From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Aug 10 12:46:23 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!news.solace.mh.se!news.ecn.ou.edu!news.cetlink.net!nntp.abs.net!europa.clark.net!194.162.162.196!newsfeed.nacamar.de!news-hh.maz.net!ai-lab!news.media.mit.edu!not-for-mail From: Russell Cole Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: SILICON SUNSET by Scott T. Grusky Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 20 Jul 1998 16:56:38 -0400 Organization: Software Agents Group Lines: 47 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2044 SILICON SUNSET by Scott T. Grusky Review Copyright 1998 Russell Cole Silicon Sunset is, um, disturbing, in that it shouldn't be so easy for the reader to slide into such a finely-crafted madhouse world -- and language -- as that depicted here without any hand-holding from the author, but (t)here you are, and if you take that as the point of the novel you could lose some sleep... The timing of this story is exquisite, and accidental. Grusky's been birthing the damn thing through a decade-long series of oblivious midwives, and has finally had to perform the delivery himself. I'm here to report that the baby is very healthy indeed, even if it does have two navels and an eye in the back of its head. Strange creatures such as this are, I think, youbetcha welcome now as we stumble around trying to craft our self-fulfulling prophecies for these highly charged Last and First days; something, ANYTHING, to counteract the ennui of, say, yet another rock-in-the-sky fx-moneysuck placebo with the audacity to call itself Armaggeddon. For orientation (not description), Silicon Sunset is more Millennium than X-Files, more 'This is who we are' than 'The Truth is Out There.' Nah, that truth is In Here, in the mirror, and boy howdy, what a funhouse mirror you stand before when you enter Silicon Sunset! Most importantly, this bambino's FUN to interact with. Being one who dives out the window at the mere mention of an economic report on TV, I was surprised to find myself so caught up in all the bizarre intricacies of that aspect of the plot. Ditto for this particular take on cybernetic evolution. Grusky has an odd talent for immersing himself in the most unpalatable topics -- he'll spend YEARS if necessary -- then emerging with a wickedly delicious angle on it, to which a big old belly laugh, half on-site spontaneous, half oh mama appreciative, is the only possible response. For me the appreciative part had to do with how surprisingly familiar are the strange events, and their context, in Silicon Sunset. Again, 'this is who we are.' Or may become. Wow. %T SILICON SUNSET %A Scott T. Grusky %C Malibu %D September 1998 %I InfoNet Press, http://www.siliconsunset.com %O trade paperback, US$15.95 %G ISBN 0-9651190-0-9 %P 304pp Russ Cole, Zimmerman Library rcole@unm.edu