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A Song Called Youth #2
Eclipse Penumbra: A Song Called Youth Trilogy Book Two
"Vivid, dense, powerful imagery … hard to put down!" — Washington Post
"A complex, bizarre, and unique vision of the near future with a kaleidoscopic mix of politics, pop, and paranoia." — Bruce Sterling
"John Shirley was cyberpunk's patient zero, first locus of the virus, certifiably virulent. A Carrier." — William Gibson
With Eclipse Penumbra, the second volume in John Shirley's cyberpunk trilogy, A Song Called Youth returns to the World War III era, in which a nuclear strike has decimated Europe. The survivors are dominated by the Christian Fascist Second Alliance, a fundamentalist international security organization attempting to impose apartheid across Europe. Their master plan for a new world order, Project Total Eclipse, involves seizing control of FirStep, an orbiting space colony with the potential to extend their domination throughout the world. All that stands in their way are the rebels of the New Resistance, a gang of technologically adept guerilla fighters with a passion for sex and drugs and rock and roll.
The Eclipse Trilogy has proved prescient in its anticipation of 21st century issues, from drone surveillance to the rise of neo-Soviet Russia and the spread of radical right-wing movements. Back in print in the definitive edition, this volume offers a chilling and mesmerizing tale of the battle between a government dominated by military and corporate overlords and a spirited band of freedom fighters.
"A complex, bizarre, and unique vision of the near future with a kaleidoscopic mix of politics, pop, and paranoia." — Bruce Sterling
"John Shirley was cyberpunk's patient zero, first locus of the virus, certifiably virulent. A Carrier." — William Gibson
With Eclipse Penumbra, the second volume in John Shirley's cyberpunk trilogy, A Song Called Youth returns to the World War III era, in which a nuclear strike has decimated Europe. The survivors are dominated by the Christian Fascist Second Alliance, a fundamentalist international security organization attempting to impose apartheid across Europe. Their master plan for a new world order, Project Total Eclipse, involves seizing control of FirStep, an orbiting space colony with the potential to extend their domination throughout the world. All that stands in their way are the rebels of the New Resistance, a gang of technologically adept guerilla fighters with a passion for sex and drugs and rock and roll.
The Eclipse Trilogy has proved prescient in its anticipation of 21st century issues, from drone surveillance to the rise of neo-Soviet Russia and the spread of radical right-wing movements. Back in print in the definitive edition, this volume offers a chilling and mesmerizing tale of the battle between a government dominated by military and corporate overlords and a spirited band of freedom fighters.
323 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 1988
10 people are currently reading
312 people want to read
About the author
John Shirley
310 books456 followersJohn Shirley won the Bram Stoker Award for his story collection Black Butterflies, and is the author of numerous novels, including the best-seller DEMONS, the cyberpunk classics CITY COME A-WALKIN', ECLIPSE, and BLACK GLASS, and his newest novels STORMLAND and A SORCERER OF ATLANTIS.
He is also a screenwriter, having written for television and movies; he was co-screenwriter of THE CROW. He has been several Year's Best anthologies including Prime Books' THE YEAR'S BEST DARK FANTASY AND HORROR anthology, and his nwest story collection is IN EXTREMIS: THE MOST EXTREME SHORT STORIES OF JOHN SHIRLEY. His novel BIOSHOCK: RAPTURE telling the story of the creation and undoing of Rapture, from the hit videogame BIOSHOCK is out from TOR books; his Halo novel, HALO: BROKEN CIRCLE is coming out from Pocket Books.
His most recent novels are STORMLAND and (forthcoming) AXLE BUST CREEK. His new story collection is THE FEVERISH STARS. STORMLAND and other John Shirley novels are available as audiobooks.
He is also a lyricist, having written lyrics for 18 songs recorded by the Blue Oyster Cult (especially on their albums Heaven Forbidden and Curse of the Hidden Mirror), and his own recordings.
John Shirley has written only one nonfiction book, GURDJIEFF: AN INTRODUCTION TO HIS LIFE AND IDEAS, published by Penguin/Jeremy Tarcher.
