Schizotopia

a darkly comic journey through mental illness, trans identity, and hope

By: Andy Siege

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Flora is missing, and I have to find her. She won’t answer my calls, and I’m terrified that she doesn’t love me anymore. Maybe she’s ignoring me because I’m a creep. It’s probably not because she’s been abducted by lizards in suits; they only exist in my paranoid delusions. Probably.

I have to warn you, I might not be the most reliable of narrators. If you come with me to look for Flora, you might help keep me sane. Or you might end up in my world instead. I warn you now, this book contains loud noises and flashing images which may upset you. It also leads down unpleasant corridors in your brain. Please read responsibly.

Written with heart and insight, this darkly comic novella delves deep into the lived experience of schizophrenia as we follow the narrator through the pulsating city of Schizotopia, where the streets are a vast neural network, the buildings are complex data stores, the flickering lights are messages shooting between synapses, and the other pedestrians are thoughts: some half-finished, others fully fleshed out, each of them unique and complicated.

At the heart of the city, in the penthouse of the Oblongata Building where the mastermind hides, lies the answer to Flora’s disappearance, and—with luck and courage and the right medication—the key to bringing her home.