ACCELERATE
An illustrated science-fiction action thriller
Man or machine?
Seventy-two hours. One delivery.
A chance to get his body back.
Written by Brendan C. Byrne
Illustrated by Tomislav Tikulin
The driver
Now it’s all that’s keeping him alive.
Joam was the best courier in Los Angeles. Experimental surgery made him faster than anything on the road.
But his body is failing. Soon he’ll be nothing but consciousness inside a machine—working forever just to keep it running.
The offer
A stranger. A black box. One last delivery from Los Angeles to the Statue of Liberty.
Get it there in time, and Joam can have a body of his own again.
The road
Warring militias. AI-run city-states. Death races and extreme storms. A whole country coming apart between Joam and his destination.
And another legendary driver, closing fast.
The man inside
He’d kill for the chance.
He might have to die for it.
Adaptation
In a post-collapse America, legendary courier Joam has fused his dying body to his car; offered one chance to become independently mobile again, he must convey a mysterious black box from Los Angeles to the Statue of Liberty while a deadly driver hunts him across the fractured nation.
A driver who must keep moving, and a man desperate to stand on his own.
Seventy-two hours of pursuit through a fractured America, from wildfire Los Angeles to a ruined New York.
Tomislav Tikulin’s widescreen illustrations give the road, the machinery and the violence a vivid visual identity.
The illustrated world
Select an image to explore.
All illustrations © Tomislav Tikulin, 2021.
The book
Writer
Brendan C. Byrne writes fiction for Big Echo and Terraform, and criticism for Rhizome and Filmmaker Magazine. His novellas include The Training Commission, co-written with Ingrid Burrington, and The Showing of the Instruments.
Illustrator
A Zagreb-born designer, comic colorist, background artist and illustrator working across science fiction, fantasy and horror. His credits include editions of Rendezvous with Rama, Carrie and Dandelion Wine.
“Like a post-collapse, body horror reinvention of The Fast and The Furious...”
“Reads like ’80s cyberpunk, the real quill, but even faster. Highly recommended!”
“Think Mad Max by James Joyce.”
The complete illustrated edition
Written by Brendan C. Byrne
Illustrated by Tomislav Tikulin
Read Brendan C. Byrne’s novella with the complete widescreen artwork of Tomislav Tikulin.
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