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The DNA Cowboys #4
The Last Stand of the DNA Cowboys
Science Fiction.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
288 pages, Paperback
First published August 13, 1989
4 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Mick Farren
67 books80 followersFarren was the singer with the proto-punk English band The Deviants between 1967 and 1969, releasing three albums. In 1970 he released the solo album Mona – The Carnivorous Circus which also featured Steve Peregrin Took, John Gustafson and Paul Buckmaster, before leaving the music business to concentrate on his writing.
In the mid-1970s, he briefly returned to music releasing the EP Screwed Up, album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money and single "Broken Statue". The album featured fellow NME journalist Chrissie Hynde and Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson.
He has sporadically returned to music, collaborating with Wayne Kramer on Who Shot You Dutch? and Death Tongue, Jack Lancaster on The Deathray Tapes and Andy Colquhoun on The Deviants albums Eating Jello With a Heated Fork and Dr. Crow.
Aside from his own work, he has provided lyrics for various musician friends over the years. He has collaborated with Lemmy, co-writing "Lost Johnny" for Hawkwind, and "Keep Us on the Road" and "Damage Case" for Motörhead. With Larry Wallis, he co-wrote "When's the Fun Begin?" for the Pink Fairies and several tracks on Wallis' solo album Death in a Guitar Afternoon. He provided lyrics for the Wayne Kramer single "Get Some" in the mid-1970s, and continued to work with and for him during the 1990s.
In the early 1970s he contributed to the UK Underground press such as the International Times, also establishing Nasty Tales which he successfully defended from an obscenity charge. He went on to write for the main stream New Musical Express, where he wrote the article The Titanic Sails At Dawn, an analysis of what he saw as the malaise afflicting then-contemporary rock music which described the conditions that subsequently gave rise to punk.
To date he has written 23 novels, including the Victor Renquist novels and the DNA Cowboys sequence. His prophetic 1989 novel The Armageddon Crazy deals with a post-2000 United States which is dominated by fundamentalists who dismantle the Constitution.
Farren has written 11 works of non-fiction, a number of biographical (including four on Elvis Presley), autobiographical and culture books (such as The Black Leather Jacket) and a plethora of poetry.
Since 2003, he has been a columnist for the weekly Los Angeles CityBeat.
Farren died at the age of 69 in 2013, after collapsing onstage while performing with the Deviants at the Borderline Club in London.
In the mid-1970s, he briefly returned to music releasing the EP Screwed Up, album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money and single "Broken Statue". The album featured fellow NME journalist Chrissie Hynde and Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson.
He has sporadically returned to music, collaborating with Wayne Kramer on Who Shot You Dutch? and Death Tongue, Jack Lancaster on The Deathray Tapes and Andy Colquhoun on The Deviants albums Eating Jello With a Heated Fork and Dr. Crow.
Aside from his own work, he has provided lyrics for various musician friends over the years. He has collaborated with Lemmy, co-writing "Lost Johnny" for Hawkwind, and "Keep Us on the Road" and "Damage Case" for Motörhead. With Larry Wallis, he co-wrote "When's the Fun Begin?" for the Pink Fairies and several tracks on Wallis' solo album Death in a Guitar Afternoon. He provided lyrics for the Wayne Kramer single "Get Some" in the mid-1970s, and continued to work with and for him during the 1990s.
In the early 1970s he contributed to the UK Underground press such as the International Times, also establishing Nasty Tales which he successfully defended from an obscenity charge. He went on to write for the main stream New Musical Express, where he wrote the article The Titanic Sails At Dawn, an analysis of what he saw as the malaise afflicting then-contemporary rock music which described the conditions that subsequently gave rise to punk.
To date he has written 23 novels, including the Victor Renquist novels and the DNA Cowboys sequence. His prophetic 1989 novel The Armageddon Crazy deals with a post-2000 United States which is dominated by fundamentalists who dismantle the Constitution.
Farren has written 11 works of non-fiction, a number of biographical (including four on Elvis Presley), autobiographical and culture books (such as The Black Leather Jacket) and a plethora of poetry.
Since 2003, he has been a columnist for the weekly Los Angeles CityBeat.
Farren died at the age of 69 in 2013, after collapsing onstage while performing with the Deviants at the Borderline Club in London.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 16, 2023
I really dug the apocalyptic setting here, where the world is slowly blinking away into nothingness, though kept at bay by makeshift stabilizers that maintain small pockets of “normal reality.” I put that in quotes because in this world, normal reality consists of roving hordes of Mad Max-ian murderous scumbags intent on destroying the world.
