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KALIFORNIA: Ein Cyberpunk-Roman
Im Jahr 2050 hat das interaktive Fernsehen seinen Höhepunkt erreicht: Eine permanente Verbindung zum Hauptdarsteller einer Lieblingsserie ist Realität geworden. Millionen Menschen können dessen Schicksal rund um die Uhr mit ihm teilen, seine Gefühle live miterleben, mit ihm leiden und lachen und glücklich sein. Und der Deal mit dem Publikum bringt den Darstellern ein Vermögen ein.
Doch Sandy Figueroa aus der beliebten Figueroa-Familie hat dieses Geschäft gründlich satt. Im Gegensatz zu seiner Schwester Poppy, die sogar ihr ungeborenes Baby im Mutterleib schon für Reality-TV präparieren lässt, möchte er aus dem Medien-Rummel aussteigen. Doch das ist für einen Verdrahteten nicht eben einfach – insbesondere dann, wenn aus dem Reality-TV durch die verrückten Anhänger einer blutrünstigen Sekte grauenvolle Realität wird...
Marc Laidlaws dritter Roman, erstmals im Jahr 1993 erschienen, ist eine brillante, düstere Satire über die Macht und Absurdität der Medien und über die Sensationsgier eines auf die niedrigsten Instinkte reduzierten Publikums. Überdies gilt KALIFORNIA als Klassiker der zweiten Generation von Cyberpunk-Romanen.
Doch Sandy Figueroa aus der beliebten Figueroa-Familie hat dieses Geschäft gründlich satt. Im Gegensatz zu seiner Schwester Poppy, die sogar ihr ungeborenes Baby im Mutterleib schon für Reality-TV präparieren lässt, möchte er aus dem Medien-Rummel aussteigen. Doch das ist für einen Verdrahteten nicht eben einfach – insbesondere dann, wenn aus dem Reality-TV durch die verrückten Anhänger einer blutrünstigen Sekte grauenvolle Realität wird...
Marc Laidlaws dritter Roman, erstmals im Jahr 1993 erschienen, ist eine brillante, düstere Satire über die Macht und Absurdität der Medien und über die Sensationsgier eines auf die niedrigsten Instinkte reduzierten Publikums. Überdies gilt KALIFORNIA als Klassiker der zweiten Generation von Cyberpunk-Romanen.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
324 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 2, 2016
A Dizzying Fast-Paced Satirical Cyberpunk Novel from one of the Literary Movement's Masters
"Kalifornia" is a dizzy, fast-paced, fictional deconstruction of postmodern American society from Marc Laidlaw, among the major figures in the 1980s cyberpunk literary movement in Anglo-American speculative fiction. In many respects, it should be seen as quite prescient in its depiction of mid 21st Century reality television, with Laidlaw introducing us to the trials and tribulations of the Figueroas, the "first family" of "wired" - via artificial nerves - virtual reality. The book opens with Poppy, the only Figueroa still "wired", giving birth on California's bicentennial birthday, to Calafia, the first "wired" newborn, during a live "wired" broadcast seen by millions. Abducted by a secretive cult of Kali worshippers, young Calafia - or Kalifornia as she is renamed by the cult - realizes she can manipulate others through her "wires", and soon takes over the cult. Meanwhile, the governor of California, RevGov Thaxter Halfjest, has an agenda of his own through which he hopes to manipulate Kalifornia, and through her, rule the world. Laidlaw's near future novel lacks the grittiness and realism found in William Gibson's best cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk speculative fiction, but it's still a wild, entertaining, ride that remains a memorable fictional satire of contemporary American society and culture. It's definitely the funniest cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk speculative fiction novel I've read - and I note this having just read it again for the third time - and one that remains a neglected classic by one of cyberpunk's most notable writers.
"Kalifornia" is a dizzy, fast-paced, fictional deconstruction of postmodern American society from Marc Laidlaw, among the major figures in the 1980s cyberpunk literary movement in Anglo-American speculative fiction. In many respects, it should be seen as quite prescient in its depiction of mid 21st Century reality television, with Laidlaw introducing us to the trials and tribulations of the Figueroas, the "first family" of "wired" - via artificial nerves - virtual reality. The book opens with Poppy, the only Figueroa still "wired", giving birth on California's bicentennial birthday, to Calafia, the first "wired" newborn, during a live "wired" broadcast seen by millions. Abducted by a secretive cult of Kali worshippers, young Calafia - or Kalifornia as she is renamed by the cult - realizes she can manipulate others through her "wires", and soon takes over the cult. Meanwhile, the governor of California, RevGov Thaxter Halfjest, has an agenda of his own through which he hopes to manipulate Kalifornia, and through her, rule the world. Laidlaw's near future novel lacks the grittiness and realism found in William Gibson's best cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk speculative fiction, but it's still a wild, entertaining, ride that remains a memorable fictional satire of contemporary American society and culture. It's definitely the funniest cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk speculative fiction novel I've read - and I note this having just read it again for the third time - and one that remains a neglected classic by one of cyberpunk's most notable writers.
October 5, 2023
The setting is so prescient it's almost boring from a contemporary standpoint.
March 9, 2024
"You think anyone listened to the Beatles once they heard Ringo work solo?"
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews