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A Year In The Linear City

Paul Di Filippo

3.77 · Rating details · 146 ratings · 17 reviews

The Linear City is a world two city blocks across and unknowably many blocks long, with a river on one side and railroad tracks on the other. The story follows the lives of some residents of the 10,394,850th block throughout the course of a year.

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Paperback, 80 pages

Published April 2002 by PS Publishing

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Jan 18, 2019 Karl rated it it was amazing

This hardcover is numbered 28 of 300 copies printed and is signed by Paul Di Filippo

Diego Patchen, lives in the 10,394,850th block of the city's one through street, Broadway, in Gritsavage, one of the city's many many boroughs. A subway runs under Broadway for the length of the city, however long that may be. Every block is separated from the next by a short cross street, the depth of the buildings on either side of Broadway. On one side there is the river and on the other the railroad.

Beyond t ...more

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Aug 10, 2021 Bbrown rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, short-work

A Year in the Linear City is a slice of life novella with a setting that has a lot going on: the titular city is only two blocks wide but millions of blocks long, functioning thanks to ancient machinery that the city's inhabitants can repair but don't fully understand. Also underneath the city is a huge subterranean beast with burning blood and scales that bring good luck, but that are illegal to take. Also the afterlife is real, and everyone in the city knows that, since when you die then eithe A Year in the Linear City is a slice of life novella with a setting that has a lot going on: the titular city is only two blocks wide but millions of blocks long, functioning thanks to ancient machinery that the city's inhabitants can repair but don't fully understand. Also underneath the city is a huge subterranean beast with burning blood and scales that bring good luck, but that are illegal to take. Also the afterlife is real, and everyone in the city knows that, since when you die then either Fisherwives or Yardbulls will swoop down from where they soar above the city and carry your corpse to paradise or damnation, respectively. Diego Patchen, the equivalent of a sci-fi writer in this world (the genre instead being called “Cosmogonic Fiction”), visits his ailing father, writes up short stories, helps his friend out of a bind, and eventually takes a trip.

This book is an example of an author packing too many ideas into a story, not because it's jumbled or confusing, but because the ideas are so numerous and the work so short that nothing gets explored beyond the surface level. Instead of a deep look into how a father and his son deal with the father's impending death in a world where everyone knows the afterlife is real and that the father's life is about to be judged, instead of an immersive story about the illegal trade in scales and the subterranean excursions necessary for that line of work, instead of a long journey to try to reach the end of this vast & narrow city, we get a little smattering of everything and no piece feels complete. But this is often the nature of slice of life stories, which can instead be satisfying through a completed character arc. Paul Di Filippo doesn’t quite give Diego such an arc. Filippo could have (view spoiler). Diego, even though he’s the most developed character in the book, doesn’t change much throughout the course of the story, and as such A Year in the Linear City doesn’t have anything that makes it feel like a cohesive whole.

Even in the absence of an engaging plot or a satisfying character arc, great writing could save the day, but Di Filippo’s writing is probably the weakest aspect of A Year in the Linear City. I have a high tolerance for prolixity, but the beginning of this book is a bit too much. You can’t even argue that this is intentionally done to echo the pomposity of the main character, since it’s obvious that this is just Di Filippo’s choice: See, for example, his choice to use the word “pthtisic,” the archaic spelling of “phthisic.” What in the world could he have possibly thought that added to the book? The work being so overwritten is made worse by the fact that Di Filippo seemingly spent his time with his nose in a thesaurus at the cost of proofreading. On just the third page of this story, Di Filippo writes:

Kush’s newest lover, the capricious Milagra Eventyr, who had, by sensually occupying Diego’s lap at one point in the boozy, bleary evening, precipitated a fight with Diego’s own lover, the formidable Volusia Bittern.

Either the inclusion of the word “who” was a mistake, or else Di Filippo just forgot to finish the sentence. A story this short shouldn’t have mistakes like this.

