From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Aug 22 15:26:26 1997 From: "John Shiali" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: "Only Forward" by Michael Marshall Smith Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 18 Aug 1997 21:26:51 GMT Organization: Excalibur Inc. Lines: 94 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: Reply-To: "john" NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu Path: news.ifm.liu.se!genius.dat.hk-r.se!news.lth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!netnews.com!eecs-usenet-02.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!news!wex Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:1496 "Only Forward" by Michael Marshall Smith Review Copyright 1997 John Shiali [This review contains spoilers for the book. --AW] Stark is a fixer. Tell him what needs doing and, if he takes the job, he'll get it done - no matter what. Although there are quite few people that you could hire to get something done, Stark has a special talent that makes him unique, that sometimes means he takes a job only because he know that no one else can do it - these are the jobs that he *really* hates. Stark's city is a place of enclaves, each with their own social rules, atmosphere and physical style. Stark lives in Colour, where the coulours of walls, streets, houses, and even the sky, are tweaked for the fun and pleasure of the people who live there -- not recommended for epileptics, except at night when you have to wear black to give everyone's eyes a rest. Red is a violent no-go area of deadly anarchy where Stark has a number of friends, including Ji, the top warlord. Centre is where the Actioneers live, constantly in motion, doing good deeds and important work, where Zelda, Stark's unrequited love is working her way up the ladder of promotion. Stable have closed themselves from the outside world, living in a timewarp of Victorian values and telling their people that the outside world has been devastated by nuclear war. And so on. His current job isn't one of those ones he hates. It's an easy job, given to him by the hyperactive Actioneers - find one of their top brass who has gone missing, maybe kidnapped, and get him back safe and sound. Of course things are never that simple, and Stark's life is about to become a lot more complicated than it already is - and it's pretty darn complicated already. "Only Forward" is yet another storming debut by a British science fiction author. The city with its different enclaves, all unique, all rounded out, and all interesting. The story twists and turns - just when you think you have a handle on what is going on, things change. Halfway through the book, when Stark realises that this *is* ones of those hated jobs that takes his unique talent, you can almost feel the book in your hand morph into a much darker, more emotional, and downright disturbing book. Even the conclusion is a bittersweet mix of a jaw-dropping plot twist, happy ending, sad ending, and stunning realisation. "Only Forward" also stands out because of its humour. The book is narrated by Stark in the first person, and he is a good storyteller, some times glossing over facts or even fibbing, never taking himself too seriously, sometimes sad and emotional, sometimes terrified, but mostly a funny guy who will do anything to help a person in trouble - Stark is the kind of guy that you would like as a friend - though the price would be involvement in his chaotic life. Michael Marshall Smith provides Stark with many props with which to exercise his humour, some of which are absolutely hilarious. Random samples are: - an escape on foot from Stark's apartment in Colour, at night when his companion isn't dressed in regulation black and the intelligent streets object strenuously. - the grenade that gives you a bad cold. Not only does the target get a bad case of flu, you can hear them sniffling and coughing when they try and sneak up on you. - The lethargy bomb, that makes your pursuers give up in sluggish apathy. - When you enter Centre, the Actioneers give you an ID bracelet with a time limit on it. Overstay and it explodes, just to make sure that you are not malingering. - The pizza delivery that sends a gorgeous android to have sex with you in your apartment, and then cooks you a great fresh pizza afterwards. - Sound is a silent enclave, but residents are allowed to spend one hour an evening shouting and screaming - all in a soundproof room of course. - The anti-bugging device with an attitude. and many more examples of situational and conceptual comedy, too numerous to mention, giving a contrast to the darker and disturbing second half of the book. Don't be put off - as I was for many months - by the cover of the book which tells you nothing about the plot. Discovery is part of "Only Forward's" story, and ultimately the journey that Stark has taken to get to his current point in life and what he learns from that journey, is the essence of this wonderful and remarkable book. %A Smith, Michael Marshall %T Only Forward %D 1994 %G ISBN 0-586-21774-6 %C Bury St.Edmonds, Suffolk %I Harper Collins %O paperback 4.99 UKP %P 455 pp John - As sensitive as a toilet seat and almost as warm. