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Ribofunk Paperback – October 1, 1998

by Paul Di Filippo (Author)
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 48 ratings
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In a chilling world in which biology has become the cutting-edge science, strange, part-human creatures make their home in Lake Superior and must deal with the deadly, toxic waste that threatens their very existence. Reprint.
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  1. Print length
    241 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Eos
  4. Publication date
    October 1, 1998
  5. Dimensions
    4.25 x 0.75 x 7 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0380730766
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0380730766
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Nebula finalist Paul Di Filippo follows The Steampunk Trilogy, a collection of alternate-history novellas, with Ribofunk, a biotechnological hard-SF collection. As the radical shift of genres may indicate, Ribofunk is astonishingly diverse in subjects and styles, even though its 13 stories make up a future history. Despite the generous number of stories, the book's quality and creativity remain high throughout. In "Brain Wars," a genetically engineered disease afflicts an Antarctic army with enough psychobiological horrors to frighten even the famed neurologist Oliver Sacks. In "The Boot," a 2060s-era private investigator seeks a bio-enhanced thief-gambler who can see the dynamics of chaos and may therefore be able to beat any odds, even those of capture. In "The Bad Splice," the PI finds himself trapped alone in the superseaweed-choked, storm-torn North Atlantic with the diabolical Krazy Kat, a "splice," or genetically engineered animal-man, who has escaped bondage and become a splice-rights terrorist. A few characters recur sporadically, but one appears in every story: the Earth, its biosphere progressively altering with every tale, until the ultimate transformation of the final story, which brings the collection, novel-like, to a tremendous, terrifying, apocalyptic climax.

Few SF writers are as imaginative, energetic, or idea rich as Paul Di Filippo, and fewer still have as broad a knowledge of science and culture. And there's no contemporary SF writer who's more fun to read. --Cynthia Ward

About the Author

Paul DiFillippo is the author of The Steampunk Trilogy, Fractal Paisleys, and Ciphers, and is a two-time Nebula Award finalist. END

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Eos; Reprint edition (October 1, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 241 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0380730766
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0380730766
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.25 x 0.75 x 7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 48 ratings

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Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
48 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Greg Deocampo
5.0 out of 5 stars Visionary - A Masterpiece
Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2021
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A massively under appreciated literary gem and an unused template for powt cyberpunk LA noir. Di Fillipo establishes a bio technological foundation and layers it with stories set in that changed world. Brilliant.
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Austin C. Beeman
4.0 out of 5 stars Dense, Wild Fun with Genetic Mods and Insanely Creative Use of Language. Rated 85% Positive.
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2022
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Ribofunk by Paul Di Filippo
Rated 85% Positive. Story Score: 3.92 out of 5
13 Stories : 3 Great / 6 Good / 4 Average / 0 Poor / 0 DNF

Paul di Filippo is in love with playing with language. Phrases, brands, acronyms, spelling, genre, characters. All of these are taken apart and reassembled with a creativity and humor that is only matched by Di Filippo’s treatment of genetics and biology. This is book with invention on every line. You are inspired to dash forward like a Biomorph of leopard, rabbit, and 10% human. You glide on the humor and wordplay until you slam to earth with hard lessons around what humanity means, how slavery can slowly integrate back in to American society, how bio-modification can save or destroy the environment, and what it means when we are changing our bodies with the ease of changing our clothes.

… That’s the trouble with the tropes and strobers you can buy in the metamilk bars: they’re all kid’s stuff, G-rated holobytes. If you want a real slick kick, some black meds, then you got to belong to a set, preferably one with a smash watson boasting a clean labkit. A Fermenta, or Wellcome, or Cetus rig, say. Even an Ortho’ll do. But as I said, I had no set, nor any prospect of being invited into one….

… The bartender was a simian splice which hung by its tail from an aerial rail and mixed drinks with four human hands….

…I took out my little utility flashlight and lasered the wall pseudopod that had mated with Casio’s clothing…

I feel that my story summaries are worthless on this collection. Every paragraph, if not every line, had some uniquely weird insight into Ribofunk’s world. Many of these stories -maybe all of them - seem to operate in the same universe. Parts of the USA have merged with Canada and the South isn’t taking it well. Splices (sentient blends of human and animal DNA) are everywhere and human rights only exist for the 51% genetically human.

There is definitely some great work here, but I recommend the collection as a whole for a well rounded look at an insane future … which isn’t quite that crazy.

Stories for The Great List:

One Night in Television City • (1990) • short story by Paul Di Filippo. A chaotic urban tour through a baroquely inventive world of biotech body (and everything) modification. Every line has a new inventive bit of wordplay or SF future speculation. The story is your basic “low life dude ends up on the wrong side of some dangerous people and has to try to hide and get his bearings,” but the dense dive into this wild world is what makes this a great story.

