The Standing Ground

Jan Fortune is the founding editor of Cinnamon Press and runs the blog, Becoming A Different Story, to provide online courses and a community space for writers exploring creativity and the writing life. In addition to working as an editor and publisher she leads writing workshops and resdentials and has published several novels, poetry collections and a major book on writing and the writing life. She lives in a small hamlet in an ancient forest.

In a near-future world without privacy or freedom, life is unravelling for Luke, a teenager whose questions and individuality have no place in surveilled society. A virtual encounter with a girl who claims to live beyond the all-controlling grip of E-Government sets him on a quest not only for answers, but for escape. But is Alys real? Why are there echoes of her world in his father, Nazir Malik's home, especially since Nazir is a celebrity artist trusted by E-Government? And what role can characters from Celtic Arthurian legend possibly play in saving the future? Most urgently, can Luke overcome the threats that surround him and find the Standing Ground?"A wonderful novel... a fresh rendition of the future that draws on technologies that are currently emerging... and on Arthurian legend... akin to Philip Pullman's street-smart, other-worldly creations, complete with convincing, humorous and likeable characters... a gripping read."Anna Kiernan