John Shirley story collections include BLACK BUTTERFLIES, IN EXTREMIS, REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY WEIRD STORIES, and LIVING SHADOWS.
source: Amazon
He is also a screenwriter, having written for television and movies; he was co-screenwriter of THE CROW. He has been several Year's Best anthologies including Prime Books' THE YEAR'S BEST DARK FANTASY AND HORROR anthology, and his nwest story collection is IN EXTREMIS: THE MOST EXTREME SHORT STORIES OF JOHN SHIRLEY. His novel BIOSHOCK: RAPTURE telling the story of the creation and undoing of Rapture, from the hit videogame BIOSHOCK is out from TOR books; his Halo novel, HALO: BROKEN CIRCLE is coming out from Pocket Books.
His most recent novels are STORMLAND and (forthcoming) AXLE BUST CREEK. His new story collection is THE FEVERISH STARS. STORMLAND and other John Shirley novels are available as audiobooks.
He is also a lyricist, having written lyrics for 18 songs recorded by the Blue Oyster Cult (especially on their albums Heaven Forbidden and Curse of the Hidden Mirror), and his own recordings.
John Shirley has written only one nonfiction book, GURDJIEFF: AN INTRODUCTION TO HIS LIFE AND IDEAS, published by Penguin/Jeremy Tarcher.
John Shirley story collections include BLACK BUTTERFLIES, IN EXTREMIS, REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY WEIRD STORIES, and LIVING SHADOWS.
source: Amazon
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 23, 2018
The worldbuilding in this trilogy is really something else. It is near future. The best parts of it isn't what kind of tech is in it, although some are pretty cool like prolonged lifespans up to 140 if you have the riches or a specifically targeted reprogramming of memories for all the best propagandists.
No. It's pretty much our world. A space colony near the Earth notwithstanding. :)
No, the worldbuilding shines in the details and the direction everything is twisted. The first is obviously a Fascist mockup driven by the Religious Right blown up into an outright racial pogrom of a scope similar to those of the Nazis. But this time, war broke out sooner and the tools on both sides of the war are a bit more interestingly divided. Suffice to say, civilization has gone into an eclipse. And by the end of the first book, the SA, or the bad guys, HAVE WON.
Everything else is about resistance fighters, degrading situations for everyone, and getting to love a few new MCs with an expectation of getting punched in the gut. Hard. Again. Along the same lines as the first novel.
I wasn't disappointed, either.
So much racism is put on highlight here. So much truly horrible crap goes on. But let's be clear about this. My intuition says we're on the side of the angels. This is just a dark, dark time. And it's pretty epic. World War spreading out into space, nations turning on each other, exploring media, new nasty laws, injustice, and of course, misery and grief.
There are some cyberpunk elements here and the text is updated to have newer tech and more recent historical events that tie directly into the events here, but what really stands out is just how similar this world is to what we could fall into yet again.
No. It's pretty much our world. A space colony near the Earth notwithstanding. :)
No, the worldbuilding shines in the details and the direction everything is twisted. The first is obviously a Fascist mockup driven by the Religious Right blown up into an outright racial pogrom of a scope similar to those of the Nazis. But this time, war broke out sooner and the tools on both sides of the war are a bit more interestingly divided. Suffice to say, civilization has gone into an eclipse. And by the end of the first book, the SA, or the bad guys, HAVE WON.
Everything else is about resistance fighters, degrading situations for everyone, and getting to love a few new MCs with an expectation of getting punched in the gut. Hard. Again. Along the same lines as the first novel.
I wasn't disappointed, either.
So much racism is put on highlight here. So much truly horrible crap goes on. But let's be clear about this. My intuition says we're on the side of the angels. This is just a dark, dark time. And it's pretty epic. World War spreading out into space, nations turning on each other, exploring media, new nasty laws, injustice, and of course, misery and grief.
There are some cyberpunk elements here and the text is updated to have newer tech and more recent historical events that tie directly into the events here, but what really stands out is just how similar this world is to what we could fall into yet again.
