From alt culture diva Carla Sinclair--named one of the "most influential people in cyberspace" by Entertainment Weekly, co-founder of bOING bOING magazine, author of the cyber-ceiling smasher Net Chick, and the ultimate hip young insider--comes a fabulously biting satire of wired culture.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Quirky characters, quirky plotting, and a quirky voice make for a hip, funny, and highly satirical thriller. An egotistical editor of the latest, coolest cybermag finds himself running for his life with a magazine intern after she totes up big losses on his account in an online gambling scam. She thinks it's just a game. The mobsters behind the site think otherwise and they want their 200 grand. Although it's an unlikely romance and there's plenty to go wrong in off-beat ways, Sinclair, author of Net Chick: A Smart Girl Guide to the Wired World, keeps you turning the pages of her first novel as she builds the suspense while gibbing the all-too-self-serious denizens of the cyberculture world.
From Library Journal
Sinclair, identified as cofounder of bOING bOING magazine and otherwise a cyberchick of great renown, offers a picaresque first novel that shuttles between the real world of electronic journal publishing and the cyberworld where the druggy drones go to play. Kat, a young but not naive intern, inadvertently loses $200,000 of a mere acquaintance's money in an electronic casino. When the enforcers try to shake Jim down for the Digicash, he and Kat try to hide in the netherworld. For long stretches, the writing just marks time, then suddenly there is an explosive passage whose imagery floods the brain. As a work of satire in which all the characters are prickly neurotics, this first novel is weirdly reminiscent of the movie Fargo, sharing its wily intelligence, scary jerks, and whining. As the alt culture grows up, readers will expect more from Sinclair, but this is an energetic and promising debut.?Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
I Couldn't Finish It,
This review is from: Signal to Noise (Hardcover)
Right off the bat the first chapter annoyed me. The main character has a conversation with one of his co-workers that, as described, should have taken a much shorter time than is reported. Such time differentials between what would take place in reality and what is described in the novel continued to happen, and remained just as annoying.But I can deal with continuity issues if the characters are compelling and the plot is engaging. That was not the case with this novel. The two main characters begin as flawed, self-centered, and perception driven. The way that they need to change in order to have a dynamic resolution from the story is obvious and clichéd. They are unlikable and don't have witty dialogue to save them. The plot begins with scenes that do not seem contrived and ridiculous. Yet when the action picks up after Kat gets Jim in trouble with an online offshore casino, it goes from one unlikely event to another. And yes, I can deal with a ridiculous and contrived plot if it seems to poke fun at itself successfully. Also the novel must have other redeeming qualities. The one quality I liked in this novel was the picture of the techno-savvy publishing culture that existed in the early to mid nineties. The descriptions of the workplace, the parties, the attitudes, and the clothes read as accurate to me. But this redeeming feature wasn't enough for me to finish the book. I was loathe to give any book one star, but I justified to myself by realizing that a book I felt was very good in multiple ways would receive five stars from me.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
if only i could give it zero stars,
By
This review is from: Signal to Noise (Hardcover)
I paid fifty cents for this book after being told that there were sly references to Dave Eggers (Mike Yoke in the book) and Douglas Coupland (Canadian writer Darren Cooper!).I want my fifty cents and four hours back. Carla Sinclair has managed to write a dull, unbelievable story about inconsiderate, useless people. The dialogue was flat, the plot was insipid, and the ending was trite. Jim is an editor at the ultra hip tech culture bible of a magazine, Signal. (He's a spineless pencil pusher.) Kat is an intern at a zine, and feels that the world owes her more. Her sense of entitlement throughout is appalling. She drunkenly gambles away $200,000 on his computer never quite apologizes. This book isn't even worth any more of a review.... just stay away from it.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poor Story Line, Bad Characters,
By A Customer
This review is from: Signal to Noise (Hardcover)
This book was a BIG disapointment.The story an characters are unlovable, unlikable and inconsiderate. The story revolves around a cyber chick who wants to Then they discover the gambling is "fixed", so, they go to This story is SO Hollywood. It seems obvious to me, it I was really disapointed, because I thought Sinclair was I was wrong.
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