Nix Ex Machina

Christian Cook

Average Rating 9/10 (1 Review)

Having humbly set himself apart as one of life's great thinkers, Tarko rejects the menial tasks offered to him by the job agency and quickly reaches the conclusion that selling snow to the Eskimos is well within his capabilities.

Not put off by a few holes in his business plan – a complete lack of funds, no guaranteed supply of snow and not one hint of commercial interest from his intended market – he establishes snowbrokers.com, an online brokerage service to facilitate snow sales to the Inuit tribes of Alaska.

Inevitably shunned by investors and ridiculed by the media, Tarko is as shocked as anyone when a mysterious foreign backer steps in and offers to turn his whimsical publicity stunt into a multi-million dollar reality.

Initially hesitant, the prospect of cold, hard cash prompts Tarko to dive into the pristine white international snow market with both feet. Besides which, what’s the worse that could happen?

Christian Cook was born in 1974 and currently works as a web designer in London. His first novel 'Broken Eggshells - a black comedy in several hues of yellow' was published in 2001 and gained global press attention through the ifoundaduck.com publicity stunt.

Review by Nigel (310111) Rating (9/10)

Review by Nigel
Rating 9/10
Only very rarely do we accept for review unbound manuscripts - to put some perspective on it we have only taken four in the last ten years! However, as Broken Eggshells is one of our favourite books (and often recommended to others) we have made an exception for Christian Cook’s latest title Nix Ex Machina.

The story revolves around Tarko, a young man who believes he is above the mundane daily grind of life and feels there should be, well, more. As a consequence he has an innate problem with authority, believing he is special and that somehow the rules do not apply to him.^[1]

We first meet Tarko trying not to find a job but being given little option by the man from the Department of Work and Pensions. The last thing he needs, being one of life’s great thinkers, is work getting in the way. At this point we also meet Doghouse and Lemon, his two closest friends. Doghouse is an IT consultant and Lemon is a vegetarian animal lover with very strong views and a penchant for herbal tea.

Having successfully failed to keep his job Tarko lands on his feet when he inherits Scratchwood Cats' Home for the behaviourally challenged feline. At first things do not go well as Tarko does not really qualify as a cat lover... he malfunctions, there are problems and a few deaths are involved.^[2]

After much soul searching, dodgy deals with the local kebab shop, psychotherapy and drunken debates involving Christopher Columbus and eggs Tarko has the brilliant idea of selling snow to the Inuit, or rather brokering the sale of snow. Doghouse and Lemon are somewhat sceptical at first but when a Russian entrepreneur takes a serious interest things start moving apace. What can possibly go wrong?

Nix Ex Machina is an incredibly clever juxtaposition of the surreal and the ordinary providing the reader with insanely funny set scenes while also telling a thrilling story that, at the end, will have you on the edge of your seat.

Unfortunately Nix Ex Machina has not yet been published so you will not be able to get hold of a copy; however, I would strongly recommend reading Christian’s debut novel Broken Eggshells. If you find you like it (you will) you can then express your interest in Nix Ex Machina as this book really deserves to be read and you deserve to be able to read it... fill out the form at http://www.snowbrokers.com/nix-ex-machina.html to help Christian get the book out there and do yourself a big favour.
Nigel (31st January 2011)
[1] – The Matrix
[2] - Aliens