Can you pass Kenstibec’s Driving Test?

We are delighted to welcome Jon Wallace back to the Gollancz Blog. Jon Wallace’s new books Steeple is out today in paperback and to celebrate we’ve got a special treat.  Join us as we find out what it takes to pass Kenstibec’s driving test  . . .

Jon Wallace’s Kenstibec books are twisted, darkly humorous tales following antihero Kenstibec, a taxi driver working in the wasteland of a dystopian future Britain. He is a member of the ‘Ficial’ race – an engineered species of super intelligence and near invulnerable physical perfection.

The Ficials were created to help people, but eventually decided humanity didn’t deserve salvation. Instead they resolved to wipe people out entirely. There was a war, and both sides took heavy losses.

Now both superhuman and human struggle on in a decimated nation populated by grotesques and freaks. The ‘Ficials’ live in the barricaded ruins of major cities, besieged by tribes of ‘Reals’ – the diseased, insane remnant of humanity. Kenstibec ferries fellow Ficials from one Barricade to another, outrunning, outsmarting or outshooting the opposition he encounters.

There are many hazards on the highways and byways of this strange, damaged nation, and presented here is a brief guide to some of the more unfamiliar signage you might spot sprinkled about the roads of Kenstibec’s Britain. Each relates to elements of Book 1, Barricade and Book 2, Steeple – which is available in ebook and paperback from 10 March. If you like Mad Max, Judge Dredd or Richard Morgan, these are the books for you.

Steeple is out on 10 March priced £8.99. Part 1 in the series, Barricade, is available for the same price in paperback, or £4.49 in ebook. Follow Jon on Twitter @Jon__Wallace or visit his website jonwallace.co