The writing also belies that Di Filippo didn’t put much care into making sure that the characters and world made logical sense on the micro level and macro level. For a character example, Diego is irate when Volusia is late for dinner, and never shows any anxiety. However, Volusia has a dangerous job as a fire fighter, so her failure to show up on time should have made Diego worry for her safety if he (a) cared about Volusia and (b) isn’t an asshole. The narrative makes clear that Diego does care about Volusia, and there’s no indication that Di Filippo is intentionally portraying him as an asshole, so he’s just doing it unintentionally through poor writing. For a world example, it’s very minor but at one point the narrative uses the phrase “Gal Friday” which means that the book Robinson Crusoe exists in this world, which makes no sense. For a much more major example, the characters in the story don’t know what the start of the linear city looks like, but based on what we are told about train speeds and the travel time of the book’s characters the start of the city could be reached in well under a year. By the book’s own logic the start of the city should be a known quantity to everyone in Diego’s neighborhood, not some mind-breaking mystery.

One more thing, the repeated instances of Diego imagining how things work in our world, but it’s so absurd to him that he makes it the subject of one of his Cosmogonic Fiction stories, aren’t nearly as clever as Di Filippo thinks they are. In fact they’re not clever at all, but very irritating.

Even with all these flaws, A Year in the Linear City avoids the ultimate sin: it isn’t boring. Its world, even though it’s jam-packed with a bunch of things that are only touched upon, is interesting. I liked the relationships Diego had with his father, lover, and friend, even though the book didn’t spend enough time on any of them to get me emotionally invested. At well under a hundred pages, it didn’t overstay its welcome. To me, these are no mean virtues, and they counterbalance the numerous flaws of the work and leave me rating it a 3/5. ...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Rainb0warri0r rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: statunitensi, sci-fi

Paul Di Filippo è decisamente una delle menti più fantasiose in circolazione. Quando riesce a tradurre le sue immagini mentali in parole, sa anche essere un ottimo scrittore. Peccato non riesca sempre.
La fantascienza - molto più del fantasy, mi si conceda - è essenzialmente la capacità di immaginare nuovi mondi, nuove realtà, nuove infinita possibilità.
Di Filippo lo sa bene, e su questa sola idea ha costruito questo breve romanzo: un mondo piatto, un'unica infinita città attraversato da un'altr ...more

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Mar 10, 2011 Nick Tramdack rated it it was amazing

Di Filippo's style is absolutely inimitable in this book, a virtuoso feat of worldbuilding and a damn funny tale that touches sex, poverty, the "WRITER'S LIFE" (I know, I know) and the role of SF.

Check out this prose:

"Flowing through the basement wall as if through sheer air, five luminescent Fisherwives filled the room with their briney odor. Half again as large as a human, each pearly monochromatic Wife was cauled within wavy drapery that seemed more an extension of their forms, rather than an ...more

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Jun 16, 2009 Aaron rated it really liked it

I first saw this book in an exhibition in the SciFi Museum in Seattle, and immediately wrote down its title. There isn't really a well-defined genre for pure-imaginative stuff like this. Not fantasy, scifi, steampunk or cyberpunk. 'Alternate worlds' maybe.

I love the ideas and the setting, although the length (it's a novella) limits their exploration. The characters are vivid, but the dialogue is almost deliberately cheesy and expositional, viz. "I know how insane our world is, how much unexamine ...more

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Oct 21, 2007 Nicholas Whyte added it

I felt the plot took a while to get going but I was prepared to wait around for it. A superb and vivid setting on an apparently endless city which is two blocks wide, and where the afterlife visibly comes to get you when you die. The protagonist is a science fiction ("Cosmogonic Fiction") writer; his spectacular girlfriend, his other somewhat disreputable friends, his father, his editor, and the mayor make up a memorable cast. ...more

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Oct 11, 2020 Ghilimei rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf, e-books

There are so many things I loved about this book!
First of all, I really loved the concept and the imagery. Everything about the existence of the Linear City is so mysterious that if it were a series, I'd read it in a heartbeat, hoping for clues and answers. I find the scale hunting episode, where they get the closest to the City Beast, beautiful and intriguing - the very notion just made my brain come alive with sparks and colors and I just want more.

