New Author Spotlight: Lauren Beukes

New Author Spotlight is a series designed to introduce authors with 3 books or less in the different SF/F subgenres.

Today's spotlight shines on Lauren Beukes.

Lauren has won (and been nominated for) several SF awards, including the Arthur C. Clarke, the Red Tentacle, the Campbell (shortlist), BSFA (shortlist), as well as several literary awards in South Africa. See also: SF Signal's recent interview with Lauren.

Lauren Beukes's books include:

• Moxyland by Lauren Beukes (Angry Robot)
• Zoo City by Lauren Beukes (Angry Robot)
• Maverick: Extraordinary Women from South Africa's Past by Lauren Beukes (Struik Publishers)

Here's the cover copy for Zoo City:

Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job – missing persons.

Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell’s undertow.
Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she’ll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives – including her own.

If you like these titles, you might also like:

• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (Tor)
• Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy (Luna)
• Staying Dead by Laura Anne Gilman (Luna)