May 21, 2016
La clase de libro que tiene todo para que me encante y que me deja con una (decepcionante) sensación de "Está bien". Quizá sea que no es muy sutil y que tampoco destaque por su originalidad. Hay momentos en los que parece que puede soltarse el pelo (la casa-parque de atracciones drogadicto, que la IA controle una colonia espacial...) pero termina casi teniendo miedo de soñar demasiado fuerte. Parece como si no quisiera desviarse ni un pelo de la "importante" historia de guerrilleros contra neofascistas que podría suceder mañana, pero a veces por eso mismo se queda un tanto coja para lo que podría llegar a ser.
En cualquier caso, y ya que llevo dos de tres. Habrá que terminar la saga en un futuro más o menos próximo.
En cualquier caso, y ya que llevo dos de tres. Habrá que terminar la saga en un futuro más o menos próximo.
September 30, 2021
In a future of far-right extremists and fundamentalist Christians controlling politics on Earth and in the orbiting space Colony, World War III is hotting up. Russia has blockaded the space colony and it looks like only nuclear weapons can break the stalemate. On the Colony the fascist leaders are honing their eugenics ideas and when a repair shuttle is destroyed which was manned by Jews, blacks and other ‘undesirables’, it becomes plain just what the new world order the Second Alliance (SA) is modelling itself on. The New Revolution (NR) meanwhile plots to overthrow key SA personnel and plans but the use of memory extraction techniques - extractors - by both sides has changed the war dynamics. It is discovered that the extractor can also be used to insert ideas into the minds of the victims, creating perfect fifth columnists and both sides insert moles… John Shirley has given us a depressingly realistic scenario where fascist regimes are manipulating media and using corruption to have people imprisoned and executed without trial, or by spurious kangaroo courts. He has also anticipated deep fake technology by thirty years. Middle book of a trilogy it stands alone but the reader benefits from having read the first book.
May 16, 2022
Sharply written, and frighteningly prophetic. Set in 2021, you've got NATO-Russian conflict, the rise of evangelical far-right movements, deepfakes, militarized police forces, even reference to a fascist leader named "Le Pen" in Europe. Okay, so maybe the space colony was off, but the story written in 1988 holds up, other than a few edgy things that feel a little cringey now.
September 10, 2017
A very good book that like its predecessor is marred by absolutely abysmal typesetting. As part of its late 1990s update someone clearly ran a find-and-replace to change the word "Soviet" to "New-Soviet," leading to dozens of times where the Russians are exasperatingly referred to as "New New-Soviets."
August 24, 2019
"azione al crepuscolo" è il tipico secondo capitolo di una trilogia: da un lato deve quantomeno chiudere qualche filone del primo capitolo e dall'altro deve dare qualche stimolo a spingere il lettore a leggere anche il terzo capitolo.
Per il primo aspetto in effetti abbiamo diverse storie che si chiudono, dall'altro il finale porta a non poche domande; nel mezzo però abbiamo storie interessanti, nuovi personaggi molto interessanti, le consuete morti eccellenti (shirley non si fa problemi da quel punto di vista e la storia ne guadagna in drammaticità).
Tra le righe c'è la descrizione di un mondo che va sempre più a destra ma anche la speranza di una possibile ribellione anche da parte di chi dovrebbe/potrebbe essere tra i potenziali carnefici, il che porta qualche spiraglio di luce in un mondo persino più cupo che nel precedente "eclipse" (anche stilisticamente: meno cyberpunk in senso stretto - ma occhio alle "stanze" e alla storia di charlie- e più distopico).
Forse manca quel personaggio forte che c'era in "eclipse" (ma si rivede l'esibizione all'arco di trionfo) e i cattivi sono davvero troppo tendenti all'autodistruzione ma il romanzo c'è ed è valido.
Ora speriamo nel gran finale...
Per il primo aspetto in effetti abbiamo diverse storie che si chiudono, dall'altro il finale porta a non poche domande; nel mezzo però abbiamo storie interessanti, nuovi personaggi molto interessanti, le consuete morti eccellenti (shirley non si fa problemi da quel punto di vista e la storia ne guadagna in drammaticità).
