Author Biography

Elly Bangs was raised in a New Age cult and once rode her bicycle alone from Washington State to the Panama Canal. She lives in Seattle, where she spends her days fixing machines and her nights writing short stories, novellas, and novels--usually speculative fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, and uncategorized weirdness--with a thematic emphasis on longing, heartbreak, and the grim fate of humankind. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Escape Pod, and others, and she's a graduate of Clarion West Writers Workshop in 2017). Learn more about her at elbangs.com, where you can use her "Story Premise Bot," and discover A Pocket Guide to Nuclear War Survival & Preparedness.

Review

Washington Post Best SF, Fantasy, and Horror of 2021
London Times April 2021 Science Fiction Pick
2022 Reader's Advisory Reading List, shortlist
2021 Locus Recommeded Reading List
Aurealis Best Speculative Fiction of 2021
2021 Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards Nominee, Best Debut "Unity is an astonishing debut, twisty and startling, demonstrating both the disciplined development of a long-gestated project and the raw, dynamic flashes of an author's early work. It shows intense interest in the distance between conversation and communion . . . an absorbing, thrilling ride."
--New York Times "Breakneck pacing, non-stop action, and delightfully-damaged characters combine with some of the most intricate and clever worldbuilding I've seen in ages to make this an incredibly memorable debut."
--Sam J. Miller, author of The Art of Starving "Unity is a wild firefight of a novel . . . Elly Bangs is a writer of both kaleidoscopic imagination and deep literary empathy, a cyberpunk star in the making."
--Omar El Akkad, author of American War "Imagine Neuromancer and Lilith's Brood conceived a baby while listening to My Chemical Romance and then that baby was adopted by Ghost in the Shell and Blue Submarine no. 6. The baby's name is Unity."
--Meredith Russo, author of If I Were Your Girl "Chock-full of both big ideas and high-energy action, Bangs's thrilling debut centers on a mad chase across a dystopian Earth in search of a collective consciousness that could save humanity from itself. Danae works as an often overlooked tech servant to a criminal syndicate that controls an underwater metropolis, but she is secretly a severed piece of a group mind that encompasses hundreds of people. Determined to get back to her larger self, she hires Alexei, a mercenary with a death-wish, to help her escape her employers. With Danae's lover, Naoto, tagging along, the trio flees the city and heads to what was once Arizona--but they are doggedly pursued by bounty hunters and a shadowy figure from Danae's past. . . . This gritty, thought-provoking cyberpunk adventure does the genre justice."
--Publishers Weekly "Elly Bangs has created a vivid, fascinating, and utterly believable future world, and she immerses the reader into it skillfully and seamlessly . . . Echoes of Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon or the Netflix series Sense8, but this is an entirely original and ambitious creation."
--New York Journal of Books "Unity is a gorgeous post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel about relationships and civilisational collapse. It builds slowly, almost randomly, to what I felt to be a satisfying conclusion, showing that even the most hopeless situations can be overcome as long as even one person refuses to believe the future is outside of their control."
--Aurealis Magazine "Unity is a killer debut by a thrilling new writer. Trust me, you're all going to be hearing a lot about Elly Bangs and this gleaming and gritty world she's created. And cyberpunk fans? Put down the game controller and read this now. This is the real stuff."
--Daryl Gregory, author of Spoonbenders "An intense and enthralling ride that kept me thinking long after I finished the last page."
--Reviews in a Minute "Unity manages to be simultaneously exciting and philosophical, a brilliant gut-punch of a novel. I cannot wait to see what Elly Bangs does next."
--Kij Jonhson, author of At the Mouth of the River of Bees "Delivers on the huge, mind-bending promise made in its first few pages."
--The Times "The high-powered energy of such nth-gen cyberpunk as Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon."
--Locus "Epic science fiction, and intimately personal at the same time, thanks to the clever and revolutionary trick of disassembling the individual subject."
--Nick Mamatas, author of The People's Republic of Everything "The apocalyptic landscape is terrifying, beautiful, and well thought out. Readers may very well draw parallels between this future-U.S. and our current reality."
--Booklist "A powerful debut sci-fi novel packed full of ideas."
--New Scientist "An intense and enthralling ride that kept me thinking long after I finished the last page."
--Reviews in a Minute "Elly Bangs' Unity is a fascinating little novel, filled with unexpected turns and twists."
--A Green Man Review "Unity is a bold and impressive debut novel from author Elly Bangs . . . I did feel a sense of awe over Elly Bangs' achievement. It's a fantastic story and very capably told."
--SF Crowsnest "Highly recommended for all science fiction/cyberpunk fans! . . . The world building was superb, the two main characters were likeable despite their flaws, and the villains were unhinged and legitimately terrifying."
--Planet Whileaway "Unity completely lived up to its descriptions, and my expectations, and it ended up being one spectacular, wild ride. Not only is this novel exciting, but it's also profoundly thoughtful, especially thinking about the intersection of technology and humanity, and the possible implications in our not-so-distant future."
--Lovely Bookshelf "A blistering post-apocalyptic interrogation of personhood and society. Elly Bangs brings grief, revelation, and humanity to bear in this incredible debut novel."
--dave ring, editor of Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World That Wouldn't Die

