Last Action Zero

Last Action Zero is a unique and comedic take on growing up during the New Labour government. From tuition fees protests to earning worthless degrees to joblessness, it chronicles a young man’s disillusionment and his eventual coming of age.

If you’ve wasted months of your life to video games, done a catalogue of crap jobs and messed it up with ‘the one’, Last Action Zero will show you how it’s really done. Spanning a decade of bumbling failure, you’ll journey from drug-fuelled raves to retail hell to the degenerate sands of Pattaya.

"Natasha. Her hair pulled back in a ponytail, head tilted at a slight downward angle, her face an orchid in full bloom. Her eyes glitter with life, her coffee-coloured skin is luminous, and she is giving me a carefree smile. I can’t take my eyes off her. She is the sun that consumes my heart with fire."

Protagonist Christopher Lawrence is a hapless student whose only concern is winning the heart of the beautiful Natasha Saunders – a girl barely aware of his existence. He follows her to clubs in the vain hope that the concoction of alcohol and pills will somehow bring them together, but he only ever sees her get off with other guys. Despite all the evidence that she’s not interested in him, Chris never gives up hope. Blinded by desire and a total lack of life orientation, his adventures see him endure humiliation, parental disgrace and supreme ennui, with only a roster of degenerate friends for company.

Last Action Zero is a coming-of-age tale showing just how much love, and the truth, hurts. It will appeal mainly to readers in their twenties and thirties, and will resonate with anyone who’s suffered from the painful affliction of unrequited love.

George Ryder is the author of the coming-of–age comedy Last Action Zero. He has a Masters in International Studies and currently works as a copywriter in London.