Book review note, and some language stuff... Recently I found a blurb in my Science Fiction Book Club flyer -- for
The Electric Church, by Jeff Somers -- so seductive that I ordered the book. And I'm glad I did, because
The Electric Church had a lot to offer a linguist as interested in religious language as I am, including [on pages 339-353] an actual Electric Church document titled "Extracts From
The Mulquer Codex, Annotated." I'd have bought the book -- even if it hadn't been reasonably painless fast-action reading -- just to get my hands on that document.
Here's a useful quote from a review by Jonathan McCalmont at the
SF Diplomat website [
Warning: The review has spoilers] at
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/484385/21767187 :
"Stylistically, the book is problematic. ... Every fight is approached from the internal perspective of the protagonist Avery Cates but rather than giving us an insight into his tactical thought, the result is more usually a protracted whinge about how tired he is and how dangerous the situation he's in is and if he can... just... make it... a little... further... this does not make for compelling reading. The dialogue and descriptive passages are also troubling as the book is filled with cardboard cut-out tough guy banter and an endless progression of profanity which, while perfectly logical given the lack of education and finesse of the characters, feels forced and is not anywhere near as witty or as punchy as it should be. ... It all feels a little bit insubstantial given how incredibly angsty and elaborate the noire genre can be.
So why did I keep reading this book if it's so terrible? Well, the truth is that this book really does have its moments."
I actually found Avery Cates' constant whining and complaining interesting; I suppose that may also have something to do with my being a linguist. And I felt that Somers did everything he was obligated to do in the way of providing details about his characters and setting -- a judgment that a number of reviewers disagree with me about. The book struck me as being essentially "Mickey Spillane meets cyberpunk noire"; I didn't expect it to read like
Wuthering Heights.
However, I'm with McCalmont about the "endless progression of profanity." That, I hated. Not because of any moral objections, but because it was a constant
distraction. I'd be reading along, enjoying the book, and here'd come yet another "progression of profanity" and a Clunk Effect would go off in my head, interfering with the necessary suspension of disbelief that is required if readers are going to lose themselves in the story and forget that they're reading. It affected me the way
this would presumably affect
you:
"Oh, cottonpick! Cottonpick it! You cottonpicking cottonpicker! What the cottonpick is your cottonpicking
probllem, you cottonpicking cottonpicker! Cottonpick!"
What earthly purpose this kind of thing is supposed to serve, I cannot imagine. Laid on sparingly, it would be no problem; poured on the way it is, by the dumptruckload, it seriously -- in my opinion -- damages the book. I just kept wanting to tell Jeff Somers not to do that, for the book's sake.
[There's a "Meet The Author" section at the back of the book, and an interview with the author as well. Both of these items made it overwhelmingly clear to me that telling Jeff Somers not to do something would be a waste of time and an error of judgment. I won't be making that error.]
The book is being marketed by Orbit/Hachette with impressive intensity and determination; their publicists know what they're doing, even when the nuts and bolts are showing around the edges. As a science fiction writer, I can tell you that it would be a great pleasure to have a publisher that competent at marketing. There should be plenty of readers for
The Digital Plague, the next book in the series.
The book's website -- with a home page that's a tad opaque other than for book-ordering purposes -- is at
http://www.the-electric-church.com . Clicking on the "by Jeff Somers" link will get you to a page that has a link to Somers' blog.