monstrocity by jeffrey thomas prime

MONSTROCITY by Jeffrey Thomas (Prime Books 2003)

For some reason, I'm much more inclined to take a chance on an old

book than a new one, so I debated for quite some time about whether to

take the plunge on Monstrocity. Lovecraftian horror in a cyberpunk

setting--now there's an intriguing combination that could really suck

if handled poorly. But Amazon reviewers seemed to like it a lot, the

only real online review I found was pretty positive, and even this

less enthusiastic quick-take seemed, on balance, more positive than

not. I finally just gave it a shot, and boy I'm glad I did!

First, a word about that cyberpunk setting. This isn't a one-off.

Thomas has been developing the alien city of Paxton (better known as

Punktown) for many years through a number of novels and story

collections. Not to say it's necessarily derivative of the following

sources, but it essentially feels like a mashup/meltdown of equal

parts Blade Runner's L.A., the Mos Eisley spaceport, the goth-urban

backdrop of Blade and Underworld movies, and Sin City. Thomas is

obviously a fan who understands what fans want in a cyberpunk world.

But this ain't fan fiction--he brings pro-caliber imagination and

talent to the challenge of bringing his noirish futuristic sprawl to

life. I very much enjoyed that aspect of this novel.

Christopher Ruby, our hero, is just a poor, cubicle-bound working slob

who handles vid-phone complaints all day for some kind of web hosting

corporation. His dead-end life blows wide open when he hooks up with a

cute, chubby little goth chick who somehow happens to own the

Necronomicon on disc. To humor her, pretty much as foreplay, he

assists in a seemingly innocuous ritual. Not to spoil anything,

suffice it to say, that's when the Bad Stuff starts. Murder! Monsters!

Mutants! Mayhem! To be sure, there are some "deliberately" paced

stretches of hardboiledy amateur sleuthing (into interplanetary occult

mysteries, no less!) and a new romantic subplot, but I daresay readers

who like action won't go away hungry.

The first-person narration flows smoothly, with generous spoonfuls of

wry humor to help the grue, horror, and nihilism go down.

My only complaints are fairly minor. One is endemic to Lovecraftian

horror--most authors just can't pull off a convincing transition in

their protagonists from skepticism to belief, and I'm sorry to say

this is no exception. I'm so used to it, it doesn't even bother me any

more. I've come to view it as practically a convention of the

subgenre. My other complaint is endemic to a lot of speculative

fiction in general--modeling alien or fantasy races and cultures a

little too closely on familiar "exotic" human races and cultures.

Those quibbles aside, I enjoyed this so much that I'll definitely be

reading more about Punktown from Mr. Thomas. As it happens, his novel

Deadstock is available for free download to promote the imminent

release of his next Punktown novel, Blue War. I highly recommend

Monstrocity, and I invite you to read Deadstock along with me.

Assuming I like that as much as this, I'll be ordering the rest of the

Punktown canon, and will return to it as soon after Blue War's release

as I can (probably once I've finished my London kick).

Here are Jeffrey Thomas's website and blog, and here are a number of

interviews he's done, in no particular order:

* The Zone

* Solaris

* Fantasy Book Critic

* SciFiChick

* Scifirama

* Infinity Plus

* The Deep Ones Speak

UPDATE Thomas responds on his blog:

One little quibble about this awesome review; it suggests Punktown

is inspired by the films Blade Runner, Blade, Underworld, Sin City,

etc. Well, I began writing about Punktown in 1980, well before even

Blade Runner came out.

Duly noted!