Sounds amazing, I know. My problem with the book is that our heroes, the DNA Cowboys, are pretty much murderous scumbags as well, which made it hard to connect with them at all, and I was close to DNF-ing it due to that. I’m glad I stuck with it, as it was a decent time once I simply shut my brain off and reveled in the craziness and debauchery. But I typically need to have at least a little empathy for the main characters to stay engaged. I suppose their shortcomings can be blamed on living in a lawless, hopeless environment like the one portrayed here, and they’re a smidge less evil than everyone else, but I still didn’t like them.
In a book taking place in a devastated world filled with relentless violence and cruelty, I need someone to root for or else the whole thing just becomes depressing and not very fun. The writing could be somewhat incoherent at times as well. However, the bizarre setting as well as the creativity on display (not to mention some cool action set pieces) were enough for me to see it through to the end. Barely.
Sounds amazing, I know. My problem with the book is that our heroes, the DNA Cowboys, are pretty much murderous scumbags as well, which made it hard to connect with them at all, and I was close to DNF-ing it due to that. I’m glad I stuck with it, as it was a decent time once I simply shut my brain off and reveled in the craziness and debauchery. But I typically need to have at least a little empathy for the main characters to stay engaged. I suppose their shortcomings can be blamed on living in a lawless, hopeless environment like the one portrayed here, and they’re a smidge less evil than everyone else, but I still didn’t like them.
In a book taking place in a devastated world filled with relentless violence and cruelty, I need someone to root for or else the whole thing just becomes depressing and not very fun. The writing could be somewhat incoherent at times as well. However, the bizarre setting as well as the creativity on display (not to mention some cool action set pieces) were enough for me to see it through to the end. Barely.
May 6, 2020
This is not a sequel but a reinvention of the original concept: the Damaged World of small habitable areas separated by the grey wash of matter-dissolving "nothings", the DNA Cowboys as a trio of drifters/mercenaries/screwups with a reputation, and humanity itself within its enclaves turning violent and self-destructive and heading toward apocalypse. It appears to have no continuity with the original trilogy...certainly not with the cataclysmic finale of The Neural Atrocity.
Farren's additional decade or so of seasoning shows in the work. This is a more realized image of the fantastic setting, with upgraded imagination and expression. The DNA Cowboys are more palpably "a thing" both with regard to themselves and the setting itself. It is less pointlessly angry and out to transgress, and when it does shock it is by the frission of event or body horror rather than some vulgar display. This is the writing I remember from the Citizen Phaid books, though it does eventually devolve into total violence.
The tragedy of the Damaged World--what is it with Farren and fallen, damaged worlds?--is now deeper and more explained. Once a star-spanning civilization with a grand technology and edifices, the remnants of humanity now skulk in their habitats eking by with replicated material from Stuff Central and irreplaceable artifacts.
He even touches on the horror of universal replicators, A For Anything style.
In all, this is the book that the original trilogy was shooting for and not hitting, from a writer now able to express whole concepts and to chop out the least interesting pieces. If not for the author's unfortunate passing, I wonder if he would have revisited the concept yet again, and what the results would have been.
Farren's additional decade or so of seasoning shows in the work. This is a more realized image of the fantastic setting, with upgraded imagination and expression. The DNA Cowboys are more palpably "a thing" both with regard to themselves and the setting itself. It is less pointlessly angry and out to transgress, and when it does shock it is by the frission of event or body horror rather than some vulgar display. This is the writing I remember from the Citizen Phaid books, though it does eventually devolve into total violence.
The tragedy of the Damaged World--what is it with Farren and fallen, damaged worlds?--is now deeper and more explained. Once a star-spanning civilization with a grand technology and edifices, the remnants of humanity now skulk in their habitats eking by with replicated material from Stuff Central and irreplaceable artifacts.
He even touches on the horror of universal replicators, A For Anything style.
In all, this is the book that the original trilogy was shooting for and not hitting, from a writer now able to express whole concepts and to chop out the least interesting pieces. If not for the author's unfortunate passing, I wonder if he would have revisited the concept yet again, and what the results would have been.
September 16, 2011
an often fun combo of psychedelia, over the top pulp action, and imaginative bizarro landscapes. well it was written by one of those underground musician types, what do you expect? snarky and sorta sleazy characters abound. unfortunately, after a while, the jokiness just got to me and i grew oh so bored. more enjoyable in retrospect than in actuality. still, an unusual book and definitely a part of its time - the glorious 70s!
March 28, 2012
I can't describe it better than this review from Amazon: "a literary LSD head-trip thru Mick's unique, hallucinatory fantasy-scape of kung-fu movies, sphaghetti westerns, high-tech magnificence and dazed drugged decadence." I should mention I seem to be reading the last book first - check the Wikipedia entry for more info.
November 13, 2017
Mick Farren was a great world creator. He transplanted the ethos of 60's psychedelic rock, marinated with American Western and Film Noir tropes, into dystopian environments unlike anything else you've read. I haven't read the three original DNA Cowboy novels, so I can't say which plot points reference the trilogy. This book works well enough as a stand-alone novel. The problem is, some seemingly important plot elements are introduced only to be left undeveloped. Anyways, I'm looking forward to reading more Farren. Please, whoever owns his copyrights, consider reissuing his works on Kindle.
May 31, 2013
Good book, not a great one. I like some of Mick Farren's other books, he has a similar feel to Michael Resnick, great story teller, but he's a bit dark in his methods.
This book was too strange, and not always very clear as to what's going on, but very imaginative.
This book was too strange, and not always very clear as to what's going on, but very imaginative.
January 4, 2015
The Last Stand was incredible. DNA Cowboys live.
May 19, 2024
3.5 stars
i actually enjoyed this a lot once it got going. i think this might be the first science fiction novel i've read the whole way through..? not counting anything i read and forgot about when i was a kid. i liked the setting in this book-- futuristic but junky. my favourite kind of sci-fi setting.
it's kind of a very bleak story but the characters are fun and they bounce off each other well. reave and renatta were my favourites; renatta in particular is really fun but there's a lot of times where it's obvious that she's a woman written by a man.
anyway this was a fun read. i found out that there's three more DNA cowboys books that came before this one but it's unlikely that i'll read them... this one is fine as a standalone.
i actually enjoyed this a lot once it got going. i think this might be the first science fiction novel i've read the whole way through..? not counting anything i read and forgot about when i was a kid. i liked the setting in this book-- futuristic but junky. my favourite kind of sci-fi setting.
it's kind of a very bleak story but the characters are fun and they bounce off each other well. reave and renatta were my favourites; renatta in particular is really fun but there's a lot of times where it's obvious that she's a woman written by a man.
anyway this was a fun read. i found out that there's three more DNA cowboys books that came before this one but it's unlikely that i'll read them... this one is fine as a standalone.
Read
November 8, 2022Mick was a most excellent writer. And musician, too. 'Last Stand' is the fourth DNA Cowboys book, but it’s not really a sequel to the original trilogy. Reave Mekonta (he now has a last name), Billy Oblivion and the Minstrel Boy are here, but the story doesn’t follow from the previous books. Had NO impact on my enjoyment of the story, in any way.
June 5, 2023
What a gem. I was given this book based solely on the awesome cover art, and I wasn't let down. The eponymous trio was surprisingly believable in their shenanigans despite their reputations. The universe Farren created was also really easy to get into and fun to explore.
March 10, 2019
i read it as a boy and it felt like a cowboy movie but in space the book realy touched me and the ending was great. then i found out that there was 3 books before it. cant wait to read them
June 14, 2020
Given the ending of Neural Attrocity, this book didn't follow on satisfactorily
June 15, 2016
Another dimly-remembered sci-fi novel of my youth. Alas, this one is not as good as Marooned In Realtime. It boasts a post-apocalyptic setting not too dissimilar from the role-playing game Rifts, which is probably why I liked it. The central innovation here is the idea of the Nothings: reality only exists as pockets of existence stabilized by always-running stasis generators. Anything without a stasis field that touches the Nothings smokes and dissolves. There's a Star Trek replicator-like technology to fill the ensuing plot holes.
No one's quite sure what caused the Nothings, but they seem like bad news. Some of humanity approaches the problem metaphysically (at this point in our species' evolution, that's an actual tractable science). But our heroes and much of the rest of the world sticks to drugs, violence and sex even as they careen toward oblivion. All of this is presented in forms maximally titillating to the juvenile nerd. I loved it all as a kid but there isn't quite enough there for me now -- though I am abashed to admit that I see echoes of my sensibility here, and I bet Mick Farren would have been fun to get a drink with.
No one's quite sure what caused the Nothings, but they seem like bad news. Some of humanity approaches the problem metaphysically (at this point in our species' evolution, that's an actual tractable science). But our heroes and much of the rest of the world sticks to drugs, violence and sex even as they careen toward oblivion. All of this is presented in forms maximally titillating to the juvenile nerd. I loved it all as a kid but there isn't quite enough there for me now -- though I am abashed to admit that I see echoes of my sensibility here, and I bet Mick Farren would have been fun to get a drink with.
April 27, 2012
Vlad Baptiste - "The limits on his viciousness were strictly a matter of available technology."
Jet Ace "I have this lizard brain implant and I sometimes become a little confused regarding my ultimate goals"
The disruptor "What could be closer to the human spirit than an entity that ate reality and shit hallucinations?"
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews