Post-apocalyptic | Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White

Posts Tagged ‘post-apocalyptic’

One Hundred Years of Vicissitude Cover Art

April 17, 2012 by Elizabeth A. White •

So very proud to have a quote on the back cover of Tobacco-stained Mountain Goat author Andrez Bergen’s forthcoming book, One Hundred Years of Vicissitude. And what an absolutely stunning cover it is!

My quick take on the book:

When Andrez Bergen burst onto the scene in 2011 with Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat, one of the most wonderfully creative and unique books I’ve had the pleasure to read, I wondered how he could ever possibly top it. Well hold on, ladies and gentlemen, because with One Hundred Years of Vicissitude Bergen is once again taking readers on a wildly enchanting journey down the rabbit hole to an ethereal world rich with Japanese and pop culture, one which seamlessly melds history and the hereafter. Prepare to have your mind opened… then blown.

Full review to follow upon publication by Perfect Edge Books later this year.

Andrez Bergen is an expatriate Australian journalist, musician, photographer, DJ, artist, some-time filmmaker, wayward graphic designer, and ad hoc beer and sake connoisseur who’s been entrenched in Tokyo, Japan, for the past 10 years. He currently creates music under the pseudonyms Little Nobody and Funk Gadget. Bergen has also worked as a journalist for newspapers such as The Age in Australia and the Yomiuri Shimbun in Japan, and he’s written for magazines as diverse as Mixmag, Geek Monthly, Impact and Anime Insider. To learn more about Andrez, visit his website.

Comments: 4 Comments »
Tags: Andrez Bergen, Another Sky Press, detective, hardboiled, noir, One Hundred Years of Vicissitude, Perfect Edge Books, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, Tobacco-Stained Mountain
Category: Book Reviews, Miscellaneous Monkey Musings

( 8 Comments )

Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat by Andrez Bergen

December 14, 2011 by Elizabeth A. White •

“Reality and perception are entirely different things, and let me tell you, Floyd, reality is the lesser of the two.” – Deaps

Andrez Bergen’s Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat (TSMG) is set in a post-apocalyptic Melbourne, Australia at an unspecified point in the future where the fortunate ones live an opulent life secure under the high tech Dome which encases the city. The less fortunate live a harsh existence in rundown areas on the outskirts of the Dome in a world where the sun seldom shines and acid rain seems to fall endlessly.

Our narrator, Floyd Maquina, is a Seeker. Employed by the government to hunt down so-called Deviants for what is euphemistically called “hospitalization,” Floyd has the authority to terminate those who won’t come along peacefully. It’s something he’s only had to do once, but that encounter weighs heavily on his mind, driving him to seek comfort in drugs, alcohol, and classic Hollywood films.

Indeed, Floyd peppers his narrative with copious references to films like The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, The Big Sleep, and Brazil amongst others, and throws enough hardboiled slang around that a Tobacco-Stained Glossary and Encyclopedia Tobacciana are included as appendices.

With one foot planted firmly in a futuristic world where Seekers routinely undergo Matrix-like virtual reality “tests” to ensure they are still in the fold and capable of carrying out company orders, TSMG manages to simultaneously have its other foot rooted in an authentic, throwback, hardboiled detective vibe. And it is in that fuzzy blending of post-apocalyptic and old-school noir that TSMG carves out what is one of the most wonderfully unique books I’ve had the pleasure to read. (more…)