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Deserted Cities of the Heart
Years ago, Eddie Yates disappeared into the rainforests of the Yucatan, a burned-out visionary in search of cosmic truth. A mysterious photo sends Lindsey, his ex-wife, on a quest to bring him back and puts her on a collision course with Eddie's brother Thomas, whose desire for her has never faded. Their search leads them to the ruined Mayan temples of NaChan, deep in the jungle, where mushrooms grow that can send you back through time--or kill you. NaChan is sacred to the Landon Indians, and their enigmatic shaman Chan Ma'ax. But the ruins have also become a nexus for the political forces that are tearing Mexico apart. Lindsey, Thomas, and Eddie are soon caught between Carla's rebel army and the secret US paramilitary group known as the Fighting 666th as they face off in the first battle of the end of the world.
273 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 31, 2009
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the end of the world in 2012 based on the Mayan calendar ending it’s last cycle. In Deserted Cities of the Heart, Lewis Shiner was ahead of the game when he wrote in 1988! As the Indians in the book say, the end of the world has to start some place.
Deserted Cities is something like you’d get if you mixed Carlos Castaneda’s Don Juan, with Burroughs/Ginsburg’s The Yage Letters, and a bit of Paddy Chayefsky’s Altered States thrown in. Deserted Cities is about rock star Eddie Yates who disappears from public life. With the help on an Indian shaman he discovers a psychedelic mushroom that sends you on a literal trip, it will take you to the past. Your past, or to the ancient Mayan past. Eddie is followed by his brother Thomas Yates who is an anthropologist and Eddie’s ex-wife, Lindsey who try to rescue Eddie from self-destruction. It‘s a story of sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, time travel, Mexican revolutionaries, and the Mayan end of days.
Shiner’s early novels have been described as cyberpunk, whose best known adherent is William Gibson. I’m don’t really understand the label in this case. Deserted Cities is a well written pretty traditionally formatted novel. The action cinematically, ramping up the action for a climatic ending.
Deserted Cities is Shiner’s second novel. It was originally published in 1988. Although it uses the political situation in the plot, none of the story or action feels dated. I guess the more politics changes, the more it stays the same. With the talk of the end of the world in 2012 courtesy of the Mayan calendar it’s a good time for a republication of Deserted Cities. If you’ve read a lot of Shiner’s later novels, as I have, it’s interesting to see his subconscious already working with some common elements, a time traveling protagonist whose trips to the past aren’t very healthy for him, disappearing rock stars, Jimi Hendrix, which are precursors of his later works such as Glimpses. In using these elements you can see the evolution of Shiner as a writer.
Deserted Cities is something like you’d get if you mixed Carlos Castaneda’s Don Juan, with Burroughs/Ginsburg’s The Yage Letters, and a bit of Paddy Chayefsky’s Altered States thrown in. Deserted Cities is about rock star Eddie Yates who disappears from public life. With the help on an Indian shaman he discovers a psychedelic mushroom that sends you on a literal trip, it will take you to the past. Your past, or to the ancient Mayan past. Eddie is followed by his brother Thomas Yates who is an anthropologist and Eddie’s ex-wife, Lindsey who try to rescue Eddie from self-destruction. It‘s a story of sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, time travel, Mexican revolutionaries, and the Mayan end of days.
Shiner’s early novels have been described as cyberpunk, whose best known adherent is William Gibson. I’m don’t really understand the label in this case. Deserted Cities is a well written pretty traditionally formatted novel. The action cinematically, ramping up the action for a climatic ending.
Deserted Cities is Shiner’s second novel. It was originally published in 1988. Although it uses the political situation in the plot, none of the story or action feels dated. I guess the more politics changes, the more it stays the same. With the talk of the end of the world in 2012 courtesy of the Mayan calendar it’s a good time for a republication of Deserted Cities. If you’ve read a lot of Shiner’s later novels, as I have, it’s interesting to see his subconscious already working with some common elements, a time traveling protagonist whose trips to the past aren’t very healthy for him, disappearing rock stars, Jimi Hendrix, which are precursors of his later works such as Glimpses. In using these elements you can see the evolution of Shiner as a writer.
March 30, 2012
Indigenous tribes, anthropologists, narcoterrorists and militaries. Part intrigue, part drugged-out hallucination. Really excellent prose. An early novel form this master. Strongly recommended.
August 3, 2012
A nice blend of Regan-era Latin America and mystical BS. Not great, but entertaining. Think a little "Indiana Jones Temple of Doom" (the boring parts) and mix in "Apocolypto" and "Apocalypse Now" but maybe a little less crazy. Mexican rebels get entangled into a power struggle and the decendants of the Mayans begin prepping for the "end of the world". Add a washed up 70's guitar rock god and his PhD geek brother with the former rock god's wife along for sexual hi-jinks. Let's party like it's 1999! Oh, did I mention the secret ex-US military unit hunting down the rebels? Yeah, it's gonna get messy...
