Vast & Cool & Unsympathetic by Imraan Coovadia

Who watches the watchers, and do they need a therapist? This near-future tale takes you behind the scenes into the dark, isolated, claustrophobic, and tightly controlled, world of social content "moderation" and refining. Viewer numbers are everything and heinous content is king, but what severe toll does this extract from the moderators? In this latest work from the acclaimed author of A Spy in Time, Imraan Coovadia lays bare a stark and compelling future warning based on current realities.

"Imraan Coovadia brings to life the trauma and heartache of everyday life in a tech bro's nightmare company, a tale of many different kinds of love and of hate." — Geoff Ryman, author of Animals.

Imraan Coovadia is a writer and director of the UCT writing programme. He has published most recently, An Enemy of the People (2026) and The Poisoners: on South Africa's Toxic Past (2021), and a number of novels, including A Spy in Time (2018) shortlisted for a Nommo Award and John W. Campbell Award, Tales of the Metric System (2014) winner of the prize of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, The Institute for Taxi Poetry (2012) which won the M-Net Prize, and High Low In-between (2009) winner of the Sunday Times Fiction Prize and University of Johannesburg English Literary Award. He has written for leading publications including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Independent, The Mail and Guardian, Times of India, and Sunday Independent.

The ZamaShort imprint series is solely focused on the amazing powerhouse that is the short story. We give each short story its own publication so that it may be read and enjoyed fully as a stand-alone publication. As per the StoryTime Publishing mandate initialised in 2007, ZamaShort continues to champion and add to the ever-growing canon of African literature excellence and diversity.