| Nova Swing | Contributor: Edwin | Posted: 18/02/07 | 09:32 |
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page 1 of 4  Nova Swing
Author: M John Harrison Publisher: Gollancz (Orion) Out: Now Pages: 304 ISBN-13: 9 780 57507 027 1 Class: Science Fiction Niche: Cyberpunk In a genre where many authors like to imagine that a god-like control over nature will result in a golden age for mankind, it’s refreshing to find John Harrison describing a future where a high degree of mastery over the environment has only contributed to our woes, rather than solving them. Welcome to the planetary city, where rocket jets take off every few minutes, casting blinding beams of light across the sky. Small floating, mirage-like advertisements bother individual pedestrians like bees. Giant muscled women push the pedals of oversize rickshaw taxis. Physical augmentation, or "cutting" has taken bold strides, eliminating old-age, cancer and death by natural causes. This has given rise to a phantasmagoric contest among "fighters", who have been cut into nightmare visions of wild animals, engaging in brutal claw-and-spur fights to the death. This live event draws a large crowd, baying in their seats, close enough to smell the jetting blood and waterfalls of entrails. Technology has all but melted completely into the background. Construction materials are a harvesting of familiar historical elements: filled with chipped tiled floors and crumbling brick walls, there is a clear demand for products from antiquity, going as far as replicating the smell of authentic furniture polish. Echoes of our world remain in reference to "Ancient Earth" and alcoholic drink brands which have somehow withstood the ages, such as "Two Dogs" lemonade. People undergo the most spectacular biological chops, but remain largely disconnected from technology. Doing so seems to require unpleasant compromise -pilots are required to swallow a brain-fusing snarl of cabling, which remains permanently snagged in their throats, imprisoning them at the console, fibers snaking away from oesophagus into the ship’s paneling. |
