along with Martun’s best friend, Sommer, they brawl and stab their way through hired “indigenous” tribes, fellow villagers, and surprises only a demented mind drunk on power could conjure on a journey that will seemingly lead to Martun learning the truth about her upbringing. Would you kill for your daughter’s freedom? Would you die for ratings? Would you watch? Presented as a classified dossier of interviews, transcripts, and unhinged diatribes, LIVESTOCK is a 95,000-word upmarket and immersive descent into a media-obsessed dystopia where truth is disposable, violence is a commodity, and humanity is just another product on the shelf. You would find this book on the shelf next to Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House, Hugh Howie’s Wool, or Sequoia Nagamatsu’s How High We Go in the Dark.