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Million Mile Road Trip
In his first new novel since 2013, cyberpunk pioneer Rudy Rucker offers his own smart, hilarious, and uniquely gnarly science fiction version of the classic road-trip story.
When a seemingly-innocent trumpet solo somehow opens a transdimensional connection to Mappyworld, a parallel universe containing a single, endless plain divided by ridges into basin-like worlds, three California teens find themselves taken on a million mile road trip across a landscape of alien civilizations in a beat-up, purple 80s wagon . . . with a dark-energy motor, graphene tires and quantum shocks, of course. Their goal? To stop carnivorous flying saucers from invading Earth. And, just maybe, to find love along the way.
Million Mile Road Trip is a phantasmagoric roller-coaster ride—mind warpingly smart and wildly funny, with a warmly beating heart.
Night Shade Books’ ten-volume series with Rudy Rucker collects nine of the brilliantly weird novels for which the mathematician-turned-author is known, as well as a tenth, never-before-published book, Million Mile Road Trip. We’re proud to collect in one place so much of the work of this influential figure in the early cyberpunk scene, and to share Rucker’s fascinating, unique worldview with an entirely new generation of readers.
When a seemingly-innocent trumpet solo somehow opens a transdimensional connection to Mappyworld, a parallel universe containing a single, endless plain divided by ridges into basin-like worlds, three California teens find themselves taken on a million mile road trip across a landscape of alien civilizations in a beat-up, purple 80s wagon . . . with a dark-energy motor, graphene tires and quantum shocks, of course. Their goal? To stop carnivorous flying saucers from invading Earth. And, just maybe, to find love along the way.
Million Mile Road Trip is a phantasmagoric roller-coaster ride—mind warpingly smart and wildly funny, with a warmly beating heart.
Night Shade Books’ ten-volume series with Rudy Rucker collects nine of the brilliantly weird novels for which the mathematician-turned-author is known, as well as a tenth, never-before-published book, Million Mile Road Trip. We’re proud to collect in one place so much of the work of this influential figure in the early cyberpunk scene, and to share Rucker’s fascinating, unique worldview with an entirely new generation of readers.
476 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2019
28 people are currently reading
366 people want to read
About the author
Rudy Rucker
196 books589 followersRudolf von Bitter Rucker is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk genre. He is best known for his Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which won Philip K. Dick awards. Presently, Rudy Rucker edits the science fiction webzine Flurb.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
April 4, 2019
I've read and enjoyed a number of Rudy Rucker novels and I can practically taste the surf on this one. They all have very distinctive flavors, but in all cases, they're wildly imaginative.
I admit I have a soft spot in my heart for easygoing kids more interested in being practical about relaxing, getting some surfing done, and playing their instruments, jamming out and taking it slow. This may have the hallmarks of a YA but it isn't, really. It's a road trip novel.
Here's where it really stands out: It's like reading Cat Valente's Space-Opera or Douglas Adams with a very surfer ethos, where the MCs take in the introduction of tiny aliens and a Dark Matter conversion kit for his bus with absolute aplomb.
What? Road trip with more peeps? Okie-dokey! With the kid brother? eehhhh.... okay... and we're doing a million miles and doing it powered by the strength of our music? ALL RIGHT! :)
If it sounds fun, you haven't gotten to know all the freaking aliens yet. :)
There's a ton and they're fun and of course, the journey ends with saving the universe and all, but the point is THE JOURNEY, man. :) And kisses that spawn a room full of babies. Or a whole WORLD of surfing! That bus goes through A LOT. :)
Very funny novel and delightful characters. I am reminded that I REALLY have to get back into reading Rudy's whole catalog. :) Well worth the time!
I admit I have a soft spot in my heart for easygoing kids more interested in being practical about relaxing, getting some surfing done, and playing their instruments, jamming out and taking it slow. This may have the hallmarks of a YA but it isn't, really. It's a road trip novel.
Here's where it really stands out: It's like reading Cat Valente's Space-Opera or Douglas Adams with a very surfer ethos, where the MCs take in the introduction of tiny aliens and a Dark Matter conversion kit for his bus with absolute aplomb.
What? Road trip with more peeps? Okie-dokey! With the kid brother? eehhhh.... okay... and we're doing a million miles and doing it powered by the strength of our music? ALL RIGHT! :)
If it sounds fun, you haven't gotten to know all the freaking aliens yet. :)
There's a ton and they're fun and of course, the journey ends with saving the universe and all, but the point is THE JOURNEY, man. :) And kisses that spawn a room full of babies. Or a whole WORLD of surfing! That bus goes through A LOT. :)
Very funny novel and delightful characters. I am reminded that I REALLY have to get back into reading Rudy's whole catalog. :) Well worth the time!
