Fantastic Metropolis

The Luck of Madonna 13

E. T. Ellison is perhaps the most talented newcomer to spring onto the scene since Paul Di Filippo. The city of St. Coriander and its surrounds are a wonderful, satirical setting for a bitingly insightful tale that spins hyperspeed circles around 98% of the shit on the shelves. Ellison writes with a flair for the absurd, but never slides over the edge into farce. A serious and funny novel that challenges our perceptions of a lot of things, from media stardom to cloning; from spiritualism to commercialism. An amazing first novel.

Dhalgren

Samuel R. Delany is the postmodern SF writer, and Dhalgren is a vital excursion into experimentation that manages to become a text-as-world, while injecting the reader with enough prose-as-crack-cocaine to satiate even the most demanding appetite. The city of Bellona is a creation that has no equal; a ruined place, a no-where wrapped inside a no-when, where desperate characters may or may not exist. If the sheer, stunning brilliance of the book doesn’t entice you, then read it for the graphic sex and violence.

Altered Carbon

Grimy, future Earth settings hold a special place in my heart, and Richard Morgan excels at crafting a dystopian society as a backdrop to his neo-cyberpunk novel. Altered Carbon doesn’t present a shiny, chrome-plated Future; this tale of Takeshi Kovacs’ search for a killer revels in gritty, grungy details, while examining digital immortality in a Big Business world. It’s Raymond Chandler ass-fucking William Gibson, and it works. Morgan has injected vitality into a sagging SF genre with Chernobyl-style strength.

interlude

Of course, not all of the Best Of occurred in fantastic fiction. There were plenty of other bits of attitude and wonderful settings found throughout the spectrum of entertainment. And hey, if you confine yourself to one niche, you’re gonna stagnate as surely as any free-standing pond. Who wants a gloss of scum?

The Buzzing

Jim Knipfel has written what can only be described as a fucking hilarious first novel. With an oddball cast of characters, a plot that makes the phrase ‘conspiracy theory’ an understatement, and a unique vision of reality, The Buzzing is destined to rocket up the bestseller lists. Read it before it gets too trendy.

The War Against Cliché

Martin Amis may be a putz, but one thing is certain; he oozes attitude, and The War Against Cliché features him digging out a role as a critic, tackling books and movies with the fervor of a dedicated professional asshole. I disagreed with almost every review in the book, but was so overwhelmed by Amis’ bullheaded opinions, I couldn’t help but like it.

Insomnia

Robin Williams. Al Pacino. The Land of the Midnight Sun. Murders. Hell yeah! Beautifully shot, and intensely atmospheric, this was one of the few films I saw this year that I actually liked. The director’s use of color in the movie is admirable, giving the picture a unique concrete reality, while saturating it with a surreal undertone that captures the feeling of a town where night doesn’t come. The performances are excellent, with Pacino’s descent into sleep deprivation deserving an Oscar.