The Death of the Cyborg Oracle

by Jordan A. Rothacker

“It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism,” said philosopher Frederic Jameson. In Jordan A. Rothacker’s The Death of the Cyborg Oracle the former has led to the latter.

It’s 2220 and climate catastrophe has made most of the earth uninhabitable. In this future, domed Atlanta, solar energy has ended want, but socialism would be more fun if the guilt of capitalism’s role in the destruction of earth wasn’t inherited by its descendants. Out of this void all goddesses and gods are reborn for worship, monotheism is verboten, and crime is divided into Sacred and Profane.

Meet Assistant Sacred Detective Edwina Casaubon, she’s just transferred from Profane and working with the legendary Sacred Detective Rabbi Jakob “Thinkowitz” Rabbinowitz. And not a moment too soon, someone has murdered the Oracle of Delphi.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

188 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 2020

About the author

Jordan A. Rothacker is a poet, novelist, and essayist living in Athens, Georgia where he earned a Masters in Religion and a PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia. Rothacker majored in Philosophy at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York and his life has been split between Georgia and New York (where he was born); he dreams of going west. His journalism has appeared in periodicals as diverse as Vegetarian Times and International Wristwatch, while his fiction, poetry, reviews, and essays can be found in such illustrious venues as Red River Review, Dark Matter, Dead Flowers, Stone Highway Review, May Day, As It Ought to Be, The Exquisite Corpse, The Believer, Entropy, Brooklyn Rail, Vol 1 Brooklyn, Literary Hub, and Guernica. For book length work check out Rothacker's novella (micro-epic) The Pit, and No Other Stories (Black Hill Press, 2015); his novels, And Wind Will Wash Away (Deeds Publishing, 2016) and My Shadow Book by Maawaam (Spaceboy Books, 2017); and his short story collection, Gristle: weird tales (Stalking Horse Press, 2019). Get ready for the November 17th, 2020 release of his novel, The Death of the Cyborg Oracle (Spaceboy Books).
www.jordanrothacker.com

Reviews

[Chris Kelso]

The Death of the Cyborg Oracle is as much Rabelaisian farce as it is a heart-aching death note to our philosophical and spiritual future. Rothacker’s handling of the genre is inspiring, he writes with passion, style, and pathos. I’m convinced he can do anything. Michael Moorcock would have been proud of this book.

[Darrell Grizzle]

The title of The Death of the Cyborg Oracle intrigued me, but the very first sentence hooked me:

“After ten years in Profane Homicide my transfer to the Sacred Homicide Division of City Safety had been approved, and under the title of Assistant Detective I was finally able to work with Detective Rabbi Jacob ‘Thinkowitz’ Rabbinowitz.”

With that one sentence, Jordan A. Rothacker creates a whole world, a future spacetime where philosophy and theology mix with streetwise detective work reminiscent of the finest film noir classics (or post-noir sci-fi classics like Blade Runner). There’s a Philip K. Dick vibe here for sure, but as I read this novel I was also reminded of Richard Brautigan and other post-Beat writers at their best. I loved the setting, a future version of Atlanta where familiar landmarks and Bohemian hangouts still exist, but in new forms. The story, which features a Maimonides-quoting rabbi/detective, has enough twists and turns to satisfy any mystery fan, and the issues and questions raised will satisfy any fan of philosophical literature. Truly a unique novel!

[Riley Evelyn]

Weird. In the best way. A little reminder that our beliefs may not be shared but it is belief that we all share. In some form or another.

The ending was like that episode of new girl where Jess and Robbie figure out their cousins, but instead mother and abandoned son. Makes sense why he shoved that rock down Tiresias throat.

[Nathaniel]

One of the most unique, compelling stories I've ever read. Set in a futuristic world where all religions are true, this story follows two investigators trying to solve the murder of the Oracle of Delphi. I really loved the conversations held in this book. I annotated entire pages. If you want a book that will give you lots to think about, check this one out.

[Monika]

Interesting concept but it didn't sweep me off my feet.