July 3, 2019
The new Rudy Rucker novel, pretty much YA this time and pretty good. This is a high-school graduation story, along with the titular road trip. And it's a Rucker novel, so the aliens are odd indeed, and there's lots of fooling around with four-dimensional topology and other mathematical concepts. No prior math knowledge required, but previous exposure to Rucker's unique story-telling style might be helpful. I'm not particularly fond of YA stories, and this one could have stood a more-rigorous final editing and shortening. So, not one of my favorite Rucker books, but I enjoyed it.
Here's Rucker's summary and elevator-pitch for the story, at Scalzi's:
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/05/0...
Here's Rucker's summary and elevator-pitch for the story, at Scalzi's:
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/05/0...
Read
November 25, 2023oh ya know, it's that classic story of girl receives magic pearl she can control w/ her trumpet, girl's half-sister turns out to be half-flying-saucer who recruits girl & bf to fight other psychic vampire saucers controlled by giant evil bagpipe, bf flies into wormhole piloting 4-dimensional cow that's an avatar of a mayan goddess, etc etc. pynchonian-lite candyfloss
abandoned
May 29, 2019Zoe and Villy are two kids at the end of high school, plotting to drop out and drive across America in the way I'm not sure young people really do anymore. She laments the fact that her peers aren't into Miles Davis, and the two of them embody a sort of timeless teenage identity in a way which I find a bit embarrassing despite being a middle-aged white man, and which I imagine will be even more so for readers who are not. In short, there is no getting away from the fact that one is reading a 2019 novel written by an old hippy*. And yet, there are enough flashes of something, enough moments when it feels more Pynchon than Kerouac, that one keeps reading – for instance, the description of one of Zoe's fashion concepts as 'Goth Coma'. And Rucker might be a hippy, and I never finished White Light, and I suspect the two 'ware novels of his I read might not read as well now as they did in the nineties, but he was also the hippy who blew my tiny schoolboy mind with The Fourth Dimension And How To Get There. So I persevered through the somewhat cheeseball alien contact, and the aliens pimping their ride, but eventually a line had to be drawn when Villy's annoying kid brother gets an invite to come along for the fabulous journey across the universe. Yes, no doubt there'll be some heartwarming hugging and learning and discovering they're not so very different really, but if there's one thing I expect in exchange for putting up with hippy tropes, it's that I'll at least get a decent escape fantasy out of the experience, rather than a wagging parental finger.
*Albeit an old hippy whose full name – Rudolf von Bitter Rucker – sounds more fitted to a camp commandant in a war film than expanded consciousness.
(Netgalley ARC)
*Albeit an old hippy whose full name – Rudolf von Bitter Rucker – sounds more fitted to a camp commandant in a war film than expanded consciousness.
(Netgalley ARC)
October 2, 2021
Fun premise, an actual million mile road trip. An alien couple comes to recruit graduating high school seniors Zoe and Villy to avert an attack on the Earth by sentient evil flying saucers. Villy's sophomore brother Scud and the alien couple come along. The million miles are in a kind of alternate universe where there's no outer space, but instead mountain ranges between various planets, which are all flat. The mountains have starstones, which correspond to the stars in space and seem to be sentient.
On the trip, they meet individuals of quite a few species, some well-intentioned and others with nefarious motives. They avoid hazards, or rescue each other as needed, and sometimes wreck Villy's car. No worries, an alien toolkit (each tool is an interesting critter) works wonders on the car; it ends up pretty superpowered. Zoe and Villy play music, which is useful a number of times, for interacting with aliens and also for propulsion. Villy also gets to surf a mile-high sentient wave (all kinds of things are sentient in this universe).
The car gets so souped up, and their music so powerful, that they do the whole million miles in just a few days, and the return trip even faster.
There's lots more. The topology of the universe is explained; it seems much like flatland and tesseracts. The characters and action are all typical for Rucker. They are kind of slackers, they live in Los Perros (Los Gatos, where I once lived; my mother-in-law taught at Los Gatos High, the school the kids go to and the setting for the denouement). They are quirky and naive-ish and use simple and quirky language to talk in a kind of shallow manner. The aliens and the action are absurd. All typical Rucker.
So, despite all the crazy ideas spurting out one after another on every page, there's not much new here; it's standard Rucker. Luckily for me, I happen to like that.
On the trip, they meet individuals of quite a few species, some well-intentioned and others with nefarious motives. They avoid hazards, or rescue each other as needed, and sometimes wreck Villy's car. No worries, an alien toolkit (each tool is an interesting critter) works wonders on the car; it ends up pretty superpowered. Zoe and Villy play music, which is useful a number of times, for interacting with aliens and also for propulsion. Villy also gets to surf a mile-high sentient wave (all kinds of things are sentient in this universe).