Long Description

Evoking the grittiness of Mad Max and the idealism of Sense8 , this absorbing sci-fi debut is a dynamic vision of the fluidity of identity With Unity , breakout author Elly Bangs has created a prescient, moving, and unforgettable adventure that expands upon human consciousness and its possibilities Danae, a tech servant in the underwater enclave of Bloom City, is haunted by a grief that cannot be contained in a single body. But while in the city, her fractured self cannot be returned to the larger collective of beings to whom she once belonged Unable to tolerate separation any longer, Danae plans to escape the city with her lover, Naoto. Just in time to avoid disaster, they hire the enigmatic ex-mercenary Alexei to guide them. But returning to Danae's home means fleeing across the otherworldly beauty of the post-apocalyptic Southwest. Meanwhile, an old stalker has picked up her trail, and a new foe has put a bounty on her head. Unbeknownst to any of them, Danae, Alexi, and Naoto are also in their own pursuit-of a completely new configuration of mutual understanding.

Review Quote

Praise for Elly Bangs On "Dandelion" "A rather beautiful and hopeful story, for all that it's more realistic in what might be possible in terms of space travel. A wonderful read!" -- Quick Sip Reviews On "A Handful of Sky" "Power, love, and hope are stitched together into a colorful and compelling whole." --Barnes & Noble On "The Last Stellar Death Metal Opera" "If you fail to read this story with a big old stupid grin on your face from the first page to the last you should probably stop reading things." -- The 1000 Year Plan

Promotional "Headline"

Review copy mailings to leading newspaper, magazine, and fiction reviewers, and specialty science fiction- and fantasy-oriented outlets including SciFi.com , io9 , and Locus Digital ARCs available via NetGalley, Edelweiss, and Goodreads; additional print available upon request Online promotional rollout to include blog tour, interviews, radio, and podcasts Social media push by the author and publisher via Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Goodreads Author appearances at bookstores, trade shows, genre-themed conventions, and virtual events TBD

Feature

An exciting postapocalyptic thriller that explores the future of humanity through the nature of identity, the limitations of gender, the results of climate change, and the power of redemption Will appeal to (#ownvoices) LBGTQIA+ readers, BIPOC readers and fans of postaspocalyptic science fiction and literary adventures such as Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation National marketing plan to include book launch, author events, podcasts, blog tour, print and digital ARCs, giveaways, features and interviews

Description for Sales People

An exciting postapocalyptic thriller that explores the future of humanity through the nature of identity, the limitations of gender, the results of climate change, and the power of redemption Will appeal to (#ownvoices) LBGTQIA+ readers, BIPOC readers and fans of postaspocalyptic science fiction and literary adventures such as Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation National marketing plan to include book launch, author events, podcasts, blog tour, print and digital ARCs, giveaways, features and interviews

Details