Award-winning author and video game narrative director Jakub Szamalek makes his English debut with Inner Space. The story delivers psychological complexity alongside gripping tension. With comparisons to favorites like The Martian and Gravity, Szamalek’s novel digs deeper into East-West tensions through the lens of space exploration, creating a story that’s alarmingly timely as it is set just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Set on the cusp of an interstellar disaster, Inner Space follows Lucy Poplasky, one of the ISS’s first female commanders, as an ammonia leak sparks suspicion and mistrust between American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts. When accusations of sabotage are hurled, the crew must confront cultural divisions and personal ambition, all while racing against a deadly ticking clock. Drawing readers into the claustrophobic confines of the ISS, Szamalek captures more than the drama of space survival; he probes the human heart. Having garnered massive popularity in Poland, INNER SPACE now arrives for English audiences as a riveting commentary on technology, geopolitical divides, and the fragility of partnerships in dire circumstances. Szamalek, who is also the visionary behind the acclaimed video games The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, brings his expertise in pacing and suspense to the novel’s unrelentingly intense storytelling.

Inner Space will be released on July 15, 2025, in the US and on August 28, 2025, in the UK.

Translated from the Polish by Kasia Beresford.

Now available for pre-order on Amazon.

About the author:

JAKUB SZAMALEK is Narrative Director at Rebel Wolves game studio. Born in Poland in 1986, he studied in the UK, at Oxford and Cambridge University, where he was a Cambridge Gates Scholar. He is an author and the writer behind the international video game bestsellers, including The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 and The Blood of Dawnwalker. He lives in Nova Scotia, Canada, with his family. His award-winning series of thrillers, The Hidden Web, has been adapted into a major motion picture by Monolith Films. Jakub has been named among Eastern and Central Europe’s Young Leaders (New Europe 100) by the Res Publica Foundation.