Winner of 2015 Urania-Mondadori Award

Translation in English by Sally McCorry

“Full of savage humour, Francesco Verso imagines a tax system in Italy based upon blood. Amazingly this has nothing to do with actual zombies (to bend a bit the word “actual”). Weirdly, BloodBusters is plausible, and powerfully written, a high-spirited page-turner thanks to a great translation by Sally McCorry. Definitely this is the book to read after a holiday in Rome (though maybe not before). I shan’t forget in a hurry Verso’s Intravenous Revenue or the haemergency sirens and flashers of the taxbulance.”

-- Ian Watson, author of the screen story for Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence

What if taxes were paid by citizens through blood withdrawals? What if tax evasion was a crime punishable with imprisonment and enforced by the Bloodbusters? What if donating blood was an illegal procedure? And what if Ematogen, a delicious snack derived from blood, was everyone’s favourite food?

In a grotesque Rome, Alan Costa, a Bloodbuster operator, falls in love with Anissa Malesano, a compulsive donor for the Robin Blood underworld organisation, who gives her blood to anyone in need. In a crescendo of deceit and treachery, where he cannot even trust his colleague Farid Sedef or his own boss Emory Sziliagy, Alan sees Anissa ending up in jail for tax evasion. Once he discovers the real reason why he was recruited as a Bloodbuster, Alan decides to sacrifice his own job and a precious part of himself to rescue Anissa and her son Nicola.

Francesco Verso (Bologna, 1973) is a multiple-award Science Fiction writer and editor (3 Europa Awards, 2 Urania Awards, 2 Italy Awards, 1 Marco Polo Award, 1 Galaxy Award and 1 Belt and Road Initiative Influencer Award). He has published: Antidoti umani, e-Doll, Nexhuman, Bloodbusters, Futurespotting, Ecolution and The Roamers (made of The Pulldogs and No/Mad/Land). His works have been translated into many languages and published in China, Brazil, France, India, Italy, the UK and the USA. He also works as editor and publisher of Future Fiction, a multicultural project dedicated to scouting and publishing the best World Science Fiction in translation from more than 40 countries and 14 languages. From 2019 he is the Honorary Director of the Fishing Fortress Science Fiction Academy of Chongqing where he founded a creative writing workshop. He lives in Rome and may be found online at www.futurefiction.org.

ISBN:  979-1281937086

Price: € 15