Max Barry - Author

Lexicon

Sticks and stones break bones. Words kill. They recruited Emily from the streets. They said it was because she's good with words. They'll live to regret it. Wil survived something he shouldn't have. But he doesn't remember it. Now they're after him and he doesn't know why. There's a word, they say. It shouldn't have got out. But it did. And they want it back...Find out why in one of the most mind-bending, page-turning, thrilling novels you'll ever read.

Lexicon

Sticks and stones break bones. Words kill. They recruited Emily from the streets. They said it was because she's good with words. They'll live to regret it. Wil survived something he shouldn't have. But he doesn't remember it. Now they're after him and he doesn't know why. There's a word, they say. It shouldn't have got out. But it did. And they want it back...Find out why in one of the most mind-bending, page-turning, thrilling novels you'll ever read.

Lexicon

Two years ago, something terrible was unleashed in an Australian mining town called Broken Hill. Thousands died. Few people know what really happened. Emily Ruff is one of them. She belongs to an elite organisation of 'poets': masters of manipulation who use language to warp others to their will. She was one of their most promising recruits until she made a catastrophic mistake: she fell in love. Wil Parke knows the truth too, only he doesn't remember it. And he doesn't know why he's immune to the poets' powers. But he knows he needs to run. As their stories converge, the past is revealed, and the race is on for a deadly weapon: a word. Because the poets know that words can kill...

Machine Man

A wickedly observed, disturbing, darkly funny and surprisingly moving parable for a new tech-obsessed age by the acclaimed author of Jennifer Government.Scientist Charles Neumann loses a leg in an industrial accident. It s not a tragedy. It s an opportunity. Charlie always thought his body could be better. He begins to explore a few ideas. To build parts. Better parts.Prostheticist Lola Shanks loves a good artificial limb. In Charlie, she sees a man on his way to becoming artificial everything. But others see a madman.Or a product.Or a weapon . . .A story for this age of pervasive technology, Machine Man is a darkly funny unravelling of one man s quest for ultimate self-improvement.

Machine Man

Scientist Charles Neumann loses a leg in an industrial accident. It's not a tragedy. It's an opportunity. Charlie always thought his body could be better. He begins to explore a few ideas. To build parts. Better parts.Prosthetist Lola Shanks loves a good artificial limb. In Charlie, she sees a man on his way to becoming artificial everything. But others see a madman. Or a product. Or a weapon.A story for the age of pervasive technology, Machine Man is a gruesomely funny unraveling of one man's quest for ultimate self-improvement.

Machine Man

When scientist Charles Neumann loses a leg in an industrial accident, it's not a tragedy. It's an opportunity. Charlie always thought his body could be better. His employer, military contractor Better Future, has the resources he needs to explore a few ideas. So he begins to build parts. Better parts. Charlie's prosthetist, Lola, is impressed by his artificial limbs. But some see him as a madman. Others, a product. Or even a weapon. Existing at the intersection between mind and body, in the dawn of the age of pervasive technology, Machine Man is a gruesomely funny tale about one man's quest for the ultimate in self-improvement.

Syrup

Scat is young, confused, underemployed, and in Los Angeles. So when he comes up with the idea for the hottest new cola ever, he's sure he'll retire as the next overnight sensation. But in the treacherous waters of corporate America there is no sure thing - and suddenly Scat has to save not only his idea but his yet-to-be-realised career. With the help of scarily beautiful and brainy 6 - who has all the angles Scat so desperately desires - he sets out on a mission to reclaim the fame and fortune that, time and again, elude him. This brilliant debut is a hilarious send-up of celebrity, sexual politics, and the lengths to which a young man will go to get ahead and get a date.

Jennifer Government

A wickedly satirical and outrageous thriller about globalization and marketing hype,Jennifer Governmentis the best novel in the world ever."e;Funny and clever.... A kind of ad-world version of Dr. Strangelove.... [Barry] unleashes enough wit and surprise to make his story a total blast."e; --The New York Times Book Review"e;Wicked and wonderful.... [It] does just about everything right.... Fast-moving, funny, involving."e; --The Washington Post Book WorldTaxation has been abolished, the government has been privatized, and employees take the surname of the company they work for. It's a brave new corporate world, but you don't want to be caught without a platinum credit card--as lowly Merchandising Officer Hack Nike is about to find out. Trapped into building street cred for a new line of $2500 sneakers by shooting customers, Hack attracts the barcode-tattooed eye of the legendary Jennifer Government. A stressed-out single mom, corporate watchdog, and government agent who has to rustle up funding before she's allowed to fight crime, Jennifer Government is holding a closing down sale--and everything must go.

Company

Company

When is physical violence an appropriate response to management policy? Why is that one reserved parking space always empty? And when does helping yourself to an extra doughnut at morning tea become a criminal act?At Zephyr Holdings, no one has ever seen the CEO. The floors are numbered in reverse, the Mission Statement could mean almost anything, and the beautiful receptionist is paid twice as much as anybody else, but appears to do no work. One of the sales reps uses relationship books as sales manuals, and another is on the warpath because somebody stole his doughnut. In other words, it's a typical big company. Or at least, that's what everyone thinks, until fresh-faced employee Jones-too new to understand you just don't ask some questions-starts investigating. Soon Jones uncovers the company's secret: the answer to everything, what Zephyr Holdings really does, and why every manager carries a copy of the Omega Management System. It plunges him into a maelstrom of love, loyalty, management, and corporate immorality-and whether he can get out again. Now that's a good question. In the tradition of William Gibson, Joseph Heller, and Douglas Coupland, Company is a biting, incisive, and delightful satire of corporate culture.

Jennifer Government

In Max Barry's twisted, hilarious and terrifying vision of the near future, the world is run by giant corporations and employees take the last names of the companies they work for. It's a globalised, ultra-capitalist free market paradise! Hack Nike is a lowly merchandising officer who's not very good at negotiating his salary. So when John Nike and John Nike, executives from the promised land of Marketing, offer him a contract, he signs without reading it. Unfortunately, Hack's new contract involves shooting teenagers to build up street cred for Nike's new line of $2,500 trainers. Hack goes to the police - but they assume that he's asking for a subcontracting deal and lease the assassination to the more experienced NRA. Enter Jennifer Government, a tough-talking agent with a barcode tattoo under her eye and a personal problem with John Nike (the boss of the other John Nike). And a gun. Hack is about to find out what it really means to mess with market forces.