The car gets so souped up, and their music so powerful, that they do the whole million miles in just a few days, and the return trip even faster.
There's lots more. The topology of the universe is explained; it seems much like flatland and tesseracts. The characters and action are all typical for Rucker. They are kind of slackers, they live in Los Perros (Los Gatos, where I once lived; my mother-in-law taught at Los Gatos High, the school the kids go to and the setting for the denouement). They are quirky and naive-ish and use simple and quirky language to talk in a kind of shallow manner. The aliens and the action are absurd. All typical Rucker.
So, despite all the crazy ideas spurting out one after another on every page, there's not much new here; it's standard Rucker. Luckily for me, I happen to like that.
January 10, 2025
wicked cool concepts bogged down with reeeeally cloying wordplay. the vibes are good but it’s a bit of a slog when the flippant tone drags on for nearly 500 pages.
March 31, 2019
It's the first book I read by this author and won't be the last.
I appreciated the style of writing and how the characters were written.
The plot is engaging and entertaining, quite fast paced even if the level is not always the same, sometimes it seems to drag on.
A very good book on the whole, I look forward to reading other from this author.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC, all opinions are mine
I appreciated the style of writing and how the characters were written.
The plot is engaging and entertaining, quite fast paced even if the level is not always the same, sometimes it seems to drag on.
A very good book on the whole, I look forward to reading other from this author.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC, all opinions are mine
March 18, 2019
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have to say that I have never read anything by this author before, but it definitely had a Kurt Vonnegut feel to it. Without reading the biographical information, it was clear that this book was written by a mathematician or physicist who had perhaps experimented too much with LSD in the past.
I give the book high marks for creativity, with the very interesting cosmology and presentation of the aliens. Each of the aliens were portrayed in an interesting way, to the point where it seemed to get in the way of the story. The road trip itself was pretty weak as a plot device and the main character's interactions were those of someone so stoned that they had no awareness of anything but the now. Someone's wife is brutally murdered? No problem, just go on and sing with the group, even to the point of starting to date someone else three days later. Someone acts treacherously to you? Ask them to leave politely, then attack and kill them the next day when they show back up.
In short, the book starts out great, drags pretty badly for the middle half and then picks back up and does a pretty good job at the end. I had trouble getting through the middle of the book, but at the end I was enjoying it again.
I have to say that I have never read anything by this author before, but it definitely had a Kurt Vonnegut feel to it. Without reading the biographical information, it was clear that this book was written by a mathematician or physicist who had perhaps experimented too much with LSD in the past.
I give the book high marks for creativity, with the very interesting cosmology and presentation of the aliens. Each of the aliens were portrayed in an interesting way, to the point where it seemed to get in the way of the story. The road trip itself was pretty weak as a plot device and the main character's interactions were those of someone so stoned that they had no awareness of anything but the now. Someone's wife is brutally murdered? No problem, just go on and sing with the group, even to the point of starting to date someone else three days later. Someone acts treacherously to you? Ask them to leave politely, then attack and kill them the next day when they show back up.
In short, the book starts out great, drags pretty badly for the middle half and then picks back up and does a pretty good job at the end. I had trouble getting through the middle of the book, but at the end I was enjoying it again.
June 2, 2019
Million Mile Road Trip is unlike any journey you’ve ever been on. Rucker takes the wheel and slams through barriers into a world that bursts with originality and inventiveness. I’m new to Rucker’s work and this surreal experience makes me want to stop what I’m doing and read everything he’s written in a feverish marathon. It’s invigorating to read something so unhinged from the norm, a feeling that stayed with me long after I left the book.
Rucker’s narrative style is almost beyond description. It starts as a typical conversation between two teenagers, both in love with the other but unable to fully realize that connection. With the snap of a finger, the story makes a screeching u-turn into a zany, hilarious and extremely surreal interaction with two aliens who appear from the sky. Technically, they crawl down a ladder extended from a floating pearl through a portal that was summoned playing a song on a trumpet. But who’s counting? Their ensuing road trip is filled with ups and downs and an endless stream of interactions that will fry your imagination.
The characters are an interesting bunch. The two young teenagers, Zoe and Villy, are both struggling to figure out what their futures could hold. It’s this uncertainty that leads them to blindly accept the offer to take a road trip to this alien world. They’re joined by Villy’s strange brother, Scud, who seems to fit in just fine with the upside down reality they find themselves in. The two aliens are truly out of this world, filling the novel with their hyped-up form of English and their infectious personalities. Throw all of these characters into a souped up station wagon and it’s impossible not to have a good time ripping through the wilds of this alien frontier.
