Hot Head

by Simon Ings

An ambitious SF novel that is at once post-cyberpunk and post-modern. Complex, multi-layered, it combines hard science, tarot and images of late 20th-century Europe to make something utterly original. And introduces a memorable new heroine to the genre ...

Malise has a problem. She's come downwell to Earth, but years of space combat have ruined her muscles have wasted away, her past is a confused torture of events and her brain is wired to addictive military hardware that's illegal on Earth.

But with an AI mining probe returning to Earth, having bred and grown until it is hundreds of miles across, Malise is in the firing line again. The probe is indestructible and it is insatiable for more metals. No one knows how to stop it. Malise doesn't know she has a blueprint for humanity's survival wired into her head.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk, Lesbian, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy, Novels

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

I began by writing science fiction stories, novels and films, before disappearing down various rabbit-holes: perception (The Eye: A Natural History), 20th-century radical politics (The Weight of Numbers), the shipping system (Dead Water) and augmented reality (Wolves). I co-founded and edited Arc magazine, a digital publication about the future, before joining New Scientist magazine as its arts editor. Now I eke out a freelance living in possibly the coldest flat in London, writing arts reviews for the newspapers. My latest non-fiction is Stalin and the Scientists, a history of Soviet science. My latest novel is The Smoke.

Reviews

[The Captain · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ahoy there me mateys! This be the thirteenth book in me Ports for Plunder – 19 Books in 2019 list. When I went to read this book, I realized that there was a problem. The library had unloaded this book from their catalogue! Not a good sign. I currently have a self-imposed rule that I can only buy books that I know I will reread (library book sales being the exception). So I decided to download an Amazon sample to see if it be good enough to spend me loot. Usually Amazon samples be dangerous because I read, fall in love, and immediately buy the book. Sadly the answer was no to this book. I didn’t like what I read at all. In fact I am not even including this book in the tally of reads for the year. The only reason this post is being written is because of it was on the 19 in 2019 list. If this writing style is indicative of all of the author’s works then I likely won’t read any more of it. Sorry Simon! No offense meant. The rest of the crew does seem to like this book though. Arrrr!

[Andries · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw and brilliant. Ings is one of the few writers in cyberpunk who does not stand in Gibson's shadow. His plotting is not as elegant - the first half of the book is all over the place - but when he gets going he takes you into a gnarly and glittering world all of his own. There is a kind of meticulous nastiness in the world he describes, but he conveys it with a dispassionate and detached precision that chills the heat just enough to make it work. His account of the visit to the decayed and ravaged habitat C-LEDGE - a spaceship literally transformed into meat- is a tour de force. Although this is a disjointed and unfocused book, the sheer power of Ings's vision - feral, brutal, implacable and delicate, makes this book, in my view, a disregarded classic.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

An elegant, bizarre, and very post-modern and literate book. Using tarot, cyberpunk, character study, metafiction, hard science, hints of horror in a surreal fractured narrative. A beautiful trick ending justifies the structures and games. This book reminded me a little of Jeff Noon but more coherent and urgent as I made it all the way through. Needs a re-read at some point. An added bonus is the title kept putting the Captain Beefheart song in my head, which is a good thing.

[Elizabeth]

considering i never drop books, i was upset to finally drop one. i read about 70 pages, can’t seem to find a plot and what i read seemed choppy

[Daniel Bradwel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really want to like Hot Head more than I do, because it occasionally offers up some genuinely interesting scenes with the sort of ideas and themes I love.

Sadly, its wrapped in some real unfortunate paper: dense and ostentatious prose, a thinly-strung together, vague, and often incomprehensible plot, and a lineup of characters that are introduced and dropped faster than you can frown, to say nothing of how strange and fictitious they often feel. Sometimes they're good, relatable, human even! Other times, they're like these Mediaeval tapestries of lions or elephants or whatever, made and presented by someone that has only ever heard stories about these strange "people" things, but never actually seen or met any.

Ings is clearly a very smart and fluent guy, but I seriously don't think he had quite worked out how to translate his creativity into something digestible when he wrote this book. If you like your fiction a little out there and know your words good, then you might enjoy it more. Otherwise if, like me, you were hoping for something grounded and tangible, save yourself the read.

[Steve Oh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keine leichte Lektüre und ich habe mehrere Male daran gedacht, es wegzulegen.

Auf den ersten 100 Seiten habe ich (wie so viele andere auch) versucht, die Handlung zu begreifen, aber hatte keine Ahnung was vor sich geht. Die zweite Hälfte des Buches wird allerdings besser.

Das genretypische technische Geschwafel ist etwas schwer zu verdauen, aber insgesamt regt die Idee hinter der Geschichte ab den letzten 50 Seiten zum Nachdenken an und bleibt dann noch lange im Gedächtnis. Für mich ist das immer ein Zeichen dafür, dass das Buch bei mir als Leser etwas bewirkt hat.

