ALT Image: a floodlight projects the image of a bat onto the sky. Buildings are aflame and clouds of smoke rise ominously. Inside his apartment, Batman reads a novel with a scowl. Caption: The crime wave raged across Gotham City, but it was book club tomorrow and Batman had, once again, left a great deal of the reading until the last minute.

ALT A book is visiting a fortune teller. The teller looks into a crystal ball and says “I see you on a special table in the bookshop. There is some writing above you.” The book excitedly asks “what does it say?” The crystal ball displays the words “Books of the year”. But then, as the view widens we can see that these words are actually spread across four signs: “books” comes from “discount books”. “Of” is part of “75% off”. “The” is on “the discount table”. And “year” is in “year-end sale”. The book sits below the signs with other unloved novels in a dark corner of the bookshop.

ALT A book token with a cartoon by Tom Gauld on it.

ALT The cover of 'Revenge of the Librarians' by Tom Gauld.

ALT Two figures walk through a desolate, ravaged landscape. “It’s hard enough writing dystopian science fiction without reality constantly trying to upstage me.”