Vurt

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What The Hell Ever Happened To... Jeff Noon? - An update on Jeff's current projects as of November 2011 from the author himself.

A young boy puts a feather into his mouth ... " So, in 1993, began Jeff Noon's first novel, Vurt. It was something the like of which had never been seen before, and it established Noon – then a struggling 35-year-old playwright earning rent by working in the Deansgate branch of Waterstones and writing at night – as a figure of major promise in British science fiction. The civil serpents (a play-on-words of the job 'civil servant') are trying to control everything that happens in the future, and try to stop randomness. The 'Supreme Serpent' is the controller of the serpents, and hints at the fact that he is Satan himself.

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And yet it was very creative. I loved the virtual meta moments, the way it felt like a mix between Matrix and Strange Days years before those movies were ever made. It also felt like Existenz in a HUGE way. Again, this was written long before that, as well. I loved the writing style of Jeff Noon and the story as a whole. A snippet that gives a small synopsis of what this drug induced book is about: That however is not the major flaw in the book. While the setting could have used some explaining here and there, the plot of the story was still clear enough to follow. I got what was going on, even if I didn't understand everything in the world. The book's fatal flaw was in the characters. While they were certainly vivid, outgoing, and memorable, they were also flat and acting without sensible motivation. As the plot progresses and secondary characters are risking their lives, helping, or loving the main character, there is no expiation as to why the go out of the way to help him. Even when character motivation is attempted, it's done poorly. One character claims to be aiding Scribble (the lead) for his brother. While we know his brother, and their story, there is no link between what he does for Scribble, and the brother. A new character is brought into the group at the beginning of the story, Scribble treats her poorly, and she puts her life on the line to help him be reunited with his sister. The character interactions remind me of a table top role playing game. "You all are in a group, it doesn't matter why, but you have to help each other. Even if it goes against what you think you're character is, in the end, you help because that's what keeps the game, and my plot, moving forward." It ended, says Noon, when "about three-quarters of the way through writing Nymphomation, I suddenly realised this was ridiculous. It was – not killing me, but … it was making me ill. I'd get friends making comments about it, which I couldn't stand ... I thought: 'I have to stop this.' And the only way I could do it was to stop writing. I wasn't a social drinker, at all. I could go out to the pub with my mates and drink a few pints – nothing. I was using it purely to fuel writing … So I thought: 'I have to stop writing.'" Cobralingus sits apart from Noon's other published works. It is part anthology of poems and part instructional textbook for Noon's style of poetry. In it, he details his regimented methods for the creation of poetic text by a style of word play which lends its name to the title. Also included are various exemplars of this style.

Secondly, the character of Long Distance Davis, who Alice meets in a police cell, is a reference to jazz musician and trumpet player Miles Davis.

Game Cat – the maestro, the near mythical being who knows and shares the inside info in his "Game Cat" periodical Guardian Books Podcast: Science Fiction Now and Tomorrow - Jeff Noon on The Guardian Books podcast, Jan 2012. Alternately, it might be accurate to say that Noon has an interest in the detective as a seeker of truth, but he’s far less concerned with them as bearer of institutional authority. This is made most clear in Slow Motion Ghosts, where Henry Hobbes’s allegiance is with the law rather than anything else. And in the course of their adventures, both Sybil Jones and John Nyquist endure experiences that literally fray their identities as they search for the truth. For Noon, the pursuit of the truth is a noble calling, but he has little patience for those who would view that pursuit as indistinguishable from a badge and a uniform.

Another interesting thing about Vurt is the way exposition is handled throughout. Instead of being handled by long narration or context or advertisements, the world-specific exposition is handled through the dispatches from Game Cat strewn throughout the book. The Cat is incredible knowledgeable about the world, and their exposition throughout helps to fill in the missing pieces about vurts, the various races of future Manchester, allowing the reader to better understand what's going on. And even with Game Cat offering a look at the various things going on in Manchester and the world outside of it, there's a reason why so much of the world is left undescribed, and that is for the simple reason that neither Scribble nor any of his friends really care about the world being described. To them, what's important is the vurt and rescuing Scribble's sister/lover. Different coloured feathers provide different experiences, but Scribble is searching for his lost love and only one feather offers the hope of finding her. It’s the ultimate feather, it may not even exist at Curious Yellow. On one hand, I will absolutely respect it and give it major props for existing and to myself for having read it, but I can't say that it was all that pleasant. However, I have also said the same things about China Mieville and Vandermeer, so it may be a tolerance thing and a mood thing rather than an exacting approbation or me being amazed. Of course, I could be both at the same time. :) No matter what the shortcomings are this book is so bold that it needs to be read to be appreciated. I hope that as I progress further into this series that I will come to love it. This book probably warrants a reread at a later date.I remember my sharp delight, in 1993 on first discovering Vurt’s hallucinogenic VR-induced Manchester. It instantly became one of my favourite examples of new directions in science fiction, and remains so these decades later!” Scribble - the eyes through which we see this world and the obvious protagonist - let’s talk about him. He’s a junkie. You feel for him initially because he lost his lover in the Vurt and is trying to find her. Then you realize that this lost lover is also his sister and, surprisingly, you just don’t care for him that much any more. Could I ever care about a main character in an incestual relationship? Sure, if you give me a million words spread across five books and your name is George RR Martin. These books, the best books, discover the essential human notes of their times, and they ring so strongly down the decades that we remember them still.” But in the end, you should read this book. It's a classic of modern science fiction, it's an amazing, vivid read, and despite its twisted and sometimes brutal nature, it's incredibly readable and well worth your time. Find this. Buy this. It's recently come out in a tenth-anniversary edition with a completely unnecessary introduction by critically-acclaimed Angry Robot mainstay Lauren Beukes. And now, I leave you with one last comment:

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique: Vurt is a 1993 science fiction novel written by British author Jeff Noon. The debut novel for both Noon and small publishing house Ringpull, [1] it went on to win the 1994 Arthur C. Clarke Award [2] and was later listed in The Best Novels of the Nineties. [3] Plot summary [ edit ] The world of Slow Motion Ghosts is one where alternate personas, rituals, and parallel subcultures all factor into the plotline in various ways. Lucas Bell was best-known for his onstage persona, known as “King Lost.” This, in turn, ties in with references from Lucas’s past to a mysterious place known as “Edenville,” which may or may not exist. A group of musicians debates an act that would “conjure up Luke’s spirit”—one of several moments in the novel where Noon suggests the presence of supernatural activity.

The book has attracted criticism due to its implausible science [8] and "wild and kaleidoscopic" yet unsatisfying plot. [9] Entertainment Weekly felt Vurt was undeserving of receiving the 1994 Arthur C. Clarke Award, saying the book's "sentimental incest and adolescent self-congratulation ... is never really startling or disturbing." [10] Allusions and references [ edit ]