Würde ich es noch einmal lesen? Wahrscheinlich nicht in naher Zukunft.

[Sarah Mcilwaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am disappointed. I tried to read it to completion, but it was so difficult to follow that I kept thinking about other things while superficially scanning the lines. I give this book 2 stars simply because I thought the idea was good. That idea being only the bizarre brain computer things. Unfortunately, a book needs to have far more interesting aspects to it for me to actually finish it.

[Margob99 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. Struggled to follow the story, which read like the author had written it while tripping on acid. Kept trying, though, and made it to the end. I feel like I should be getting a medal. Really hard work for not much reward.

[7thTrooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Efter vad jag har läst så känns Ings bitvis (läs: C-ledge) som en William S. Burroughs efter att han har upptäckt William Gibson. Men annars verkar han vara sui generis, man kan absolut se byggstenarna från cyberpunken men han gör något helt eget med det. Än så länge har jag inte läst någon annan som skriver som Simon Ings gör och det är mig en fullständig gåta att han inte är mer känd inom fältet än vad han är. Eller, ja, både och. För han är bra, riktigt bra när han vill, men samtidigt så är han minst sagt udda på ett plan som nog bara toppas av Philip K. Dick. Typografiska experiment, rymdstationer som förvandlats till kött, fylld med enorma ögon, käkben och hudflikar som stora segel som verkar ha växt fram på måfå, ickelinjärt berättande, tarot, och en ovilja att förklara saker rakt ut. Det är svårtillgängligt och jag begriper själv inte allting. Slutet kan jag nog bara förklara till hälften. Men hans språk är bra, hans världsbygge intressant och de tvära kasten i andra halvan mellan olika verkligheter är fascinerande.

Uppföljaren hade jag redan läst, tydligen, utan att ha varit medveten om det. Men den är lika läsvärd (men minst lika svårgenomtränglig) som denna. Det enda som kan vara lite tröttsamt är att det är bitvis mycket sex men det är inget som egentligen har någon effekt på hur bra den är. Simon Ings är i vilket fall en av de mer unika och intressanta författare som har skrivit inom fältet på bra många år.

[Thomas Hale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely 1992, from the postcyberpunk SF trappings to the bizarre "end of history" era worldbuilding that has aged like milk. The book is a mess with occasional moments of brilliance (one particularly good sequence sees the protagonist and her crew exploring a space colony full of overgrown meat-tech). Unfortunately the pieces don't fit together very well, with only two? three? interestingly-written characters, random acts of violence and trauma, and a tarot card theme that barely pays off. Also the printing I read had some really bad typos and missing punctuation all over the place. Overall a disappointing and frustrating experience that had some scenes that I enjoyed a lot - but only some.

[Ezra · Rating 2 out of 5]

i really wanted to like this, there were some genuinely interesting ideas touched on and i loved the way some of the scenes were written. overall though this book is such a mess, i’m not sure what the point of it all was. it was just too difficult to follow and make sense of anything. like reading a description of someone’s acid trip. very minimal plot and characterisation, if any.

2/5 stars

[Gilberto Tevreden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Een raar boek dat je alle kanten op slingert. Een meisje is de sleutel tot de redding van de wereld. Maar de weg erheen zit zo vol gekke dingen dat je het niet zo kunt zien. Zelfs aan het eind was ik niet overtuigd. Sciencefiction, maar soms een brug te ver naar mijn smaak.

[Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

First couple of pages can be ignored, the history and culture really aren't that important in the rest of the book. Enjoyed the café by the sea and the gypsy section, and the meat planet was well done.

[Gultekin Irengun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great example of cyber punk. Good read. Been a while to be honest but I remember enjoying it mostly.

[Greg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugg

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some great imagery, but Ings repeatedly truncates a thrilling sequence or idea to instead focus on something uninteresting or tedious.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simon sent me this, his first novel, over six months ago. My taking so long to get to is should be no reflection on the work, which is quite good, but just my general slowdown. Hot Head is post-cyberpunk fiction, like Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash. Both novels deal in themes raised by William Gibson, et al., but in here Simon takes the mileu and stretches it out onto a third world political canvas while Stephenson poked at it with the satire stick. The novel sputters a bit in the front as Simon info dumps the background of his protagonist, Malise. But as he warms up to his subject, and as the novel moves into the "present" line of the story rather than Malise's past, Simon hits stride. Many writers have toyed with the human/software implant (best done in George Alec Effinger's When Gravity Fails, I feel), but Simon's able to make it new here. Possibly it's because he realizes that it (the technology) is not the story (even though the novel is named after it), but a part of the story. This novel could as easily have been titled Moonwolf (but, then, that sounds slightly like a horror or fantasy novel, doesn't it?). I was thrown off a bit by the sudden impact of the ending, but I think that was due more to my start-n-stop reading method than any fault of Simon's.

