Bold As Love (Gollancz Sf S.) [Paperback]

Gwyneth Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 9, 2002 | Series: Gollancz Sf S.

Three extraordinary people in some most extraordinary times: It's Dissolution Summer and as the United Kingdom prepares to break up into separate nations, the Counterculturals have gathered for a festival where everything's allowed. Among them is a talented little brat called Fiorinda, rock and roll princess by birth, searching for her father, the legendary Rufus O'Niall. Instead, she finds Ax Preston, the softly spoken guitarman with bizarre delusions about saving the country from the dark ages. Together with Sage Pender, techno-wizard king of the lads, they join the pop-icon team that's supposed to make the government look cool. Rock Legends. True Romance. A stunning fantasy about England.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rock and roll rules in British author Jones's Arthur C. Clarke Award–winning novel, the first of a four-book series. In the near future, the U.K. is dissolving and the government, to placate the masses, sets up a "Countercultural Think Tank," including some of the biggest names in pop music and headed by the Ozzie Osborne–like Pigsty Liver. After much publicity and a series of government-sponsored music festivals, however, the egomaniacal Pigsty murders the home secretary and takes over the government. Soon various members of his rock-star cabinet find themselves struggling to make order out of chaos and prevent an ethnic bloodbath. Though the story starts out like dark cyberpunk, it gradually modulates into something much stranger as characters find their hidden powers and take on the attributes of Arthurian fantasy. References to Jimi Hendrix and other '60s and '70s rockers abound. Jones's vision is unremittingly dark and her basic premise may strike some as a bit silly, but this novel packs considerable power.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

It is Dissolution Summer, the UK is about to revoke the Act of Union, and there is unrest all over Europe. Countercultural youth flock to music festivals, the largest of which is at Reading. Fiorinda, a young and rising star, goes to perform with DARK and ends up being recruited by the home secretary for a think tank of countercultural heroes--rock stars to make the government look cool. When this turns from a stunt into a violent coup d'etat, thanks to the Pig, who isn't much of a rock star but is a household name, Fio's worries become mostly about staying alive. She and Ax Preston, front man for the Chosen, battle along with Aoxomoxoa and the Heads to maintain some order in the face of societal collapse. Bold as Love is part sixties rock-and-roll idealism--Aoxomoxoa gets his name from a Grateful Dead album (the novel get its from a Hendrix LP)--and part near--future Arthurian legend: an altogether satisfying blend. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz (May 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 057507292X
• ISBN-13: 978-0575072923
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,890,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gwyneth Jones, born in Manchester UK, 14th February 1952, is the author of many novels for teenagers, fantasy, horror and thrillers, using the name Ann Halam, and several highly regarded sf and fantasy novels for adults. Her critical essays and reviews are collected in Deconstructing The Starships, 1999 and Imagination/Space 2009. Among other honours she's won two World Fantasy awards, the Children of the Night award, the Philip K Dick award, the BSFA award and the Pilgrim award for Science Fiction criticism. Several of her novels have been nominated for the Arthur C Clarke award, the latest being Spirit, 2009; she won the award for Bold As Love in 2002. She lives in Brighton, UK, with her husband and son, some goldfish and two cats called Ginger and Milo; likes old movies, practices yoga & has done some extreme tourism in her time. Hobbies include gardening and cooking, and playing with her websites.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super Reader, August 26, 2007

By 

Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bold As Love (Paperback)

This is another of those 'how the h*ll did she think of this books'?

On the face of it, you might think it would be either a) ludicrous, or b) inordinately soppy.

It ain't either. I don't know how Jones did it, but she did. Even escapes nicking Hendrix' titles.

In a little bit in the future England, things are falling apart. So much so that the musical counterculture again has political clout, and so much so that a rockstar of the violent bent stages a coup.

That does not end well, and this brings to the fore the classic Arthurian trio of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot.

Or, in this case, Ax Preston (got to have a guitar player, right?), Fiorinda Slater, and Sage Pender.

With a severe energy crisis looming, and a fractured country and war with the muslims coming, and the standard government completely useless these three must try and use their musical and other talents to get everyone through.

With the decline of most technology, the rise of just that bit of mystical power is coming.

4.0 out of 5 stars Rocking sci-fi English style., November 25, 2011

By 

David Butler - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bold as Love (Hardcover)

Book was old school rock sci-fi, a neglected subgenre but a fast read and a satisfying one. Overall worth the time.