Overall, it’s impossible not to love Million Mile Road Trip. With a wild cast of characters, an alien world that boggles the mind, and extremely spot-on writing, Ruckus has created a masterpiece that must be experienced.
NOTE: I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.
Rucker’s narrative style is almost beyond description. It starts as a typical conversation between two teenagers, both in love with the other but unable to fully realize that connection. With the snap of a finger, the story makes a screeching u-turn into a zany, hilarious and extremely surreal interaction with two aliens who appear from the sky. Technically, they crawl down a ladder extended from a floating pearl through a portal that was summoned playing a song on a trumpet. But who’s counting? Their ensuing road trip is filled with ups and downs and an endless stream of interactions that will fry your imagination.
The characters are an interesting bunch. The two young teenagers, Zoe and Villy, are both struggling to figure out what their futures could hold. It’s this uncertainty that leads them to blindly accept the offer to take a road trip to this alien world. They’re joined by Villy’s strange brother, Scud, who seems to fit in just fine with the upside down reality they find themselves in. The two aliens are truly out of this world, filling the novel with their hyped-up form of English and their infectious personalities. Throw all of these characters into a souped up station wagon and it’s impossible not to have a good time ripping through the wilds of this alien frontier.
Overall, it’s impossible not to love Million Mile Road Trip. With a wild cast of characters, an alien world that boggles the mind, and extremely spot-on writing, Ruckus has created a masterpiece that must be experienced.
NOTE: I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.
June 13, 2019
Night Shade Books has a ten volume collection of Rudy Rucker’s tales, including his latest and what may be his best novel. Zoe Snapp and Villy Antwerpen are nearly graduated from high school when her pearly floats and opens an unny tunnel. Two aliens invite them to Mappyworld, a flat universe in which worlds are represented by basins with thick walls representing piled up empty space between them. They need to go on a Million Mile Road Trip (paper) to get a special wand from a princess and save the Earth from invading evil flying saucers. Off they go in Villy’s 80's Beater wagon, madly improved by the aliens. Villy’s brother Scud comes along. The psychedelic Mappyworld is a trip with surprises around every corner. Of course the Princess is not a princess and the wand isn’t a wand. Villy has to go into four dimensional space to kill the big bad, while Zoe and Scud have to use the wand and her bugle to distract him. I hope this gets award nominations. Review printed by Philadelphia Free Press
June 11, 2022
What the bloody hrll di I just try to read ? bunch of boring g gobbly gook with boring zero personality characters.
.Even rhe aliens are boring
.and the long babbles about dimensions etc .
I struggled to hang on till chapter 9 thrn fell asleep. literally. Woke to the book hjtibg the floor.
400 page book I got to page 96 and my brain stopped the nonsense thank goodness. No way was I gonna be masochistic and keep trying .
Gobsmacked by all rhe praise on the book inside pages?
hilarious? Nope
So funny ? Nope
clever witty and smart? nkoe , nole and nope !
hysterical? WHERE?
Show me the funnnnnyyyyyy!!!
I search the library weekly for the funny .I risk my brain hating me trying to read novels being screeched about as hilarious/funniest writers .
At best they're "eh"
Alas they are far and few between among modern writers these days .
THIS was NOT funny at all .
.Even rhe aliens are boring
.and the long babbles about dimensions etc .
I struggled to hang on till chapter 9 thrn fell asleep. literally. Woke to the book hjtibg the floor.
400 page book I got to page 96 and my brain stopped the nonsense thank goodness. No way was I gonna be masochistic and keep trying .
Gobsmacked by all rhe praise on the book inside pages?
hilarious? Nope
So funny ? Nope
clever witty and smart? nkoe , nole and nope !
hysterical? WHERE?
Show me the funnnnnyyyyyy!!!
I search the library weekly for the funny .I risk my brain hating me trying to read novels being screeched about as hilarious/funniest writers .
At best they're "eh"
Alas they are far and few between among modern writers these days .
THIS was NOT funny at all .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 6, 2020
DNF - This book is super long, and as much as I love Rudy Rucker, I think it could have seriously been edited down. The premise is OK, the storytelling was funny and silly and I was into it, but the characters were just *bleh*. Like, who was Villy? The only two things I can recall about him (and I just read this) was that he is annoyed with his little brother and...he likes surfing?
Also, super nitpicky but he has Dutch and German accents confused. I know everyone thinks they are the same, but I lived in NL for 3 years and can tell you that they are not. So when the alien characters (Lampa or whatever) were doing a "silly Dutch accent" it is German you're lampooning there, ma boy.
