Kevin Wright's Blog: SaberPunk - Posts Tagged "cyberpunk"

I had some concerns when I began reading Ren Warom’s Escapology. But I’ll get to that. For now, just know that I’m a fan of William Gibson’s Neuromancer. A big fan. It’s my favorite sci-fi novel, in fact. William Gibson’s writing moves. It’s sleek and stylish and you may not know where it’s going or even where you are when you get there, but you definitely feel the wind blowing back your hair while it’s happening. Ren Warom has a similar style which is the style of excellence incarnate. Warom’s writing style wasn’t my concern, however, it was merely its foreshadowing.

In the interest of avoiding spoilers with either work, let me just say that my concerns pertained to the many and profound similarities between the two, culminating in Escapology’s first chapter appearance of a character by the name of Mim who is dead-nuts identical to Molly from Neuromancer. Dead-nuts…

As I said, I had concerns.

Before Mim’s nail-in-the-coffin appearance, there was always this echo of Neuromancer pervading the prose in many forms: in the main character(Shock Pao), in the setting(the Gung), in the opening sequence(hangover), in the drugs(pervasive), and in the writing style(excellence incarnate). However, holding my concerns at bay and on the strength of Warom’s writing, I continued reading, and I didn’t stop because, as it turns out, my concerns were unfounded.

As I said, I’m a fan of Neuromancer. Warom is, too, she has to be, and that first chapter of Escapology is Warom’s tip of the cap to Gibson’s Neuromancer. She’s acknowledging Neuromancer for the masterpiece it is before striking off on her own drug-induced cyberpunk thriller. It’s a madcap dash through a futuristic techno-junglescape where everyone and anyone is a predator. The rub is that there’s always a bigger, badder, nastier predator waiting just around the next corner. And it’s hungry and you’re delicious.

—Kevin Wright

‘Chords of Infinity’ was written by Stephan Godden under the pen name T.F. Grant and published by Firedance Books in 2015. It’s a lean 170-page collection of science fiction stories running the gamut from a near-future tale involving an old woman’s loss of her longtime mate to sentient interstellar space hulks vying for freedom from their enslavement at the hands of their cruel masters. Like all good science fiction, there’s plenty of today in Grant’s tomorrows. And there isn’t a story I didn’t enjoy, and there are more than a few that are simply excellent.

Two words: ‘Felix and Lucius.’ Well, that’s three in actuality, but you don’t have to focus on the ‘and.’ Focus on the other two because they are, together, the prime reason to read ‘Chords of Infinity.’ The duo takes center stage in ‘Felix and Lucius: Entanglements’ and ‘Felix and Lucius: Belonging.’

Do you like cyberpunk? Well, I do, and Felix and Lucius are cyberpunk at its best. Lucius is your standard 117-year-old master sleuth, and Felix is your typical, run-of-the-mill, sentient combat-chassisied cybernetic panther. Together, they solve crimes in a post-apocalyptic nightmare vision of London.

Now for a moment, forget those crimes (which are invariably horrific). Forget the breakneck pacing(it’s sleek and swift). Forget the slick action and incredible settings (one story takes place on a derelict ocean liner that’s been reduced to low-income housing). And forget the numb-skulled cop foils who never quite grasp exactly what’s going on behind the lush curtains of red-taped intrigue that the duo perpetually slash right through. For me, the best that ‘Felix and Lucius’ offers is the interplay between the two titular characters.

Felix and Lucius have some sort of quantum mind meld that allows them to read each other’s thoughts via internal IM. So as Lucius is externally verbally slashing some jacked-up flatfoot or grilling some vampish femme fatale, he and Felix are also internally bouncing spitfire patter between each other. It makes for some simply awesome scenes where you feel like you’re watching a verbal ping pong match on fast forward being played with panache by a triad of masters.

Throughout ‘Chords of Infinity,’ Grant does not spell everything out for you. He does not inundate you with description. He will not bore you with info dumps. What he does do is ask you to trust him as a storyteller. What he does do is ask you to sit back and get comfortable and put on your seatbelt. You’re in good hands with him behind the wheel.