1 minute read
UNDERJUNGLE JAMES STURZ
Publication date: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9781951213756
Advertisement
Dimensions: 5.5x8.25
Pages: 192
Hardback: $28.00
World English (ex. UK) Rights: Unnamed Press
Other Rights: Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency LLC
Deep below the surface, our world is cold, dark and content. Colors are fickle. Red disappears first as you descend, followed by the yellow of the sun. The hundred shades of blue last the longest, but eventually there is only black—and the candied ooze of the ocean floor.
In Underjungle, an intelligent life form known as Yc exists in the depths of the oceans, an apex predator among most fish. Long ago, this species fractured from a single historical group into seven distinct tribes, each with their own dialect and cultural idiosyncrasies. Now, one tribe, the Gjala, has stumbled across a most intriguing and unusual object: the sunken corpse of a man. As news travels across the ocean, and the other tribes converge to investigate, the consequences and questions raised will reverberate for generations to come.
Underjungle asks for the reader to give themself up to another world; to step outside not just of themselves, but of their species. A broad metaphysical story of fantastical world-building from accomplished journalist and nature writer James Sturz, Underjungle is a lyrical tale of love and war, encompassing environment, science, art, philosophy, and grief—as deep and surprising as life on the sea floor, which is where much of this story is set. Buoyed by humor and tinged with the unshakeable melancholy of loss is the existential question that forever ties the novel to our human experience: what is our purpose?
James Sturz’s first novel Sasso (Walker, 2001) was praised as “vividly imagined … masterful” (PW), “a fine first novel, only a few missteps short of greatness” (Booklist) and “one of the most intriguing and original books I have read so far this year … a most assured and memorable debut” (Sunday Telegraph). Sturz’s journalism has been published widely, from The Atlantic, WSJ, Outside to The Best Travel Writing from the New York Times and Best Food Writing. More recently, Sturz studied SCUBA diving with one of the technical advisors for Avatar: The Way of Water. He splits his time between Hawaii and New York City.
