Only Forward (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The dazzling pyrotechnics of British author Smith's last two future noir spectacles, Spares (under option to DreamWorks) and One of Us (under option to Warner Brothers), are prefigured in his promise-filled debut novel, a 1994 U.K. paperback original now seeing its first hardcover publication. Set in a stylized future City where individuals live in neighborhoods organically responsive to their moods and lifestyles, the story begins as a routine missing persons case for its narrator, Stark, an irreverent soft-boiled detective type who specializes in "finding people, or things." Stark's retrieval of Fell Alkland, a scientist who has fled the driven environment of Action Center for the placid Stable neighborhood, proves relatively easy. But pursuit by Action Center operatives and Alkland's crippling work-related nightmares force Stark and his quarry to escape to Jeamland, a collective repository of dreams and childhood memories that Stark appears to know very well, and to which, as he discovers only belatedly, he has been lured back deliberately. The genius of Smith's narrative is its casual revelation that the detective scenario and detailed elaborations of the City that pull the reader into the story are clue-filled set-ups for the real story of Stark's self-discovery in Jeamland. Ultimately, this requires chapters of explanatory exposition that slow down the finale and betray the awkwardness of a new writer growing into his skills. Nevertheless, the story blazes with a visionary intensity that fires its imagery and fuels its premise that "once you've gone forward, you can't go home again." (Dec.)Philip K. Dick award for distinguished science fiction published as a paperback original in the U.S.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

When a senior member of Action Center disappears, the authorities hire Stark to find him. Stark succeeds in his mission"and then the trouble begins. The author of Spares sets his latest sf action thriller in a color-coded near future, where independent neighborhoods vie for dominance in a dangerous and deadly high-tech world. Smith combines a whirlwind plot with a genially laconic hero to produce a fast-paced tale that belongs in large sf collections.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Spectra (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553579703
• ISBN-13: 978-0553579703
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #511,059 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not all ha ha hee hee, December 17, 1999

By	"wide_inside" (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Only Forward (Paperback)

So, you start reading this book with your Douglas Adams head on. At least, I did. it's a bit sci-fi, you see, but with comedy asides. It's not until you get about halfway through that you realise you actually care about the characters in a way that you wouldn't normally, it they were only there for comedic effect. As soon as this happens, you will find yourself unable to put this book down, as it gives the most accurate description of dreaming that i have ever read. This book lulls you into a false sense of security, but don't be fooled, it has very dark moments. Also, as the book is written in first person, as soon as you have a plot premonition, you are admonished by Stark, the main character, for missing the bigger picture. Fantastic book, great author. Read all his stuff. ("Spares" next, if i were you)

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny 'n' Nasty, April 21, 2000

By	Pat (Canada, eh) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Only Forward (Paperback)

Found this book at a used book store. It's the Britishversion, with the funky black cover, and the only things on it werethe title and the phrase "May we introduce Stark. Oh, and by the way, good luck...." I flipped it open to skim the first couple pages and it hooked me. I was laughing in the store. I had to buy it. It didn't disappoint me. It was a convoluted book, alternately funny, nasty, and tragic, with a cast of characters that constantly surprised me, and a flurry of intriguing new concepts. The one that sticks out most for me was this: "The reason that it seems to take less time to return from a place than it was to get there in the first place, is because the way back is actually shorter".

The second time I read it, the comedy wasn't as sharp, which was fine, because it made the real story, the tragedy, stand out all the more.

I'm not doing this book justice at all. I can't. Buy it, borrow it, do anything to wrap your hands around it. And read it. And read it again. I'm going to.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant but flawed, May 8, 2001

By A Customer

The first half of _Only Forward_ was one the most engrossing pieces of science fiction I've read in many years. Unfortunately, Smith wasn't able to keep up the pace -- and I found the second half of the novel be extremely disappointing.

[WARNING, plot spoiler follows] Smith's world of the Neighborhoods is a wonderfully compelling place, but I found his excursion into the dream worlds (Jeamland) was rather uninteresting in comparison. IMHO _Only Forward_ would have been a stronger novel if he had resoloved the plot using only the framework (characters, principals, geography) of the Neighborhoods. Likewise, he could have written a separate novel solely based on the premises of his Jeamland without the need of creating the world of the Neighborhoods.

I look forward to reading the other novels of Michael Marshall Smith, though. He's the most original voice in science fiction that I've come across in years.