Red Spider White Web (Wordcraft Speculative Writers Series) (Paperback)

~ Misha (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Misha's RED SPIDER WHITE WEB is, quite simply, everything cyberpunk should have been but wasn't, everything contemporary techno-dystopias should be but aren't. Instead of middle-class white men struggling with their love-hate relationships with dangerous but beautiful cybertoys, Misha offers society's most disenfranchised victims struggling for survival against the technotopic juggernaut. Instead of cyberpunk's typical anti-heroic mysogynist-nerd, she gives us a feral female artist struggling to create something meaningful and lasting in a world established to destroy and dispose of her. The book is bleak, intense, and more accurate in its critique of contemporary U.S. culture's cruelty and ignorance than any book I have ever read" -- Dr. Elyce Helford, Editor/Author, Enterprise Zones

"[Misha's] importance and distinctiveness are beginning to be noticed, there's beginning to be some kind of rip-tide here that will soon become a wave of recognition for a book that the world is beginning to catch up to... We weren't ready before. We'be better be ready about now. Because it's the 21st century, any minute now, and that means Misha's time has come. In more ways than one." (John Shirley, from his introduction to the new edition)

"We belong to an age where apocalypse is our daily bread, coffee's black, and we know we're part of the abyss. RED SPIDER WHITE WEB is right on target in conveying that understanding. It splinters in the mind...the underworld of the century's imaginings." (Brian Aldiss, from his foreword to the Morrigan edition)

"RED SPIDER WHITE WEB is startlingly visual... Its pages reveal a series of starkly painted images that go to work on your mind like the pictures on a tarot deck." (James P. Blaylock, from his afterword to the Morrigan edition)

"Misha's RED SPIDER WHITE WEB is, quite simply, everything cyberpunk should have been but wasn't, everything contemporary techno-dystopias should be but aren't. Instead of middle-class white men struggling with their love-hate relationships with dangerous but beautiful cybertoys, Misha offers society's most disenfranchised victims struggling for survival against the technotopic juggernaut. Instead of cyberpunk's typical anti-heroic misogynist-nerd, she give us a feral female artist struggling to create something meaningful and lasting in a world established to destroy and dispose of her. The book is bleak, intense, and more accurate in its critique of contemporary U.S. culture's cruelty and ignorance than any book I have ever read." -- Dr. Elyce Helford, Editor/Author, ENTERPRISE ZONES

Product Description

First U.S. publication of the acclaimed out of print British edition (Morrigan Publications, 1990) with original foreword by Brian Aldiss and Afterword by James P. Blaylock and a new Introduction by John Shirley. This novel was a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in England (1990) and won the Readercon Award in 1991. #20 in the Wordcraft Speculative Writers Series.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: Wordcraft of Oregon; 1 edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1877655295
• ISBN-13: 978-1877655296
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,281,610 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Poetic and violent cyberpunk., June 29, 2000

By	Craig L. Gidney "ethereallad" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The sub-genre of cyberpunk has a subtextual critique ofadvanced Capitalism. It is usually set in dystopian future, full ofcorporate monopolies, laissez-faire economics and huge gulfs between rich and poor. For all that, most of the novels in this genre concern the disaffected middle-class. Stephenson's Snow Crash, for all its unique characters not often seen in science fiction (a black-asian hero and a young teenaged girl) were well enough connected in their world to be aware of and stop a massive conspiracy. And Gibson's classic Neuromancer added glamour and menace to the mostly white male world of computer hacking.

Misha's novel, first published in 1990, takes on a cyberpunk environment from the viewpoint the disenfranchised, eschewing the high-tech gadgetry usually a part of the genre.

It's set in Dek Tek, a crime-ridden diseased suburb of the posh and exclusive city Mickey-San. Deadly gases permeate the air, forcing the residents to don masks. Brutal gangs of teenagers from Mickey-san, called the Pinks, prowl the streets of Ded Tek, looking for victims to bash or rape. Renegade groups of Zombies, practitioners of a Santeria hybrid religion also hunt for people for their ritual cannibalism. The novel follows a group of artists who try to eke out a living in this toxic environment. The main character is the tough-as-nails holographic artist Kumo. She is devoted to the purity of her art to a fault. She makes unfortunate enemies with Dori and Motler, who intend to sell-out and become corporate artists for Mickey-san. Her friends are the mostly spineless Jujube and the hermaphroditic David, who don't want to sell out, but spend most of their time avoiding both the cops and the criminals; in short, they are tied up in the business of survival. Finally, there is Tommy, a Warhol-like figure who plays on both sides of the coin-he's both an underground artist and a beloved icon of Mickey-san. He's even gained god status among a fascistic Christian sect. Looming over them all is a new horrifying development: a mysterious serial killer is eviscerating all of the artists in Dek Tek, one by one.

Misha's writing is rich and parodic. Her action sequences are highly visual and move swiftly. A particularly wonderful scene involves a description of the candyland-like corporate Mickey-san, where control underlies the soulless beauty of the city. She alternates a strong, straightforward prose style with stream-of-conscious poetic sections that are in the point of view of the artist-killer.

"She is dancing, a beautiful orchid in ballet pink, her frills gray with grime, droplets of dew run down her face, the missing track lights leave her elegant dance for lonely shadows...I am wrapping her white neck with the throat of a dying swan, and she is still, waiting to dance, to dance again as I am lifting her, her leap of silence into clouds from years of molting feathers from a broken lawn flamingo once again a silent pink swan."

The writing is a wonderful mix of fragility and violence, kind of a cross between Janet Frame and William S. Burroughs. The density of the writing, and Misha's interior monologues can be confusing. The characters frequently speak in untranslated Japanese and there are unexplained terms. But Red Spider, White Web is none the less, a compelling read. The novel's theme-about integrity in the face of harsh situations-comes through.