Tra le righe c'è la descrizione di un mondo che va sempre più a destra ma anche la speranza di una possibile ribellione anche da parte di chi dovrebbe/potrebbe essere tra i potenziali carnefici, il che porta qualche spiraglio di luce in un mondo persino più cupo che nel precedente "eclipse" (anche stilisticamente: meno cyberpunk in senso stretto - ma occhio alle "stanze" e alla storia di charlie- e più distopico).
Forse manca quel personaggio forte che c'era in "eclipse" (ma si rivede l'esibizione all'arco di trionfo) e i cattivi sono davvero troppo tendenti all'autodistruzione ma il romanzo c'è ed è valido.
Ora speriamo nel gran finale...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2024
This one is quite a bit...grosser, than the first, in terms of extremely explicit violence/gore/body horror stuff. Not as compelling as book one in terms of pacing and I don't care for Torrence as a main character. I did get my wish for working class heroes and heroes of color! But still felt like they could have been more major players in the grand scheme. I also find it jarring when someone's race or nationality is used as a noun instead of a descriptor. I'll finish Corona and I hope Smoke survives, but if anything happens to Alouette or the crow I'll destroy everyone in this room and then myself, etc.
November 16, 2023
Good read. A little too close to home these days...
January 27, 2012
A Fine Work Of Cyberpunk Fiction
Once more John Shirley gives a fascinating, riveting tale about 21st Century Fascism attempting to take hold in the United States and Western Europe, in the waning phases of a conventional war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Dissent and treachery are rife in the leadership of the Christian Fascist Second Alliance (SA) and its primary opposition, the New Resistance (NR). The SA's grip on Western Europe grows tighter as it bids to win control of FirStep, the orbiting space colony. A splendid tale filled with mesmerizing characters that is among the finest works of cyberpunk fiction.
(Reposted from my 2001 Amazon review)
Once more John Shirley gives a fascinating, riveting tale about 21st Century Fascism attempting to take hold in the United States and Western Europe, in the waning phases of a conventional war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Dissent and treachery are rife in the leadership of the Christian Fascist Second Alliance (SA) and its primary opposition, the New Resistance (NR). The SA's grip on Western Europe grows tighter as it bids to win control of FirStep, the orbiting space colony. A splendid tale filled with mesmerizing characters that is among the finest works of cyberpunk fiction.
(Reposted from my 2001 Amazon review)
June 21, 2014
Very much a middle novel in a trilogy, and at this point we are in the thick of it.
It's extremely good, and the plot twists and key events start to come thick and fast - and up to a point, maybe too fast. Some of the groundwork in the first novel is undermined slightly here, as key characters and their positions in the melee are changed. However, this shouldn't put anyone off, the description of (near future) Europe is still uncomfortably plausible, and the methods used by the New Resistance draw as much on the media and propaganda as on rockets and ambushes.
It's extremely good, and the plot twists and key events start to come thick and fast - and up to a point, maybe too fast. Some of the groundwork in the first novel is undermined slightly here, as key characters and their positions in the melee are changed. However, this shouldn't put anyone off, the description of (near future) Europe is still uncomfortably plausible, and the methods used by the New Resistance draw as much on the media and propaganda as on rockets and ambushes.
October 20, 2014
Shirley's second entry in his A Song Called Truth trilogy really gets the gears churning, and puts the reader in the middle; you still don't know who will live or die, the bad guys seem to have the upper hand in a way that is unstintingly not-implausible, and the rigor of the writing brings us into everyone's worlds-within-sub-worlds that the narrative almost induces vertigo — that is, if it weren't so exhilarating.
Buckle in! A roller-coaster that is also trenchant social-and-political criticism.
For once, you can have it all!
Buckle in! A roller-coaster that is also trenchant social-and-political criticism.
For once, you can have it all!
June 17, 2011
(SPOILERS) My favorite character from the first book is not in this one. The tone shifted from chaotic cyberpunk postapocalyptia to grim guerilla-war postapocalyptia, which is really not the direction I was hoping the series would go.
December 10, 2012
For a review of this excellent cyberpunk novel, please visit my blog: http://tesatorul.blogspot.ro/2008/01/...
December 12, 2010
Oh dear God in Heaven was this painful.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews