Dead Astronauts: A Novel

By Jeff VanderMeer

New York Times bestselling novelist Jeff VanderMeer's latest--an exhilarating short novel set in the ruins of a future city amidst a world of biotech gone wrong and the nonhuman.

A messianic blue fox who slips through warrens of time and space on a mysterious mission. A homeless woman haunted by a demon who finds the key to all things in a strange journal. A giant leviathan of a fish, centuries old, who hides a secret, remembering a past that may not be its own. Three ragtag rebels waging an endless war for the fate of the world against an all-powerful corporation. A raving madman who wanders the desert lost in the past, haunted by his own creation: an invisible monster whose name he has forgotten and whose purpose remains hidden.

Jeff VanderMeer's Dead Astronauts presents a City with no name of its own where, in the shadow of the all-powerful Company, lives--both human and otherwise--converge in terrifying and miraculous ways. At stake: the fate of the future, the fate of Earth--all the Earths.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9780771049217

Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer is an award-winning novelist and editor. His fiction has been translated into twenty languages and has appeared in the Library of America’s American Fantastic Tales and in multiple year’s-best anthologies. He writes non-fiction for the Washington Post, the New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, and the Guardian, among others. He grew up in the Fiji Islands and now lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his wife.

Reviews for Dead Astronauts

[shrike58 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I always find Jeff VanderMeer's writing interesting and worthwhile, and was prepared to call his "Annihilation" the best genre novel of its year of publication. So, you might ask, you're saying that "Dead Astronauts" is not the best genre novel of its year of publication? Pretty much. Don't get me wrong, VanderMeer's prose can be lyric verging on the poetic and portions of this book read with the kick of a creation myth. However, the man has taken on another hard task, trying to capture what being caught in an indeterminate state between universes would feel like, taking you again up to the edge of what can be comprehended. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to get it this time, or maybe 2020 does not leave me in the state of mind for this level of surrealism. Still, if you're looking for a Zen koan of a story to chew over, have at it.

[muddyboy · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I remember a time when science fiction novels ha a story. This one really doesn't. The book follows several characters and I am never sure if they are human or not. There are blue faxes, ducks and a behemoth and I am not sure if they are symbolic or what their use is. Toward the end of the book the author had three chapters where he repeats the same five or six sentences over and over over four or five pages. A lazy way to write. After you figure out what he is doing you just skip to the next chapter., The book didn't seem scary or creepy to me as some said on the dust jacket.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one that is half poetry, half literature. It has a strong environmental feel. I'm still not entirely sure what this book is about, the dreamy style, the contradicting back stories of how they came to be... its a tale told from a dream. Enjoy it, its well written, but incredibly frustrating.

[zoes_human · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

OMFG that was amazing. I devoured it. I loved it. I read into the night until my eyes gave out. This is so much more of an experience than your average book. I was sucked in by the gorgeous yet strikingly unusual prose and compelled through the book by a hunger to consume it whole. It is perfect for those seeking an unusual reading experience. (I would NOT recommend it on audio as there are key visual elements to the prose.)

[cail_judy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Complex, confusing, rewarding, challenging, painful and experimental.

[sarcher-3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

 Just edging over the line into incomprehensible for me, a linear thinker. I like the rest of the author's work enough to believe the issue is probably with me and not the writing.