Julian Gough is full of surprises. From his on-off stint as the lyricist for cult rock group Toasted Heretic, to his occasional forays into satire and poetry, the 52-year-old author has been restlessly wide-ranging in his work.

But Connect, undoubtedly Gough’s best achievement, required a fair amount of patience. Taking him seven years to write, it’s a vast, dystopian novel set in Nevada in the near future, where technological innovations seem poised to either destroy humanity or provide it with its next evolutionary step.

Focusing on autistic teenager Colt and his biologist mother, Naomi, the story broadens at times into a thought-provoking socio-political thriller, before returning to its core tale of familial drama. For Gough, who was writing his own computer games on a ZX81 computer before he’d even reached university, this is the story he’s always wanted to tell.