Winner of the Fantastica Science Fiction Prize It's 2070, and the post-Collapse world is staggering toward another, perhaps final, destruction. Blanco, is a reluctant member of Mister Splinter's Magnifico Cirque de Curiosities Travelling through dangerous lands, this heavily-armed band of freaks and circus performers survive by conning and killing, robbing and running - and putting on a show. But simple survival is not their real purpose. Their leader, seen only by his 'doctors', enforces brutal rule, and none are more harshly treated than Blanco, who becomes aware the circus is much more than it seems. Worse, something is growing inside him, something that is changing and killing him. From the ruins of London, across Europe and Asia Minor to the remote Tien Shan mountains, Blanco and the circus fight toward a final showdown, for Blanco's last chance of survival - and perhaps even for the entire human species. A page-turning spec-fic thriller and wild ride through the near future.