The Offset

Praise

“Thrilling, terrifying and beautifully crafted, The Offset is the perfect science-fiction novel for our times. I devoured it.”
– Angela Saini, author of Inferior

“Smart, compelling and absolutely of the moment. A truly elegant debut.”
– Luke Jennings, author of the Killing Eve series

“A powerfully told debut” 
– SFX Magazine

“An honest, terrifying and sincere look into our future.” 
– Keren Landsman, Geffen Award-winning author of The Heart of the Circle

“These co-writers have produced a vision of a blighted world where everyone has to make sacrifices for the greater good, personal happiness being the first thing to go.”
– Financial Times

“The Offset’s searing critique of anti-natalism could do for eco-fascism what Ninety Eighty-Four did for socialism and Brave New World did for eugenics.”
– Ken MacLeod, Prometheus and BSFA Award-winning author of The Corporation Wars series

“The Offset is spare, elegant, and thought-provoking as the best classic science fiction. Calder Szewczak is a name to watch.”
– Daniel Abraham, co-author of The Expanse

“The Offset was a dark and fascinating read – a twisted reversal of The Handmaid’s Tale set in a ravaged dystopia, simmering with menace and tension. Bleak, haunting and intriguing.”
– Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne

“The Offset crushed me. This is an expertly – and starkly – written, well-drawn eco-dystopian novel about the ultimate measure of austerity taken in order to save the planet. There’s so much that was done well here: the world, the science, the societal conflict – but to get into the (possibly carnivorous) weeds would distract from soul of this book. It is a bare-knuckle punch to the heart. Calder Szewczak made me suffer – brilliantly.”
– Chris Panatier, author of The Phlebotomist

“The Offset is a prophetic, urgent, gripping read that throws into question what saving the world really means. A tender warning of a book, lest our efforts become as futile as our tragedies.”
– Natalia Theodoridou, World Fantasy Award Winner and Nebula Finalist

“Calder Szewczak’s The Offset may be a literary first in giving central place to anti-natalism – the view that one ought not to create new people. Other novels, like this one, have depicted a dystopian future in the wake of environmental catastrophe. In Margaret Attwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, the dystopia is pro-natalist. The Offset shows how anti-natalism could also take a dystopian turn. In showing this, it provides a cautionary tale – which, if read correctly, is not that anti-natalism itself is in error, but rather that even views aimed at reducing suffering can increase it if fanatics seize control.”
– David Benatar, World-leading anti-natalist and author of Better Never to Have Been

“A chilling evocation of a possible future.”
– Susannah Wise, acclaimed actress and author of This Fragile Earth

“The Offset is a bleak but thoughtful dystopian sci-fi. It asks questions about where we are & where we are going through intricate world building and a compelling story. Very entertaining, compulsive & thought-provoking.”
- Kate Sawyer author of The Stranding

“Finished this and now I’m slightly broken. If, like me, every so often you just want a bit of beautiful, brutal dystopia this is the one for you! A complex world filled with complex characters that draw the reader in. This is a beautifully written, brutal piece of dystopian fiction that does not shy away from the issues we must face today.”
– Elizabeth Lee, author of Cunning Women