Little Worker • (1989) • short story by Paul Di Filippo. Little Worker is a servant biomorph (part human & part cat) that works for (and loves) the Prime Minister. She cares for him and his household. The job is made harder by the PM’s wife taking a Bull Andromorph as a sex partner and the PM taking an Avian-influenced Gynomorph for one as well. Oh, and also terrorists that want the PM dead.

Brain Wars • (1992) • short story by Paul Di Filippo. Letters home from the war. A soldier writes to his mother, but he has been affected by a neuro-chemical bomb that infects him with various mental aliments. Memory loss. Noun loss. Dyslexia. This is an old story about the human cost of war told with flair and confidence using potential weapons of the future.

RIBOFUNK BY PAUL DI FILIPPO

13 STORIES : 3 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF

One Night in Television City • (1990) • short story by Paul Di Filippo

Great. A chaotic urban tour through a baroquely inventive world of biotech body (and everything) modification. Every line has a new inventive bit of wordplay or SF future speculation. The story is your basic “low life dude ends up on the wrong side of some dangerous people and has to try to hide and get his bearings,” but the dense dive into this wild world is what makes this a great story.

Little Worker • (1989) • short story by Paul Di Filippo

Great. Little Worker is a servant biomorph (part human & part cat) that works for (and loves) the Prime Minister. She cares for him and his household. The job is made harder by the PM’s wife taking a Bull Andromorph as a sex partner and the PM taking an Avian-influenced Gynomorph for one as well.

Cockfight • (1990) • novelette by Paul Di Filippo

Average. A team of toxic waste cleaners (Waste Gypsies) are brought in to do work closer to their hometown. Trouble at a strip club leads to an underground deathmatch.

Big Eater • (1995) • novelette by Paul Di Filippo

Average. Lower status splices try to flood Chicago to get back at humans for their abuses.

The Boot • (1990) • short story by Paul Di Filippo

Average. Detective Corby is hired by a voluptuous woman (in true Film Noir style) and hires him to hunt down her husband. A gambling addict who has stolen some of her intellectual property.

Blankie • (1996) • novelette by Paul Di Filippo

Good. Starts with a riveting infiltration and corruption of a ‘Blankie,” and the murder of the child swaddled within. Detective Corby’s investigation leads to factories where they are created and the perverse uses that they can be put to.

The Bad Splice • (1996) • novelette by Paul Di Filippo

Good. Krazy Kat - a famous terrorist - comes up against Detective Corby in this exciting thriller.

McGregor • (1994) • short story by Paul Di Filippo

Good. Peter Rabbit-noir. Peter escaped front his farm-slavery and has come to liberate his fellow animals from under the master’s nose.

Brain Wars • (1992) • short story by Paul Di Filippo

Great. Letters home from the war. A soldier writes to his mother, but he has been affected by a neuro-chemical bomb that infects him with various mental aliments. Memory loss. Noun loss. Dyslexia. This is an old story about the human cost of war told with flair and confidence using potential weapons of the future.

Streetlife • (1993) • short story by Paul Di Filippo

Good, A human-animal hybrid is made by its master to travel through the dangerous part of town to deliver a drug … and has dangerous adventures.

Afterschool Special • (1993) • novelette by Paul Di Filippo

Good. A schoolgirl whose parents will not allow her to get biomodifications challenges the rich girl in school leading to an offer that she cannot refuse.

Up the Lazy River • (1993) • short story by Paul Di Filippo

Average. A “River Master” tries to discover and undo the ecological damage done by an attack on the the RM’s beloved rivers.

Distributed Mind • (1995) • short story by Paul Di Filippo

Good. Difficult to discern the plot through Di Filippo’s dense prose here, but it seems like a microbe conquers by absorbing all the consciousness in an area. A man who has lost his wife and child to the microbe, goes inside to try to find a way to get them back. Exceptional ending to this one.
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Daniel Lederer
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun with Ribofunk
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2012
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As always, Paul DiFilippo's wild imagination keeps the reader riveted and entertained. The best part is that his sense of humor often sneaks up on you and catches you by surprise. Although he usually takes you to a different time, the human foibles revealed are just as relevant to our world today. This book is a fun read!
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Benjamin J. Hunt
1.0 out of 5 stars Dystopian future as imagined by Marvel / Disney.
Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2010
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The majority of Di Filippo's stories take place using modified groups of criminals and policemen and anthropomorphic animals.

