The municipalists, paperback/seth fried

Description A novel about an unlikely pair of lonely outsiders--one human, one AI--on an adventure to save the great American city of Metropolis written by one of the most exciting new voices in fiction (Charles Yu) In Metropolis, the gleaming city of tomorrow, the dream of the great American city has been achieved.

But all that is about to change, unless a neurotic, rule-following bureaucrat and an irreverent, freewheeling artificial intelligence can save the city from a mysterious terrorist plot that threatens its very existence.

Henry Thompson has dedicated his life to improving Americas infrastructure as a proud employee of the United States Municipal Survey.

So when the agency comes under attack, he dutifully accepts his unexpected mission to visit Metropolis looking for answers.

But his plans to investigate quietly, quickly, and carefully are interrupted by his new partner: a day-drinking know-it-all named OWEN, who also turns out to be the projected embodiment of the agencys supercomputer.

Soon, Henry and OWEN are fighting to save not only their own lives and those of the citys millions of inhabitants, but also the soul of Metropolis.

The Municipalists is a thrilling, funny, and touching adventure story, a tour-de-force of imagination that trenchantly explores our relationships to the cities around us and the technologies guiding us into the future.

About the author Seth Fried is the author of the acclaimed short story collection The Great Frustration .

He is a recurring contributor to The New Yorker s Shouts and Murmurs and NPR s Selected Shorts, and his stories have appeared in Tin House , One Story , McSweeneys Quarterly Concern , The Kenyon Review , Vice , and elsewhere.

He is also the winner of two Pushcart Prizes and the William Peden Prize.