Customer Reviews

Silicon Embrace

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"Silicon Embrace" is a demented alien invasion story and one of the better cyberpunk novels of the 1990s: loopy, graphic and ambiguously funny, drawing on fifty years of flying saucer lore and--ingeniusly--making it all interesting in unexpected ways. Shirley's hyperkinetic vision of a fractured, anarchic United States steeped in the mythology of the late 20th century is terrific. This novel is an overlooked must-read for students of that nebulous field we call "ufology." Like Robert Anton Wilson, Shirley bravely opens doors for the sheer literary pleasure of seeing what's on the other side, waiting and ready to pounce.

Silicon Embrace was read in great, nourishing mouthfulls and satisfied my voracious
appetite for all that is Shirley. Although by the book's end it had subtly notched
by degrees from 'plausible' to 'fiction', that didn't really disappoint me because,
after all, the "Truth" is simply unknown to us, and perhaps, as Kant suggested, *unknowable*.
This didn't detract from the book's believability nor its sheer entertainment value.
The scenes with Sol, the remote-controlled ex-lover of Anja, brought the real Shirley
back for his avid fans, albeit somewhat brief in the overall narrative.
I also feel that the Zetans (or 'Greys') were not fully explained as to their overall
intentions quite enough. The gist was there; they needed us humans for a kind of
"bacteriological breeding ground", but I felt Shirley could've gone further into
their malevolence and microgenetic atrocities.


The prairie-squid "Ceph" was a nice touch, and the many references tieing
the plot into previous author's works (such as R.A.Wilson, Philip K. Dick, etc.)
were well thought out if rather brief. The bottom line is that Shirley has penned
a 'cautionary tale' about our government's involvement with extraterrestrials,
and it is with a sense of relief that I read Silicon Embrace as it exposed
our highest government officials being duped by the Zetans.


John Shirley has been one of my favorite of the 'new' writers
because he can cut through to the marrow of experience, translating it
into terms and sentences that not only can the average person relate to,
but more importantly, that the "not-so-average" (read: talented & gifted;
drug-user; conspiracy buff; etc.) can also relate to, oh-so-well.


He is one of those rare writers who can journey into the "dark heart
of the soul" *and* return to write about it coherently. I recommend John Shirley
to anyone looking for "something more" in their fiction; something most writers
are too afraid to confront openly on the naked page. Silicon Embrace: Buy it; read it.


Shaun Lawton(luciferal@gmail.com)slc, ut

John Shirley's Silicon Embrace is a great book with a lot going on. The story begins with both a nervous public-relations man, and a group of outcasts on the lamb. Between this and the quiet and somewhat happy ending we have: several aliens, a human hybrid being, a collapsed United States, UFO's, Jesus, secret facilities and enough attitude to knock you off your feet. John Shirley blends a plethora of conspiracy folklore with wit and style. He creates a story that invites both wild applause, and occassional stomache-churning despair. All in all, I liked it better than Cats!

I plowed through this novel because it reads pretty quick, but for me it didn't hang together well at all. Shirley scatters lot of references to other science fiction works through his book, which might contribute to my impression that the book is a pastiche of common SF plot devices and ideas.

There are apocryphal religious ideas that are handled better in Philip K. Dick, historical conspiracy ideas that come off much better in the Illuminatus! trilogy, gratuitous graphic violence, and competing aliens that had me wondering if this is some kind of Scientology thing.

The writing style has a pace and visual quality I associate with screenwriting, which is not bad, and I've read much worse dialog, but overall it was disappointing.

Concerned about aliens, secret societies, and goverment conspiracies? In Silicon Embrace, Shirley weaves together these themes along with up-to the-minute pop culture references and older myths. You won't find any anwers, but he succeeds in blurring the line between fact and fiction.