I did have one other comment. I ran across something early in the book-- I think it was about walking and falling--that reminded me of Laurie Anderson. I thought it mere coincidence until I came across:

"Do you want to go home?" they said, "Do you want to go home now?"

Which I can't place, but it's somewhere in United States Live ("Walk the Dog"?). Given this novel, and the fact that he quotes Laurie Anderson, how can I help but look for Simon's next?

Postscript 30 October 2014: As I was reviewing this commentary 20 years later, I finally notice yet another Laurie Anderson reference in the title itself. The song is on her album Mister Heartbreak and is about Adam, Eve, and the snake, with Eve falling for the snake hard. Why? "Because she was a hot head...she was a woman in love."

[Jani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simon Ings' novel is somewhere in the sphere of cyberpunk. Fortunately, it manages to avoid at least one the main problems I've had with the genre, completely flat characters. The protagonist Malise is an interesting if damaged character that seems more than I writer's tool for displaying the nihilism of the world around her. This fact helps keep the reader interested in the route from the description of the childhood in a different world with an inner realism to the embodied 2001 Space Odyssey encounter with an conscious machine in the end.

The beginning of the novel paints a picture of a world changed. It depicts a world where most of the cyberpunk dreams or nightmares have come through: nations states have mostly fallen and nee powers have risen, among them massives; conglomerated of intellegent machines that are at least close to singularity. However, among these element Ings is more interested in writing the story of Malise withing the world instead of dwelling on the dystopian vision. This gives the story strength that carries it through episodes and acquaintances that sometimes seem irrelevant, and especially keeps the conciousness of the reader more concise ones the actions starts accelarating and the world becomes a more confusing place.

For a cyberpunk novel written in the early nineties, the world has been kind to Hot Head. While the world has not exactly come to pass and it is unlikely it will, there is still something fascinating and relatable about. Also, while technological world has yet to take the cyberpunkish turn (hope it never does) and the more fantastical aspects sometimes seem overboard, the questions about humanity still retain their relevance. One of the better cyberpunk novels I have read.

[Psychophant · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a pity I did not read this book back in 1992, it would have blown my mind.

It has aged relatively well, however, with several predictions that have scored quite well, from the weather change to the impact of muslim refugees in Europe, but of course it is impossible to hit everything. It mixes near future prediction with a post-cyberpunk vibe and a part of real space/real science thrown in. So action is mostly limited to our star system, and the mind of our heroine, who is the best part of the book.

The ending reads a bit like a rehash of 2001 and Alice in Wonderland, and weakens overall a very solid book, and a good show of how we saw the future twenty five years ago.

I will be reading more recent books from Ings to see how if his futurism is still strong.

[Paul Grimsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is from one of the writers from the later group of people associated with cyberpunk and it approaches it from a slightly different angle. Whereas a lot of the writers in this genre basically use the tropes of cyberpunk as a backdrop to the usual science fiction tale here it seems more integral. It looks at how the technology affects the humanity of those who embrace it and does so in a real and affecting way.

[Miodrag Mitic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing take on cyberpunk themes and an excellent first novel. I enjoyed the effort made to depict the near future (e.g. post AI and climate change) and the main character in much more intimate tones than most books in the genre. The book easily lends itself to visual imagination and at least in my head it turned into a great movie.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a crazily fast paced books with the setting, side characters and ethos of the thing changing every ten pages or so. As such, it was inevitable that after such an extravaganza of literature, it wouls have something of a lacklustre ending. As such, one star lost, but still a very enjoyable read.

[Nic · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A bit opaque to get into, but ultimately satisfying. Greater depth than first appears. Very impressive that a first-time, male author has chosen to use female leads almost exclusively. Another to reread at some point."

[Lee Tempest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hm. Despite all the Hype, I am disappointed. This novel is just sexual romps with not much direction that skips time. The writing tries to copy William Gibson's Sprawl far too much. Not much plot either.

[Kevin Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great tale. Re-read several times.
A tale of severe alienation and the many links between sexual activity and violence.
All sexual activity is presented in a queasy, jaundice and transgressive way (without becoming pornographic).

[Eija · Rating 1 out of 5]

En jaksanut lukea kun puoleenväliin. Kun ei muutu paremmaksi siihen mennessä, niin antaa olla. Sekoileva juoni. Virtuaalitodellisuutta.

[Hannah]

I decided that if I kept reading this book I would spark a spiraling descent into my own depression, so I make the wise choice to stop reading. My friends and family applaud my decision.

[Silverpiper · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most interesting sci fi books I've ever read.

[Bailey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting ideas speckled with spicy prose, but cursed with insufferable Cyberpunk/hard SF technobabble and a thoroughly incomprehensible plot.