The Hate Extractor (Paperback)

Sef Hughes

ISBN 10: 1999860020 / ISBN 13: 9781999860028

Published by Undercurrent Press, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. All the hate in the world, trapped right here in England.Hungry, delusional, and living like a hermit next to a gasholder that contains all humanity's hate, Atlas Brown asks his reflection, imaginary academics, and a parliament of owls the only questions that matter anymore: will he go down in history as the scientist who sacrificed everything to save the world-or as the coward who broke it? And where the hell are his running shoes?The Hate Extractor tells the story of the man who discovered and trapped an airborne particle that spreads hate like a virus. However, the utopian future he hoped for has not transpired. Instead, the world has slipped into a quiet, stagnant dystopia. Freedom from war and violence has come at a devastating cost, and Atlas Brown finds himself ensnared in absurd isolation, his self-proclaimed brilliance curdling into regret.Haunting and darkly funny, this novel is a meditation on arrogance, capitalism, and the bitter comedy of a man undone by his own solution. If you enjoyed Oryx and Crake, Cat's Cradle, or Station Eleven, then you'll love The Hate Extractor. Left to guard a gasholder containing all humanity's hate, Atlas Brown ponders the only question that matters anymore: will he be remembered as the man who saved the world or the coward who broke it? This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781999860028

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Hate Extractor (Paperback)
• Publisher: Undercurrent Press
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1999860020
• ISBN 13: 9781999860028
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Atlas Brown is a connoisseur of bad days.

Today, for instance, he is alone, hungry, and trapped beside a gasholder that contains all the hate in the world. This is not how it was supposed to go. Dr Brown, the scientist who trapped the particle that spread hate like a virus and ended war forever, should by now be famous, his face on the cover of Time magazine, publishers fighting over the rights to his memoir, chat shows and podcasts queuing up to interview him.

But something went wrong. He didn’t save the world. If anything, he made it worse. Instead of ushering in a new era of enlightenment, his hate extractor machine stripped humankind of its spark. Humanity’s drive, creativity, and its collaborative spirit have vanished. It has become a species that no longer cares whether it survives.

On good days, he’s hopeful this is a blip, that things will get better. But today isn’t one of them. Because his sole visitor, his only source of food and company, is days late and might never return. Because the noises outside might be a local militia circling. Because his talking reflection might be real. And because the imaginary academics and the parliament of owls above his head might be on to something. Maybe this is all his fault. And maybe the woman he loved was killed because of him.

“unsettlingly brilliant” Amazon Reviewer.

“Black Mirror meets Kafka” Amazon Reviewer.

“Uncomfortably prescient” Amazon Reviewer.

By turns haunting and bitterly funny, The Hate Extractor is a fable of genius undone by its own solution — for readers of Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, and anyone who suspects humanity needs hate as much as it needs love.

About the Author

Sef Hughes was born in Stirling, Scotland, has lived in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Pittsburgh, Amsterdam and Eindhoven, and is currently hiding out in York, England. His fiction has been published in Litro USA and Popshot Quarterly. Salt Water, his first collection of short stories, was published in 2019. The Hate Extractor is his debut novel.