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Duncan Sarkies

Star Gazers

$38.00
ISBN:
9781776922239
Pages:
400
Format:
Paperback
Dimensions:
210 x 138mm
Publication date:
13 February 2025

Available for pre-order only. Available from 13 February 2025

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The alpacas are nervous. Accusations are flying about a rigged election, a mysterious illness is spreading, the Alpaca News is being censored by higher powers, and skullduggery is threatening the Breeders Showcase.

Amidst a mass of self-interested parties, a forthright vet and a diplomatic engineer strive to protect the herds and restore democracy.

By turns vital, farcical, heartbreaking and chilling, the much-anticipated alpaca novel by award-winning writer Duncan Sarkies is a wild and tender leap – or, more accurately, pronk – into the heart of alpaca breeding, and a snapshot of a world at a crossroads.

‘It’s like Succession, but with alpacas.’
—Toby Manhire, The Spinoff

‘A satire of democratic process, with hints of Trumpian politics, pandemic response, conspiracists and corruption, told through a tight lens: the microcosm of a committee dedicated to breeding and showing alpacas. I cannot think of another New Zealand writer who comes close to Sarkies' restless intelligence, swift shifts of tone, technical control across several genres and sheer creative inventiveness.’ —Fiona Farrell 

‘Any book about an election, political intrigue and general ratfuckery is going to grab my attention. An allegorical narrative that is most definitely of its time. Sarkies asks important questions, challenging his readers and doing it in an accessible way. I loved it.’ —Grant Robertson

‘I laughed, I cried, I got riled up.’ —Claire Mabey 

‘Gripping, intriguing, satisfying. The best contemporary book I’ve read for ages.’ — Marion Castree

Duncan Sarkies is a writer of novels, theatre, and screen stories for film and television. He has been recognised with the Best First Book of Fiction Award at the New Zealand Book Awards for Stray Thoughts and Nosebleeds, and the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Duncan has received the Louis Johnson New Writers’ Bursary, the Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship, and a residency at the Michael King Writers Centre. Duncan’s screenplays include Scarfies, and the adaptation of his first novel Two Little Boys, both collaborations with his brother Robert. Duncan has written for TV including Flight of the Conchords and What We Do in the Shadows, and wrote, directed, and co-created the acclaimed audio series The Mysterious Secrets of Uncle Bertie’s BotanariumStar Gazers is his third novel.

Cover artwork: Rieko Woodford-Robinson
Cover design: Todd Atticus

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