A Mouthful of Tongues: Her Totipotent Tropicanalia

by Paul Di Filippo

In his new novel, A Mouthful of Tongues, Paul Di Filippo, cult author of Ciphers, The Steampunk Trilogy, and Ribofunk, makes his boldest fictional statement yet. Writing in the tradition of Kathy Acker and Samuel R. Delany, but with a subversive brio all his own, Di Filippo here imagines a true erotic revolution, a crusade of the libido that will topple a corrupt and jaded future world order, and possibly much besides . . . Kerry Hackett is just another corporate pawn in the urban cauldron of 2015, besieged on all sides by those who would possess and exploit her. Driven to desperation, she undergoes a mysterious transformation into an alchemical goddess, wanderer of the timelines. In a magnificently evoked parallel Brazil, a place of seedy splendor and charismatic lusts, Kerry, or that which she has become, tests her carnal arsenal on targets deserving and undeserving; but the attention of a more powerful agency has been attracted, and a yet stranger metamorphosis awaits. A tale of heartbreak, revenge, and liberation, written in Paul Di Filippo's most fantastically effervescent prose, A Mouthful of Tongues is a work of science fiction which crosses boundaries and breaks taboos with brilliant savage abandon. It can only add to its author's rapidly growing following, and will shake the world of speculative fiction to its very foundations. "Out of a rich impasto of language, a story that is sensual, sexual, and hot takes shape around one of the most engaging heroines since Southern and Hoffenberg's Candy." --Samuel R. Delany "Sacred sin, that's Di Filippo's force here. We have participated in a transpersonal act that lifts our consciousness above the situational polarities of morality and into the psyche's unknown, where objective energetic processes fuse dream and matter--and make us us. A ruthless fantasy of aggressive sexuality and archaic intentions." --A. A. Attanasio

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy

180 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2002

About the author

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 quite rare because of the extremely short print run (if you see one, buy it!).

The popularity of Di Filippo’s short stories sometimes distracts from the impact of his mindbending, utterly unclassifiable novels: Ciphers, Joe’s Liver, Fuzzy Dice, A Mouthful of Tongues, and Spondulix. Paul’s offbeat sensibility, soulful characterizations, exquisite-yet-compact prose, and laugh-out-loud dialogue give his work a charmingly unique voice that is both compelling and addictive. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, BSFA, Philip K. Dick, Wired Magazine, and World Fantasy awards.

Despite his dilatory ways, Paul affirms that the sequel to A Year in the Linear City, to be titled A Princess of the Linear Jungle, will get written in 2008. He has two books forthcoming from PS Publications: the collection entitled Harsh Oases and the novel titled Roadside Bodhisattva. His 2008 novel Cosmocopia is graced by Jim Woodring illustrations.

Paul lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Reviews

[zxvasdf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Move aside 50 Shades of Grey, there's a new contender in town! Di Filippo's erotic odyssey, carefully seminated to offend certain demographics, is a loving fuck you to taboos left and right.

After a single night of psyche shattering tribulations, Kerry makes a decision that forever changes herself and the world. A beautiful literary accomplishment in itself, A Mouthful of Tongues is a less campy, but no less experimental extension of the themes Di Filippo explored in his short story collection, Ribofunk.

I really loved how it ended. It could have easily gone the direction of "I Spit On Your Grave" but what emerged was a transcendental revenge tale of accepting and loving your enemies. Within the neonatal totipotent tropicanalia sprouting from the concrete, a new weird hope awaits humankind.

Reading this chapter brought be back to Moorcock's The Condition of Muzak : a Jerry Cornelius Novel where the Harlequin slips through the streets on the way to the great celebration, and of Pippin's escape in the end of Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree. Who knows how these things work, and though I sometimes feel silly about it, it's a great thing when books you read titillate echoes of previous worlds you've visited.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was fucked up. awesome, yes, but still fucked up. my first foray into the world of "books with a lot of sex in them." so this one was at least interesting. and the use of totipotent cells for highly nefarious purposes, although highly unrealistic, is unbelievably cute. well written, high prose, never seen the word "cunt" so often in one text in my life. like a neal stephenson who wants to ruin your sex life.

so yeah, go for it. it was great.

[Dire Wolf · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only book I physically destroyed before throwing into the garbage, just to make sure it wouldn't fall off the truck and victimize another reader. Seriously, it was horrid. I only finished it so that I could say with confidence there was no redeeming qualities in the end.

[Karin Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schräg, sehr schräg. Viel Sex. Nicht unbedingt meins, aber sehr beeindruckende Ideen und Umsetzung. Bizarr, abstrakt.

[Zaynab · Rating 1 out of 5]

godawful

[Anatoly Maslennikov · Rating 1 out of 5]

А тут есть только sexploitation.

