Magazine Beach [Paperback]

Lewis Gannett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

Magazine Beach is a skillful blend of cyberpunk, disaster, and horror genres... a fast-moving, satisfying yarn with a killer of an apocalyptic ending. New York Daily News

Taken straight from today's most disturbing headlines, this futuristic suspense thriller is crafted in Lewis Gannett's signature blend of cyber-tech with a sexy, stylish twist. Nuclear devices planted beneath the polar ice are about to inundate the world's coastal cities in a cataclysmic flood. The World Wide Web has been re-wired into a doomsday clock, counting down to global disaster.

And in Harvard Square, Toby Swett is falling in love with the woman of his dreams. Just as Magazine Street is about to turn into Magazine Beach.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

French novelist Nimier (The Giraffe) toys with the perverse in this elliptical tale of a young woman's sexual and emotional awakening. After she stumbles across a hypnotism manual at age 10, Cora devotes herself to gaining mesmeric power over others; indeed, her cool, deadpan, hyperrational narrative voice proves hypnotically fascinating. At 16, Cora falls under the sway of Katz, the swaggering, self-styled King of Hypnosis. Katz seduces Cora, who later runs off with him to Paris. In one public demonstration, he pierces her face with needles; in another, he forces her to take part in a contest that will be won by the woman with the most beautiful breasts. Eventually, Cora winds up working for Lolita, a phone sex agency. Nimier's use of hypnosis as a metaphor for dominance, submission, control and the mind's untapped powers is provocative, and the contrast between Cora's detached voice and her erotic adventures is chilling. This ironic look at the moral behavior of the French middle class is not for all tastes, however, and may strike some as more clever than compelling.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The year is 2002, and the world is suffering from a collective nervous breakdown from the pressures of the new millennium. Toby Swett, a 26-year-old waiter, is a doomsday nut constantly on the alert for danger. Earnest Trefethen, a respected Antarctic scientist, has joined forces with his psychiatrist wife, Helen Scarf, to terrorize the world into dealing with its two biggest problems: overpopulation and technology in the service of greed. The duo begin their global wake-up call with a volcanic eruption in Antarctica, promising additional nuclear explosions in the future. Horrified by their parents' apparent dementia, the Trefethens' teenage twins, Grace and Brian, make plans to put the world on alert. Toby unwittingly becomes involved in their strategy, which leads to a series of violent and fatal events. Although this book is set only six years in the future, it might as well be 60. The plot is far-fetched, starting with family dynamics run amok, and the pages are filled with nasty and bizarre individuals. Purchase only where sf or apocalyptic fiction is popular. From the author of The Living One (LJ 12/92).?Maria A. Perez-Stable, Western Michigan Univ. Libs., Kalamazoo
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Harper Prism (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061056154
• ISBN-13: 978-0061056154
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,557,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very fun millenium frenzy in Gannett's unique style., March 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Magazine Beach (Hardcover)

I was a big fan of "The Living One", Gannett's unique and extremely good horror novel, so I have been looking for this book for a long time. "Magazine Beach" is a lot of fun. More structured and readable than "The Living One", it still contains a great batch of strange characters, bizarre situations, and erotic undertones that so identified his previous work. This book is a blast, check it out.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, it grabs you and won't let go until you finish., April 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Magazine Beach (Paperback)

This is one of my all time favorites. It is even better the second time around. While some of it is a bit complicated, the author was masterful at helping you to recall characters and actions earlier in the book. At no time during the few times I have read it did any part get boring or old. Love it and it is a definite read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thrills for the Intelligent, August 22, 2009

By 

Jarla Tangh "Her Tangh-i-ness" (Mattapan, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magazine Beach (Hardcover)

Magazine Beach
Some books encourage the growth of new neurons. You need them to hold together the plot and compute its theme inside your head. In Magazine Beach, Ian Fleming's suspenseful hi-jinks meet Nevil Shute's technologically-produced disaster and proceed to get busy. It is unfortunate that in 1996, the public imagination had been siezed by various medical and legal thrillers, failing planes, and a former Vice-President's executive orders, that an unlikely eco-terrorist group's impact upon Antartica's ice shelf had not registered. Pity.
My father taught me to appreciate antagonists. Without them, nothing plot-worthy happens. Slotsky with his relentless pursuit of intel, noseless face, 'dorph addiction, and foot fetish more than fits the bill. The man proved as hard to pin down as a subatomic particle. First he was there, then he wasn't. Slotsky had the final laugh in the end.
I also enjoyed the infamous ménage à trois of Antarctic expert Earnest Trefethen, his chemically persuasive wife, Helen Scarf, and billionairess Martha Cliffcloud.
Here are some highlights from the darkly comic narrative:
* A crash course in ice-shelf geomorphology.
* The wonder drug Amphendorph.
* An ambulance tank.
* A home laser defense-system being used as a glorified insect zapper.
* A sexually-frustrated male twin impersonates his own sister and later gives in to his attraction to the man he assumes to be his rival for her affections.
* A plucky old lady by the name of Arugula dies in her sleep after sharing in the adventure of her life.
* The supercool combo of a gay "it" boy, his hetero galpal, and her thigh-high boots earn a cult following.
* Former upstanding members of the "establishment" revert to their radical bent.
* In a cosmic irony, the hero, a self-confessed catastrophist, finds that his photo triggers the final set of nuclear-explosions the survivors intended to prevent. At least, with the exception of Arugula, the rest of the hip, young cast got laid before the end.
* The Earth is the only character left standing...er...orbiting.

Some of my favorite quotes:
"I'm a kind of a fraud. Taking credit for geophysical cycles that predate human history by millions of years."
"Who'd believe a bunny sets off doomsday?"
"Nightmare, Toby thought. He realized he was shirtless. Then he realized he wasn't wearing any underwear."
"The Boston Sunday20Globe: Nukes in Antartica seek "Beast" "Two Faces": Overpopulation, High Technology? Cambridge Dinner party provides clues."

Disclosure: She received a free autographed review copy from the author.