[Seb]

"The Death Of The Cyborg Oracle" by Jordan A. Rothacker is a very interesting, subtle and surprising novella. Both a real sleuth story and a politico-religious pamphlet, it keeps entertaining the reader until the superbly surprising ending. The main character, Sacred Detective Thinkowitz could have easily sprung out of Martin Buber's "Hassidic Tales". What's more, I really enjoyed the political and metaphysical world-building, in which Kapitalism with a big "K" is dead and free non-organizational religions are an expression of tolerance. Much deeper than its number of pages can induce, it is, in my eyes, an important reflection on contemporary issues seen through the revived tradition of the XVIIIth century "Conte philosophique". Totally recommended.

[Adam Shprintzen]

When I read through The Death of the Cyborg Oracle, I wept. Not from sadness, but from its comforting familiarity and universalism during our times of chaos, anxiety, destruction, and uncertainty. Jordan A. Rothacker's treatment of themes ranging from science fiction to religion, and mythology to ontology provides hope in a time of despair, and a call for rebirth and regeneration while we stare at the possibility of our own dystopian future. Most of all, The Death of the Cyborg Oracle--through its stunning prose and flow--calls on us to examine, understand, and utilize the past to work for a better present.

[Matt Neil Neil]

Jordan A. Rothacker has written a holy lamb in wolf’s clothing with this short novel – on the surface we have a futuristic detective yarn centred on a gruesomely violent murder, but at its heart it’s a treatise on the destructive power of unfettered capitalism and the redemptive magic of faith on both a personal and community level.

I've written a much longer review of this thought-provoking short novel which is available online at the Invert/Extant website:
https://www.invertextant.com/post/rev...

[Andrew Skelton]

Concise (almost dreamlike) prose guides you through a fascinating post-capitalist future.

[Zach Kramer]

This is a strange little book: fragmented, lyrical, and elliptical, and it took a little time to sink in. It’s neither plot nor character driven; it’s a snapshot of time, place, and culture, but it won’t explain itself. As I was reading I kept thinking I didn’t “get” this book or know what it is even about, but a day or so after finishing things began to all fall into place.

In a post-apocalyptic setting that feels neither utopian nor dystopian, Rothacker gives us a future built on the spiritual ashes of what came before. The world is post-capitalist, post-scarcity, and in many ways well more advanced and more harmonious the modern day, but it’s also deceptively post-faith, post-story, post-meaning. The rituals and symbols that remain feel less like a return to belief and more like an attempt to simulate meaning in a world that no longer knows what meaning is: a culture performing reverence in the absence of anything to revere. It’s ceremonial, but not sacred. Script without scripture.

It’s not an easy or always accessible read. It’s vague on purpose. But I found it richly textured and strangely resonant. A book I’ll think about again, especially when considering the metaphysics of capitalism, human grief, and the eerie concept of faith without content.

Not for everyone. But if you're the kind of reader who likes poetic unease and portrait of place, combined with a thoughtful criticism of our zeitgeist this might hit just right. It did for me.

[Siavahda]

Incredibly awkward prose, so much telling-not-showing via literal lectures, so much repetition, and I know almost nothing about how this post-capitalist society functions. Everyone picks a different god to worship: ok, that's very cool. And...? What else? That’s really all we get in terms of worldbuilding.

Don't get me started on the mc feeling her uterus 'relax' and being excited about ovulating a specific egg on a specific day (for no apparent reason, there's no mention of her trying to get pregnant or anything so why does she care?) I've never known anyone with a uterus to be excited over releasing a specific egg. What??? Gave the same vibes as a male author writing a woman who's obsessed with her breasts.

And WOW do I hate that ending! So much! No thank you!

[Brendan]

The main characters are almost entirely flat, and the murder and detective work that drive the plot are skeletal almost to the point of being inconsequential. Where Rothacker’s novel is fully deserving of four stars is in its vision of a post apocalyptic world in which humanity has been able to not only identify its main problems, but to grow and improve from its apocalyptic mistakes.

[William III]

A startling and necessary critique of present society, wrapped in a gripping and utterly unique whodunit. Rothacker distills the complex with engaging characters, real, imagined, and hoped for. Much praise is due for this excellent story.