[reherrma · Rating 2 out of 5]

In dieser düsteren, dystopischen Geschichte arbeitet Kerry Hackett als Vorzimmerdame eines Biotechnologie-Unternehmens, sorgt sich um den Obdachlosen in ihrem Hausflur und unterstützt ihren chronisch kranken Freund Tango. Ihre Sehnsüchte und feuchten Träume behält Kerry derweil für sich. Erst scheint es, als würde die brave Sekretärin für ihre Selbstlosigkeit belohnt werden: Ihr Chef weiht sie in das Geheimprojekt der Firma ein. Gemeinsam bestaunen sie das Benthos, ein Wesen, das alle irdischen Erbanlagen in sich vereint. Doch der Vertrauensbeweis entpuppt sich als Teil eines Plans, die Sekretärin ins Bett zu kriegen. Kerry kann sich aus den Fängen ihres Vorgesetzten befreien, doch statt ihr zu helfen, vergewaltigt sie der eifersüchtige Tango und infiziert sie mit seinem Virus. Auf der Straße missbraucht ein Soldat Kerry ein weiteres Mal, bevor sie in das Labor einbricht, das Benthos befreit und mit ihm zu einer neuen, übermenschlichen Lebensform verschmilzt.
Hier beginnt die Transformation von Kerry zu einem "She-Beast", wie sie sich später nennt und reist in den brasilianischen Bundesstaat Bahia, ein schwüles, gesetzloses Dschungelland, in dem sie ihre körperlichen Fähigkeiten nicht in der Schlacht, sondern im Sex erprobt, in Bordellen, Hotelzimmern und bei Orgien zwischen Kollegen, Freunden, Feinden und Verwandten. She-Beast ist "totipotent", ein amorphes Wesen, das mit wenigen Handgriffen organische Materie und ganze Gliedmaßen aus dem Nichts erschaffen und den eigenen Körper beliebig verändern kann...
Dieser zweite Roman aus der, von Dietmar Dath herausgegebenen, "WNewgothic-Reihe", ist nichts als eine Aneinanderreihung schlüpfriger Szenen, wenn auch der Text zwischendurch immer wieder literarische Klasse aufblitzen lässt...

[Chris Tower · Rating 4 out of 5]

One part Henry Miller, two parts pornographic excess beyond Miller's wildest imagination, three parts cautionary tale of genetic engineering of new and adaptable life forms, _A Mouthful of Tongues_ is orgiastic roller coaster ride of sexual revenge tale, in some ways, not unlike _I Spit on Your Grave_.
I liked it, but I am not going to rave about it. It's short and I am glad I read it. I am interested in different voices, especially if SF. Apparently, even for Di Filippo, this is not his usual fare. Recommended by Warren Ellis (big surprise), I bought this book a few years ago and moved it around in my to read stack until I felt ready to give it a try. I felt the baroque language was a bit overwrought, and this is a critique from a lover of baroque language. Heck, I am full on Roccoco in my my use of "gorpy" language. And yet, I found Di Filippo a bit over indulgent at times. The book also has a middle lull, which is tough to forge through, but luckily, it's short as the book is short. Those with literary experience and no fear of the most pornographic of language and imagery should feel right at home; however, the garden variety SF and/or fantasy reader, even the run-of-the-mill Warren Ellis fan will balk at this sexual, pulp-style horror tale.
All that said, it's worth a read if you can handle the content. See reviews that are more eloquent:
here
http://www.locusmag.com/2002/Reviews/...
and here
http://www.sfsite.com/09a/mt135.htm
and an interview with the "mad shaman" of Rhode Island (as Ellis called him)
here
http://www.40kbooks.com/?p=2403

On to my next book... - cbt 1205.24

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. This books sucks. I may even remove it from my bookshelves at GoodReads just to dissociate me from it. The plot is disjointed, the writing is cumbersome, and the author seems to suffer from a vocabulary-inferiority complex as he goes through stretches of cramming every big word he can think of (or look-up) into his sentences. This book is supposed to be pretty racy, so I thought I'd stick with it and see if it could be redeemed by those passages. Nope, not even a good smut book as those passages sucked (not in a good way) too. Can I say anything positive about it? Sure, as bad as it got, this is still better than "Wuthering Heights".

[Grassy Golgotha · Rating 3 out of 5]

So beautiful that it hurts when it's over. The language is somewhat tiring at times but thye payoff is more than enough to warrant finishing the book. Simple in structure, almost quaint one could say, but archetypal and unforgetful.

[bogna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Transgressive, post-humanist, pornographic tour-de-force in which gender divisions are utterly destroyed, animals look out to sexually abuse humans, violence spills out of the pages and shamanism is resurrected. All this served in a truly original writing style.

[Zahra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange and hyper-sexual even by my standards.

[Mirthe]

Weirdest porn i have ever read. Obnoxious in style yet fascinating.

[A.A. Attanasio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyrical /and/ exciting!