November 18, 2012
Love love love Lewis Shiner! Fell in love with Glimpses when I was in college.
August 12, 2022
Lewis Shiner's second novel marks his transition from science-fiction writer to mainstream writer. The novel is mostly a mainstream novel, with a bit of science-fictionality at the end. The novel introduces many of the themes that will preoccupy Shiner in much of the rest of his fiction writing: sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, left-wing politics, and environmentalism. Taking place in Mexico, 1986, the novel tells the story of four Northamericans caught up in a new version of Mexico's "Dirty War." The characters are Thomas Yates, an expert in ancient Mayan culture working in an independent research compound in Mexico, his brother Eddie, a former rock star who dropped out of music and drifted into living in a Mayan village in southern Mexico, Lindsey Yates, Eddie's wife who has come to Mexico to rescue Eddie, and John Carmichael, a reporter for Rolling Stone trying to boost his career with a scoop on the revolutionaries in southern Mexico. By the end of the first half of the novel, all the characters are in or coming close to Na Chan, a deserted Mayan city deep in the jungle in which legendarily powerful magic mushrooms grow. The novel has two sources of tension - the personal tensions between the three Yates's, and the political tension. This tension derives from the combination of a loose band of rebels led by a woman, Carla, who is barely holding her fighters together, the Mexican government seeking to destroy all symbols of rebellion, and a band of off-the-books American mercenaries being paid for by money from the Iran-Contra scandal. One can tell that Shiner has many balls in the air throughout the novel. He sets up the dichotomy of personal renewal against the backdrop of civilization crumbling into violence and chaos. For me, the novel became a bit too action/adventure toward the end. Additionally, the sort of science-fiction element is that the magic mushrooms take a person back in time in a way, synchronized to the Mayan calendar and somehow bringing about the end times by Prigogine's dissipative structures theory connected to Mayan mythology and mysticism. This part is all a bit vague. The novel is a quite ambitious endeavor.
April 4, 2022
Eddie used to be a rock star, but ten years ago he walked away from fame, his wife, his family and disappeared. Now it’s the mid-80s and his brother, Thomas, is working at a sustainable technologies project in Mexico when revolution breaks out. Eddie’s wife, Lindsay, shows up, convinced she knows where Eddie is. Meanwhile a Rolling Stone journalist, Carmichael, is in the middle of the rebels, interviewing one of the leaders, Carla. Meanwhile Eddie is living with the Lacondones Indians, descendants of the Mayans….
Part thriller, part mystical treatise on the “end of the world”, Lewis Shiner’s Deserted Cities of The Heart takes it’s pop culture references, it’s politics and smushes them together with psychedelic Mayan mysticism and the result is quite a ride. By turns erotic, action packed and mystical, Shiner writes with energy and precision. The Reagan-era Iran-Contra scandal looms large as revolutions sweep South America and Mexico is torn apart by rebels, earthquakes and a private American mercenary army led by a religious fanatic.
All these elements, both political and personal come to a head in the ruined Mayan city of Na Chan. Eddie is tripping on powerful psychedelic mushrooms and reliving parts of his life in ultra-vivid detail, until finally he finds himself in the time of the Mayans just as their civilisation collapses, mirroring the supposed collapse of our civilisation as the Mayan “long count” cycle comes to an end.
The politics may be dated and the end of the world scenario may have been tarnished by over familiarity, but this is still a hugely enjoyable read. If you like a meta-mystical action thriller, this is the book for you.
Part thriller, part mystical treatise on the “end of the world”, Lewis Shiner’s Deserted Cities of The Heart takes it’s pop culture references, it’s politics and smushes them together with psychedelic Mayan mysticism and the result is quite a ride. By turns erotic, action packed and mystical, Shiner writes with energy and precision. The Reagan-era Iran-Contra scandal looms large as revolutions sweep South America and Mexico is torn apart by rebels, earthquakes and a private American mercenary army led by a religious fanatic.
All these elements, both political and personal come to a head in the ruined Mayan city of Na Chan. Eddie is tripping on powerful psychedelic mushrooms and reliving parts of his life in ultra-vivid detail, until finally he finds himself in the time of the Mayans just as their civilisation collapses, mirroring the supposed collapse of our civilisation as the Mayan “long count” cycle comes to an end.
The politics may be dated and the end of the world scenario may have been tarnished by over familiarity, but this is still a hugely enjoyable read. If you like a meta-mystical action thriller, this is the book for you.
March 10, 2024
E' stato il titolo a catturarmi, la citazione di una grande canzone dei Cream, ai tempi della mia giovinezza. In Shiner è questo ad incuriosirmi: il rilievo che attribuisce alla storia della mia generazione attraverso la musica. Questo libro, poi, letto oggi a molti anni di distanza da quando è stato scritto, nato in un mondo che era molto diverso, appare ancora più acuto e ricco di immaginazione e intuizioni che si sarebbero a loro modo avverate. E' una bella combinazione di magico, politico, azione. Finisce anche con belle pagine.
