Viper pre-empts two from Morpuss

Miranda Jewess, senior commissioning editor at Serpent’s Tail crime imprint Viper, has acquired Five Minds, a "genre-bending" speculative crime thriller by Guy Morpuss.

Jewess acquired UK Commonwealth and translation rights in a two-book pre-empt from Max Edwards at Aevitas Creative Management UK. 

Five Minds is set in a near-future world where humans can choose to live for over 100 years if they share a body with four other people, an arrangement known as a commune. Alex, Kate, Sierra, Ben and Mike are one such commune, and have spent 25 years together.

They travel to a Death Park where games are played in which time can be gambled like money. The plan is to win time to upgrade their next host body. But then one of them disappears. Someone is trying to kill off members of the commune.

Jewess commented: "Guy’s debut is a brilliant blend of a classic murder mystery set in a richly imagined speculative near-future world. It takes a traditional premise and doubles down – how do you catch a murderer when you might be sharing a body with them? I’m thrilled to welcome Guy to the Viper list, and can’t wait for readers to discover Five Minds."

Morpuss added: "I’m delighted to be joining the exciting group of authors at Viper. It’s an honour to be among them. I’ve always enjoyed books that twist one aspect of reality and play with the consequences – which was my aim with Five Minds. Hopefully readers will be equally intrigued."

Five Minds will be published in September 2021.