Elvissey
A dystopian SF novel that weaves alternate history with cultural identity. Through a world where reality and memory warp, it explores the distortions of power and community.
Work Information
In a post-collapse world, culture and power mutate in strange ways.
Jack Womack’s future world mixes pop culture with the wreckage of a collapsed society. A civilization sunk to the bottom of the city becomes tangled with personal memory.
Review Summaries
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The sharp dystopian vision and cultural remixing are appealing, though the future slang and density of the world-building can be intense.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Tor Books
- Published
- 1993-01-01
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.97 x 2.54 x 20.96 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780312852023
- ISBN-10
- 0312852029
- Price
- 6326 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Science Fiction
A troubled couple must make a journey across time to kidnap a young Elvis Presley and transform him into the demigod of a decadent urban future. By the author of Ambient. Original.
Reviews
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elvissey
Enjoyed it very much
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A warped-out universe in which Elvis is revered as a god
A fun book who deals with a future society in which Elvis is revered as a god-like figure... Oh, and the people living at that time are all african-americans... they send a team in the past to bring back a young Elvis... but this Elvis isn't really cooperating...
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"Knowledge and self-awareness save the soul..."
Would salvation be sought from a pop star? How marketable might it be for the omnipotent corporation DRYCO? You're more likely to find deliverance in this book than from the maniac alternate Elvis captured by the main characters Isabel and John. This isn't the first time DRYCO has sunk its fangs into profiting off a messiah. As it was explored in HEATHERN, Womack paints us a very gruesome portrait of a media-obsessed culture, where the monopolizing higher-ups will take any route to get even higher, not precluding the kidnapping of celebrities from alternate dimensions. The story takes place after TERRAPLANE, and carries continuity from that particular adventure into the bleak past. Jack Womack in a way, redeemed science-fiction. He has shown us, through a very distorted security camera, what the past could of been like, and what the future may end up as. Lots of science-fiction writers will focus more on the social and economic side effects of new technology merging in the modern, and in this AMBIENT universe, decaying world. The sci-fi breed (and all its sub-genre spin-offs) can very easily deal with adult themes, but for so long (and still to this day) its treated sophomorically. Jack Womack lays to waste any predispositions that its a genre "only for kids." Like Philip K Dick's work, we have religion as a theme to be examined in this increasingly stressful vision of New York. And in the veins of William Gibson, we see abnormally rich corporations, similar to the "zaibatsus." DRYCO lives to stamp its logo on every commodity available. There are traditional sci-fi highlights like traveling to other dimensions, flying saucers, robot nurses, and at the same time there are characters dealing with grave issues like racism, police brutality, and even matricide. ELVISSEY is a novel that can make you laugh, but most scenes will likely make you cringe. You'll be all the wiser for having read it!