The Mountain in the Sea

Pre-order Ray Nayler's brand-new speculative thriller Where the Axe is Buried, coming soon!
'I loved this novel's brain and heart'
DAVID MITCHELL, AUTHOR OF CLOUD ATLAS
'A first-rate speculative thriller, by turns fascinating, brutal, powerful, and redemptive'
JEFF VANDERMEER, AUTHOR OF ANNIHILATION
There are creatures in the water of Con Dao.
To the locals, they're monsters.
To the corporate owners of the island, an opportunity.
To the team of three sent to study them, a revelation.
Their minds are unlike ours.
Their bodies are malleable, transformable, shifting.
They can communicate.
And they want us to leave.
When pioneering marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen is offered the chance to travel to the remote Con Dao Archipelago to investigate a highly intelligent, dangerous octopus species, she doesn't pause long enough to look at the fine print. DIANIMA - a transnational tech corporation best known for its groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence - has purchased the islands, evacuated their population and sealed the archipelago off from the world so that Nguyen can focus on her research.
But the stakes are high: the octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence and there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of their advancements. And no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. And what they might do about it.
Locus Award 2023 - Winner of First Novel award
Nebula Award 2023 Finalist.
Ray Bradbury Prize 2023 Finalist.
Shortlisted for the 2024 Arthur C. Clarke Award

Ray Nayler is the author of the critically acclaimed, Locus Award winning novel The Mountain in the Sea and the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award finalist The Tusks of Extinction. Born in Quebec and raised in California, for almost two decades Ray lived and worked internationally as a Foreign Service officer, a Peace Corps volunteer, and an international development worker. Ray lives in Washington, DC with his wife Anna, their daughter Lydia, and two rescued cats.