While reading about the Linear City from othe There are so many things I loved about this book!
First of all, I really loved the concept and the imagery. Everything about the existence of the Linear City is so mysterious that if it were a series, I'd read it in a heartbeat, hoping for clues and answers. I find the scale hunting episode, where they get the closest to the City Beast, beautiful and intriguing - the very notion just made my brain come alive with sparks and colors and I just want more.

While reading about the Linear City from other sources, I found an article I liked, that lists a few possible explanations about it: the novella „is set in a perhaps infinitely extended City which rather resembles New York: its theatrical inhabitants may be occupying a Generation Starship, or a World Ship, or an artefact created to house the inhabitants of a Dying Earth, or a Posthumous Fantasy venue, or a Pocket Universe experiment in Utopia-building, or the epidermis of a vast living entity, perhaps a dragon; or all or none of these.”

I hope to find the second Linear City book and enjoy it just as much :)
(A Princess of The Linear Jungle)

Also, the language! The words this man uses... Luckily, I read it on my Kindle and could easily look up the definitions without breaking my flow, but there wasn't one page I didn't have to look something up. I don't know if this is how he usually writes, I'm curious to find out. At first, I found the language pompous for no good reason, but I got into it somehow. I don't know if it was meant this way, but it made sense to me towards the end, when the cultural and linguistic differences between the Boroughs came into focus - I just chose to see it as the way people speak in Gritsavage.

One thing that really tickled my brain was what I perceived as humor from the author, as Diego appeared to mirror Di Filippo, but as an alter-ego in an alternate universe. I particularly liked how some of Diego's sci-fi ideas are actually things we use every day in this universe (spoiler alert: (view spoiler)).

I could go on and on about this book, but I won't - I don't want to spoil the fun for everyone :)
If you're a sci-fi lover, you're looking for something a little different, a little weird, and cosmogonic fiction appeals to you, then read this and you'll be in for a treat. ...more

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Jan 10, 2021 Paolo Alessandrini rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Un racconto fantascientifico interessante, nell'ambientazione più che nella trama (che forse scricchiola un poco): un mondo immaginario in cui una città si estende, forse infinta, su una sola dimensione, lungo una strada, paralleli alla quale corrono anche i binari del treno e un fiume, e ai lati della quale si stendono territori misteriosi, regni dell'aldilà per i giusti (da una parte) e per i dannati (dall'altra). L'idea è geniale, e ben descritta. Di Filippo sembra un autore promettente, cerc ...more

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May 28, 2021 Dima rated it it was amazing

Surprisingly terrific! I say surprisingly because I'm typically of two minds regarding the author's work. On the one hand if find it hugely imaginative and wondrous. On the other hand - it's often too complex for its own good; in a way you don't see the wood for the trees. This short novella was just right. A phenomenal example of weird fiction (or whatever epithet one prefers). A sort of coming of age story set in a weird (!) universe. Just lovely. ...more

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Mar 11, 2021 Djordje rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

My rating: ★★★

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Nov 14, 2010 Michele (Mikecas) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantascienza