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jun 24 13:59:45 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!newsfeed5.telia.com!masternews.telia.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!worldfeed.gte.net!eecs-usenet-02.mit.edu!ai-lab!news.media.mit.edu!not-for-mail From: Mysterious Galaxy Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,alt.books.reviews Subject: Review: ONE OF US by Michael Marshall Smith Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 22 Jun 1998 16:06:46 -0400 Organization: Mysterious Galaxy Lines: 28 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: Reply-To: mgbooks@ax.com NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:1938 alt.books.reviews:46465 ONE OF US by Michael Marshall Smith Review Copyright 1998 Maryelizabeth Hart Michael Marshall Smith knows how to write a good plot, but my real appreciation of his work is of the details. In his new book, many household appliances have been given personalities; one might come across a "wild" band of coffee-makers on a lonely road in the dark. The Net has become a virtual representation of a real neighborhood, with web sites like suburban tract housing. One can purchase coincidences by injection, or have one's memories or dreams transferred to another's brain. Hap Thompson does legitimate work receiving people's anxiety dreams, and illegal work receiving memories. Memory transfer is supposed to be temporary: just long enough to forget about your spouse and have a no guilt fling, or forget about your actual income when being grilled about your taxes. Too bad for Hap that he has a memory of a murder he didn't commit that the client won't take back, and if he is caught with it in his head, it'll convict him. That may not be as worrisome as the fact there is a contract on his head, taken by his assassin ex-wife; or the seven mysterious figures on his tail who might be aliens or something even stranger. --Maryelizabeth Hart %T One of Us %A Michael Marshall Smith %D August 1998 %I Bantam hardcover %O $23.95. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Sep 18 15:42:03 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cyclone.news.idirect.com!island.idirect.com!ai-lab!news.media.mit.edu!not-for-mail From: "Rob Slade, doting grandpa of Ryan and Trevor" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: "Spares", Michael Marshall Smith Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 16 Sep 1998 11:35:51 -0400 Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Lines: 53 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2108 Spares by Michael Marshall Smith Review Copyright 1998 Robert M. Slade In "The Adventure of the Creeping Man," Conan Doyle gave us the prototype of all the "monkey gland eternal youth serum" science fiction stories. Towards the end of it, Sherlock Holmes notes that the existence of such an elixir of youth would give rise to "survival of the least fit." The spiritual and wise would accept the chance to move on to another possible level of existence, while the crass and material would give anything to prolong their current state. So too in "Spares" does Smith point out that the insurance of having a perfect and ready supply of transplantable parts would give rise to a truly evil level of irresponsibility. It is the truly insane parts of the book that sound initially reasonable. Why not build a business empire on the productive, and waste, capacity of bored husbands, boyfriends, and fathers whiling away the time they spend waiting for shopping expeditions? Yet it is those parts of the book that sound outrageous that are most real. While tracking down a prostitute and a retarded teenager a man is viciously reminded of his dead wife and daughter by a diversion? Too real, much too real. It is probably because of this ability to go to the true heart of a superficially surreal scenario that allows us to accept the leaps Smith does make into the twilight zone. Many science fiction authors are enamoured of building elaborate artificial worlds with annoying and irrelevant detail. In this case you become so involved that you don't care *why* the trees are so greatly to be feared: you are only thankful that the characters escape without encountering the vicious fauna. There are, of course, a number of incomprehensible, but acceptable, technologies, such as engines capable of driving several kilometre long and 200 story high cities through the air. But Smith also has a realistic grasp of computers. Storage, on disk or in non-volatile RAM, gives you the essence of any computer, without the need for dragging all the hardware along. "Collapsing code" is not real, but seems to be a reductio ad absurdum for the tendency to build higher and higher levels of programming languages. On the other hand, the protagonist seems to have a serious understanding of computer source code, with little reason for it. Only one serious mistake in siting the story in the United States rather than Britain, aside from some minor dialect issues: North America simply does not smoke that much anymore. %A Michael Marshall Smith %C 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299 %D 1996 %G 0-586-21775-4 %I HarperCollins/Basic Books %O 800-242-7737 fax: 212-207-7433 information@harpercollins.com %P 305 p. %T "Spares"