To the extent this book talks about biotechnology, it is of the children's book trope type: criminals and policemen are forced to upgrade themselves for pointless war games, and talking animals are used to illustrate slavery.
4 people found this helpful
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IShopAmazon24x7
5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book!
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2014
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biotech is the new frontier, and this book set the stage early on for some fantastic ideas on what the possibilities can bring. It's a fun adventure in potential future applications for current science.
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Chris
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2015
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just what I wanted for a great price
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Matthew Reader
2.0 out of 5 stars Bruce Sterling does it better
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2005
This book is a collection of short stories that are all set in a futuristic world where biotechnology has altered and pervades every aspect of life. Drugs, recreational or otherwise, determine where you fit in society, as does your genetic makeup. I forgot how exactly I found out about this book, but after reading through every short story, I felt as if my time might have been better spent re-reading Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix, or William Gibson's Neuromancer.

I found that there are two predominant themes in this book, one being if humans are genetically engineered to contain DNA from other organisms, should they still be classified as being human, and what rights should they have? The other was how will biotechnology alter how humans live day-to-day? Di Filippo's answer to the first question is quite arbitrary, that one must only have 51% or more human DNA to be considered human, and all other genetically modified creatures with 50% or less human DNA may be treated like any other animal. Di Filippo must not have realized that most if not all primates have 51% or more DNA, and would thus be classified as humans in his futuristic world. It's also disappointing to learn that in the future, the concept of animal rights has all but been abolished, since many stories feature characters who are "animals" composed of 50% or less human DNA who are routinely beaten, tortured, and raped (and lovingly referred to as "play-pets"). Even more disappointing is Di Filippo's refusal to explore more spiritual or social aspects as to what makes a human human, such as what only humans can create or do. For Di Filippo, the classifications of human and non-human are frighteningly black and white, and unbelievable in even the most dystopic future.

There are also a few scattered short stories about characters that use biotechnology to enhance how they do their job or interact with others. There are stories about characters who use drugs to help them gamble, biotechnological enhancements to help them fight crime, medical treatments given to those who clean up toxic waste, and cosmetic enhancements like horns or tusks for social purposes. But after contemplating them all, I can't quite fathom what Di Filippo is trying to convey with these stories, other than if we can use biotechnology to do something, we will regardless of its moral or social implecations. And Di Filippo may very well be right about this, and this idea is the only reason why I'm not giving Ribofunk one star. Most of the ideas in it are either stagnant, or poorly thought out and easily dismissed. Di Filippo tries to develop a type of futuristic slang for his characters throughout Ribofunk similar to nadsat slang in A Clockwork Orange, but it's more annoying than anything.

Overall I was very disappointed with Ribofunk. There are dozens of books that are far superior in quality to this one, and have more innovative predictions of what the biotechnology revolution will bring.
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Kari A. Stiller
5.0 out of 5 stars One of my top 20 favorite books of all time.
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2011
Whenever I recommend authors to people, Paul Di Filipo is one of the first people I recommend. His stories are imaginative. His characters are interesting. His prose is tight and eloquent. Ribofunk expanded my idea of sci-fi in a whole new direction, one that I think is very valid considering the aims of today's technologies. If you are at all interested in organic cybernetics, wetware, biohumanoid technology and the like, I would recommend this book.
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Salil Biswas
5.0 out of 5 stars Liked
Reviewed in India on December 20, 2018
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Good
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Apophis
4.0 out of 5 stars Le prodigieux tableau d’un futur proche dominé par les biotechnologies
Reviewed in France on May 14, 2016
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Ce fix-up de nouvelles, paru en 1996, est un des pionniers et des livres de référence du Biopunk, cette variante orientée biotechnologies du Cyberpunk. Il offre un panorama absolument prodigieux de ce que pourrait être un futur (à l’échelle de quelques décennies) dominé par les bio- et nano-technologies. Il faut toutefois remarquer que si les conséquences sociales et évolutives sont bien évidemment abordées, elles le sont avec moins de profondeur et de vertige, la plupart du temps, que dans les nouvelles orientées biologie de Greg Egan par exemple. De même, si chaque nouvelle offre une intrigue, celle-ci n’est assez souvent qu’un prétexte pour dévoiler un pan inédit de l’univers.

Il faut signaler qu’entre le slang (argot des rues), l’anglais de tous les jours utilisé (par opposition à de l'anglais littéraire), les termes scientifiques (ou les allusions à de grands savants) et les néologismes, ce recueil se révèle ardu à lire. Niveau solide d’anglais et / ou de connaissances en biologie indispensables. Ça reste du biotech avec un niveau de vocabulaire très nettement Hard-SF.

Malgré tout, Ribofunk reste un ouvrage fondamental en matière de Biopunk, un indispensable dans sa niche décrivant un aspect particulier du futur proche, au même titre que l’Age de Diamant de Neal Stephenson pour la nanotech, que Rainbow’s End de Vernor Vinge pour la Réalité Augmentée ou que Accelerando de Charles Stross pour la Singularité informatique.

Version complète de la critique, avec une analyse de chaque nouvelle qui constitue ce recueil, sur mon blog (adresse sur mon profil).
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M B
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2015
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Amazing!!!
One of the best SciFi Books I've read in a while
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