da: http://www.webalice.it/michele.castel... Paul Di Filippo e' uno scrittore di notevole spessore, con una tendenza al cyberpunk ma con una capacita' di affrontare temi anche molto diversi, e praticamente sconosciuto in Italia perche' ha scritto praticamente solo racconti che, a parte poche eccezioni in antologie o raccolte varie, la mancanza cronica di riviste di fantascienza ne rendono la diffusione nel nostro paese estremamente povera. Personalmente non amo molto i racconti, perche' difficil da: http://www.webalice.it/michele.castel... Paul Di Filippo e' uno scrittore di notevole spessore, con una tendenza al cyberpunk ma con una capacita' di affrontare temi anche molto diversi, e praticamente sconosciuto in Italia perche' ha scritto praticamente solo racconti che, a parte poche eccezioni in antologie o raccolte varie, la mancanza cronica di riviste di fantascienza ne rendono la diffusione nel nostro paese estremamente povera. Personalmente non amo molto i racconti, perche' difficilmente permettono lo sviluppo completo delle potenzialita' di una idea, a meno che non si tratti di una battuta fulminante, come nei racconti di Brown, o di un'idea brillante un po' fine a se' stessa. Devo pero' riconoscere che Di Filippo, in questo racconto lungo, riesce a creare una atmosfera completa di questa citta' assolutamente irrealistica, a darne le sensazioni vere che si possono provare nel viverci, e e a costruirci anche una storia che ha una sua logica e una sua conclusione, seppure completamente aperta ad ogni possibile sviluppo. La sua capacita' piu' importante mi sembra quella di rendere "sensibile" al lettore un ambiente estremamente complesso in un modo estremamente semplice e breve, presentando contemporaneamente i personaggi che agiranno nella storia. Riesce quindi a concentrare in un numero ridotto di pagine la parte descrittiva che in casi del genere e' assolutamente predominante, e senza perdere complessita' anche se deve fidarsi molto nella capacita' di estrapolazione e di immedesimazione del lettore. Per me, che avevo letto di Di Filippo solo un altro racconto che non mi aveva lasciato impressioni particolari, questo e' stata una sorpresa estremamente positiva, anche se mi rimane la domanda di cosa saprebbe fare sulla lunghezza di un romanzo, visto che la sua capacita' di immaginazione e' in grado di creare scenari strani, complessi ma credibili. Puo' riuscire a costruire una storia altrettanto complessa e realistica dello scenario? E se si', cosa aspetta a farlo? ...more

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Oct 14, 2012 La Stamberga dei Lettori rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: tancredi

Paul Di Filippo è decisamente una delle menti più fantasiose in circolazione. Quando riesce a tradurre le sue immagini mentali in parole, sa anche essere un ottimo scrittore. Peccato non riesca sempre.
La fantascienza - molto più del fantasy, mi si conceda - è essenzialmente la capacità di immaginare nuovi mondi, nuove realtà, nuove infinite possibilità.
Di Filippo lo sa bene, e su questa sola idea ha costruito questo breve romanzo: un mondo piatto, un'unica infinita città attraversato da un'altre ...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Ippino rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantascienza

Carino.
Di Filippo ha una prosa leggermente più complessa della media dei suoi colleghi, e riesce sempre a costruire scenari e personaggi convincenti.
Forse una manciata di pagine in più avrebbe giovato, e secondo me da questo racconto potrebbe scaturire un romanzo lungo decisamente originale ed avvincente.
Anche così, comunque, si è rivelata una lettura piacevole.

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Jun 29, 2007 Heath rated it it was amazing

A wonderful novella published in a limited edition of 500. I read the first half aloud to my girlfriend and then the second half by myself. I'll read the second half aloud to her at the earliest opportunity. An interesting alternate world in the vein of Riverworld, Ringworld, or Discworld -- but slightly more interesting. Ideas worth returning to! ...more

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Jan 04, 2014 Little Icelander rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Idea un po' stupidina, personaggi appena abbozzati, tante idee da sviluppare meglio. ...more

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Oct 13, 2015 Amy Peavy rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, short-stories

I listened to this story first. It went by really fast, it was nice to sit back and enjoy the story as it unfolded, at my own pace

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Jan 28, 2013 Shannon rated it it was amazing

Astonishing book. It's been haunting me since I read it a year ago. ...more

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About Paul Di Filippo

Paul Di Filippo

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Paul Di Filippo is the author of hundreds of short stories, some of which have been collected in these widely-praised collections: The Steampunk Trilogy, Ribofunk, Fractal Paisleys, Lost Pages, Little Doors, Strange Trades, Babylon Sisters, and his multiple-award-nominated novella, A Year in the Linear City. Another earlier collection, Destroy All Brains, was published by Pirate Writings, but is q ...more