September 7, 2020
Spiritual time travel in a world of political turmoil, this is a swirling eddy of a story with some of Shiner's distinct brand of radical theory and action scenario. It is a suitable introduction to the US/Mexico border area, especially if you find yourself transported back to 1980. So, a bit dated, but still a gripping read and its heart, as always with Shiner, is in the right place: in this case, in ruins.
September 27, 2023
This book has an odd start to it. The characters don't get well-refined until about halfway in. I was a bit worried that it would turn into a paean to mind-altering substances but the plot redeems itself. The end was clearer and stronger, I'm glad I stuck around.
February 27, 2019
Political AND trippy. 😉
May 2, 2023
Proprio non mi è piaciuto. Lento e macchinoso. Unico romanzo in tutta la mia vita che non sono riuscito a finire. Magari un giorno gli darò una seconda occasione
February 5, 2021
Un chitarrista rock disperso nella foresta centroamericana, sua moglie e suo fratello che partono per un'improvvisata ricerca, un giovane e idealista inviato di Rolling Stone che rimane invischiato tra la guerriglia messicana e truppe paramilitari fantasma mandate in Messico dagli Stati Uniti, una leggendaria guerrigliera, il suo malridotto esercito, i misteriosi indios e gli ancora più misteriosi Maya, che decisero mille anni prima di abbandonare le loro città e i loro templi per tornare a vivere nella foresta. E poi i funghi, misteriosi funghi dalle straordinarie peculiarità. Questi sono gli ingredienti che compongono il romanzo di Lewis Shiner; tanta roba, come potete vedere e non ho neanche incluso tutto.
"Desolate città del cuore" è un libro che si muove al limite, in perenne bilico verso l'inconcludenza, riuscendo tuttavia a non cadere mai. Il dettaglio e la varietà con cui sono descritti personaggi e situazioni possono spiazzare e non sempre sono necessarie, ma concorrono entrambi a dare a questo libro una profondità che raramente mi è capitato di incontrare in un romanzo. Queste pagine riescono a tracciare un quadro realistico di situazioni completamente agli antipodi tra di loro: la guerriglia zapatista nel Messico degli anni 80, la scena rock americana tra gli anni 60 e 70, la vita dei discendenti dei Maya, il tutto senza stridori, armonizzando ogni cosa in un'unica storia.
"Desolate città del cuore" è un libro che si muove al limite, in perenne bilico verso l'inconcludenza, riuscendo tuttavia a non cadere mai. Il dettaglio e la varietà con cui sono descritti personaggi e situazioni possono spiazzare e non sempre sono necessarie, ma concorrono entrambi a dare a questo libro una profondità che raramente mi è capitato di incontrare in un romanzo. Queste pagine riescono a tracciare un quadro realistico di situazioni completamente agli antipodi tra di loro: la guerriglia zapatista nel Messico degli anni 80, la scena rock americana tra gli anni 60 e 70, la vita dei discendenti dei Maya, il tutto senza stridori, armonizzando ogni cosa in un'unica storia.
January 24, 2021
I had read this book before, about 25 years ago, when I was a big Lewis Shiner fan due to his book Glimpses but didn’t remember anything other than helicopters being involved in the finale. There was a reason I couldn’t remember anything- this was a big mess of a book that was about a lot of things and nothing at all. There were simply too many main characters who I didn’t care about, too many plot lines that didn’t connect, and an unfocused plot.
And, despite the James Ellroy blurb, this is not “savagely written.” The book comes across as a SF writer wanting to produce “serious fiction”, is trapped in a contract with an SF publisher, the publisher and SF public being used to genre crap thinks it’s literary and wonderful, but the buying public ignores it because it is marketed as SF and because it comes off as an SF writer trying to be literary and failing.
And, despite the James Ellroy blurb, this is not “savagely written.” The book comes across as a SF writer wanting to produce “serious fiction”, is trapped in a contract with an SF publisher, the publisher and SF public being used to genre crap thinks it’s literary and wonderful, but the buying public ignores it because it is marketed as SF and because it comes off as an SF writer trying to be literary and failing.
April 4, 2008
Lewis Shiner’s Deserted Cities of the Heart is one of those books that is not easy to classify, but I think it fits pretty well with the sorts of books we discuss here. It involves a journalist in Central America searching for his brother Eddie, a one-time rock star. Eddie is experimenting with magic mushrooms and other psychedelics but it appears that he may have found away to use psychedelic drugs to actually travel in time, and even to travel back to the days of the Mayan civilisation. Meanwhile anti-government guerrillas are closing in from one side and pro-government forces from the other. It all sounds silly but it actually works surprisingly well.
August 10, 2011
This book was a little trippy, but by and large, I found to be excellent. Although a work of fiction it really painted what a mess Central America was during the 80s, a decade which was completely awesome, but between Iran/Contra, AIDS, and the Cold War ... a time period that I'm surprised the world really made it out of.
Want to read
September 10, 2010*note to self. Copy from A.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews