This Census-Taker

Dust jacket and interior illustrations by Vincent Chong

A boy ran down a hill path screaming.

This running, screaming boy has witnessed something terrible, something so awful that he cannot even properly articulate it. All he can do is run. His story is investigated, but no evidence is found to support it, and so in the end, he is sent back. Back up that hill path to the site of his terror, to live with the parent who caused it.

The boy tries to escape. He flees to a gang of local children but they can’t help him. The town refuses to see his danger. He is alone.

Then a stranger arrives. A stranger who claims his job is to ask questions, seek truth. Who can, perhaps, offer safety. Or whose offer may be something altogether different, something safety is no part of.

In This Census-Taker, multiple award-winning writer China Miéville offers a story made of secrets and subtle reveals, of tragedy and bravery, of mysteries that shift when they appear to be known. It is a stunning work, full of strangeness and power.

Limited: 750 signed numbered copies
Lettered: 26 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase

From Publishers Weekly (Starred Review):

“New Weird exemplar Miéville (Three Moments of an Explosion) evokes fantasy from the emotional currents of daily life, eradicating differences between self and other and between reality and dream. Fans of Miéville’s work will recognize and relish his sharp, probing storytelling. Sparse language and a minimalist approach make this intellectual vivisection best suited to readers who are willing to work for meaning.”

From The Washington Post:

“...this sparse, surreal novel brilliantly shows the gradual unfolding of piecemeal memories following a trauma.”

From The Chicago Tribune:

“Sometimes young writers are advised that the path to fame in science fiction and fantasy is to find a successful formula and stick with it. They must get confused, then, by a writer like China Miéville, who has attained an enormous following despite — or perhaps because of — the sheer unpredictability of his imagination, which ranges freely among genres and narrative forms...While this compelling novella may be lacking in large-scale spectacle and may raise more questions than it answers, the classic Miéville themes of power, alienation and politics are never far from the surface, and the tale lingers in the memory.”

From Locus:

“Those ‘troubles,’ referred to in oblique ways throughout the novel, are what really expands This Census-Taker’s scope from an odd small-scale murder mystery into a more apocalyptic narrative, with its suggestions of wars, refugee crises, and diasporas.”