Tales from the Crypto-System [Paperback]

Geoffrey Maloney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2005

In Tales from the Crypto-system we are treated to a decade-spanning collection of perceptive and powerful tales by one of Australia's premier short story writers. Let Geoffrey Maloney reveal the secret of time travel in a moment of perfect and terrible pain. Explore the failed dreams of a post revolutionary Australia. Deal with the vast and impenetrable bureaucratic nightmare of an alien empire. Uncover the secret of eternal life, and the paternal terrors of a shoebox. Relationships and revolutionary verities crumble, automatons play out the Great Game in an India that might have been but never was. These are stories at once challenging and entertaining and always unexpected. After reading this collection you will understand why Geoffrey Maloney is simply one of the best Australian short story writers working today.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The persistence of human nature across galaxies and over vast spans of time is not always cause for reassurance in this first collection of futuristic fables from Australian writer Maloney. More often than not, it replicates in the hothouse environments of strange new worlds the self-destructive tendencies that have plagued humankind since recorded history. The protagonist of "In the Service of the Shogarth" is a work drone who willingly puts up with indignities inflicted by alien employers in the hope that it will blaze him a shortcut to easy street. Instead, it earns him a comically nightmarish advancement from bosses who misinterpret his self-interest as dedication. "Moving with the Herd" is set on an ecologically fragile planet where a human scientist's benevolently misguided decision to intercede sets off a lethal chain reaction through its animal species. The 21 stories abound with AI doppelg„ngers and glimpses of technocratic fallibility that echo the speculative brilliance of Philip K. Dick and J.G. Ballard, especially in "5 Cigarettes & 2 Snakes," "The Taxi Driver" and "Keeping the Meter Running," a triptych set in an indeterminate land where a People's Democratic Revolution has given way to a bureaucracy rife with corruption and paranoia. For all their SF trappings, these stories are full of sensitively developed characters whose humanity buoys the intricate plots and weighty themes. Most have appeared only in Australian magazines, and this book should introduce them to a well-deserved wider audience.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: Wildside Press (March 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894815238
• ISBN-13: 978-1894815239
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,797,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and Thought-Provoking, February 15, 2009

By 

Dr. Thoraiya Dyer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tales from the Crypto-System (Paperback)

These stories comprise some of the most cleverly contrived, vividly detailed and devastatingly accurate speculative fiction shorts I have ever come across.

Thank Geoff Maloney for the snacks. Keep needling him until he provides a main meal (a novel).

5.0 out of 5 stars How Cruel, March 28, 2005

By 

socrates17 "socrates17" (New Jersey/Tanelorn 2008/9) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tales from the Crypto-System (Paperback)

This book is a tease, an exercise in cruelty. The introduction says "you will hunt out and read everything of Geoff's that you can." Lots of introductions say things like this. Sometimes they're true and sometimes they aren't. Rarely will the urge to read the rest of someone's work be as intense as it proves to be after reading Tales from the Crypto-System.

Well, I've tried, and there isn't much out there that's available in year 2005 and, perhaps, outside of Australia. I loved every creative, sensitive, moral, and understanding story in this book so much that I'm driven, really driven, to read more. "More" isn't easy to find.

Buy this now and read it - but be forwarned: It won't be enough.

5.0 out of 5 stars Tales from the Crypto-System, May 5, 2004

By 

AV (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tales from the Crypto-System (Paperback)

This is one of the finest collection of short stories I have ever read. 21 stories which span not only the past but also the future. Maloney's stories or intriguing, romantic, and have excellent plot development. This is must read book. Looking forward to the next anthology.