Græsset
2020
Available in Danish
From the press release:
An ecological and existential catastrophe lurks in the world. It makes a double impact: Our ecosystems break down while we lose our sense of being human. Technologies break into our genes and those of animals and plants. An ever deeper manipulation of our memory is taking place. But what if the fields of our cultural landscapes begin to rise up?
Græsset (The Pasture) is an eco-science-fiction novel that three human characters and an octopus on their work place Ancion, which is the leading global food optimiser – and which algorithmically monitors and controls its workers. Karen researches the octopus Io whose genes has been modified so it can remember its childhood. Kirk works in a laboratory where he notices a frightening change in a straw of grass. The humans begin to forget. They no longer remember each other’s names, where they are going, why they do as they do. Something viscid begins to appear between them.
Quotes from reviews:
Politiken: “…meget god.” (“…very good.”) 5/6
Weekendavisen: “Byskov skriver sig på højt prosaniveau helt ind på sine personer” (“Byskov approaches his characters on a high level of prose.”)
Information: “Græsset er mystisk og fængslende sci-fi” (“‘Græsset’ is mysterious and captivating sci-fi”)
Front page image by Absalon Kirkeby