The Last Days of New Paris is a 2016 fantasy novella by China Miéville. World War II is still being fought in 1951 while Paris has been sealed off by the Nazis to contain living manifestations of surrealist art, referred to as manifs, which roam the streets of Paris after the detonation of an "S-Bomb" at a French Café, Les Deux Magots.
Plot summary[]
In 1950-1951, Thibaut, a Parisian surrealist-resistance fighter, teams up with Sam, an American photographer who is secretly a spy for Hell. They uncover a Nazi plan to create an artificial demon, Fall Rot, which is ultimately destroyed by Hell. However, the true Nazi goal is to animate a self-portrait of Hitler, which begins transforming Paris and disintegrating anyone in its gaze. After Sam is killed, Thibaut uses the remains of a manif called the Exquisite Corpse to stop the portrait, leaving behind Sam’s records before re-entering the besieged city to document the truth himself.
In 1941, Jack Parsons, an American engineer, collaborates with surrealists in Paris to create an occult device. The device is stolen by Raymond Couraud, who later detonates it after being ambushed by Nazi agents.
| China Miéville's novels and other works |
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| The Bas-Lag Cycle |
Perdido Street Station · The Scar · Iron council · "Jack" | |
|---|---|---|
| Other novels |
The Book of Elsewhere · The City & the City · Embassytown · King Rat · Kraken · Railsea · Un Lun Dun | |
| Novellas |
The Last Days of New Paris · This Census-Taker · The Tain | |
| Short story collections |
The Apology Chapbook · Looking for Jake · Three Moments of an Explosion: Stories | |
| Nonfiction |
October: The Story of the Russian Revolution
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