Long after they're gone, childhood friendships can define and destroy us-or be the one thing that saves us.

In a small Swedish coastal town in 1986, 12-year-old Elliot dreams of being a video game designer. When he meets Calvin, a stuttering outcast with a knack for drawing, the two make a pact to create the greatest game ever made. Together with neighborhood friends Lisa and Skye, they gather their ideas in a folder, but external influences pull at the strings of their tight knit group.

More than twenty years later, Elliot is a pariah, his status as a highly sought-after designer in the games industry squandered after he sabotages his own studio. But his biggest regret is his estrangement from Calvin-whose tragic passing means that any chance of repair is now gone. But when Elliot receives Calvin's old folder with their unfinished project, the past unravels before him. He sets out to honor his late friend's dying wish, gathering the studio back together to build the game of their dreams-while slowly picking up the pieces of his life.

Celebrated Swedish novelist Andreas Roman's English language debut is a deeply affecting redemption story that explores why we hurt the people we love, and how to come back from it.

• ARCs to relevant reviewers including Kirkus, Foreword, PW, NYT, ALA Booklist, Library Journal; available as an e-ARC on Edelweiss
  
• Blog tour with book giveaways
• Early blurbs from bestselling US + international fiction authors including Kamila Shamsie, Daniele Mencarelli, Ann Davila Cardinal, and Jonas Jonasson
  
• Book club outreach + reading guide
  
• Targeted marketing towards video game + Nordic interest
• Promotion at book fairs and trade shows including ALA annual, mid-winter ALA, TLA, NCTE, NCSS, and African Studies Association annual conferences
• Submission for relevant awards
• Social media promotion
  
• Simultaneous e-book release
  
• Promotion in Sweden
  
• Promotion as English debut & North American debut

About the Author

Andreas Roman grew up on the Swedish west coast. He spent his childhood figuring out how to skip school to work on stories for the video games he was creating. Today, he's a novelist as well as a writer and producer for the app and video games industry, where he's participated in the development of global apps like Sleep Cycle and video game franchises such as Mirror's Edge, Battlefield, InVector, Terminator, and Leo's Fortune, which won an Apple Design award. Andreas lives in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he has published ten novels in his native Swedish to critical acclaim, selling over 100,000 copies, and with several translations into Danish, German, and Norwegian.

Book Information
ISBN 9781963511000
Author Andreas Roman
Format Paperback
Page Count 280
Imprint Flare Books
Publisher Catalyst Books