I tried to finish it, but it was just too long and I wasn't drawn in. Too many books in this world to read, so onward!
Also, super nitpicky but he has Dutch and German accents confused. I know everyone thinks they are the same, but I lived in NL for 3 years and can tell you that they are not. So when the alien characters (Lampa or whatever) were doing a "silly Dutch accent" it is German you're lampooning there, ma boy.
I tried to finish it, but it was just too long and I wasn't drawn in. Too many books in this world to read, so onward!
July 9, 2019
This story about three teenagers involved in a million mile road really is YA novel that desparately wants to be a graphic novel. In the afterward Rudy even mentions they thought about marketing it as a YA but decided it should be literary SF, which frankly sounds very pretentious to me.
So it really is YA novel written for math geeks, which is my true un-self. My eyes glazed over as things like the 2nd, 3rd, 4th dimension is explained in detail. And for those people who like that sort of thing, good for you! It's not my thing.
But the more I read it, the more I could see this being done as a graphic novel, or rather a series of them. Rudy is a better mathematician, then writer so I think the right artist could bring this story to life.
So it really is YA novel written for math geeks, which is my true un-self. My eyes glazed over as things like the 2nd, 3rd, 4th dimension is explained in detail. And for those people who like that sort of thing, good for you! It's not my thing.
But the more I read it, the more I could see this being done as a graphic novel, or rather a series of them. Rudy is a better mathematician, then writer so I think the right artist could bring this story to life.
August 14, 2019
I've been enjoying Rudy Rucker's goofy stories about life, post-singularity. His combination of physics and surfer culture is usually a lot of fun. This book is long and it seems like a rehash of old ideas. Flying saucers, bad or good? What's going on in the fourth dimension right "now?" Readers new to Rucker may enjoy this. There's a feeling of whimsy throughout that enables some humor, but by a few chapters in, I've stopped feeling suspense, and don't really care what happens to the characters.
March 17, 2020
What a very strange book! The plot is pretty standard stuff--teenagers on a road trip--except that the road is in a different dimension (?) that sort of tracks with our universe.... It's very weird with lots of strange little (and big) creatures, including live flying saucers. Lots of mechanical and scientific descriptions which was interesting. I felt like I needed to be doing drugs to understand or fully get into the story, but it will probably stick with me.
Probably really great to read if you're into surfing.
Probably really great to read if you're into surfing.
June 13, 2019
Well I wasn't expecting that! I had no foreknowledge of the story and thought the title implied some coming of age trans-continental story, so I was flummoxed by how it got all Hitchhikers Guide-ish so quickly. Pretty fun but in a if-this-is-belgium-it-must-be-monday sort of way. Too much, although I suspect the sequels will take advantage of the myriad characters introduced.
August 27, 2024
This book is great if you want to read something that resembles a nightmare. The characters are shallow. The plot is thin. The best parts of the book are the ones where the million mile road trip is not happening. I suggest you skip reading this book, hop in your car, and go on your own adventure.
December 18, 2019
Engaging and Entertaining
This book is classic Rudy Rucker- trippy, funny, challenging, educational, and engaging. No one I know of writes like this. I look forward to my next adventure with his writing.
This book is classic Rudy Rucker- trippy, funny, challenging, educational, and engaging. No one I know of writes like this. I look forward to my next adventure with his writing.
June 18, 2021
Three insufferable teenagers go road-tripping and world-saving in an alternate, alien dimension. The prose is often nonsensical (as is the story), and the trip feels like Alice in Wonderland without ever being as smart or funny.
Read
January 29, 2023Picked this up because of the author's bio more than the plot description. Didn't finish because it seems like it's more of a YA book, for teen readers. Would like to try some of his more adult stuff though, since it sounds like he helped shape the cyberpunk genre.
March 16, 2024
没预期好看，近10天才看完。虽然是青少年科幻小说但不推荐心理年龄比实际年龄大的青少年阅读，但是想看个乐子打磨时间的话也看看无妨，如果我十二三岁看的话可能会喜欢吧….小说有点快餐的感觉，瞎编点子一连接一连往你眼球里塞，但没啥说服力。开头是不是有一个坑到结局了还没填，有些逻辑也无所乎了，谁让作者是数学教授呢，我一数学渣挑人家的逻辑？（笑）。美国出版五年了Goodreads才100人左右评分3.25分，以后引进的国外非新上市小说外站评分才100人左右的还是谨慎购买（噗）。
August 12, 2019
This book was fun and weird and wacky.
If you want to really go on a trip with a book, this is the one.
Take your time and savor the fact that alien truly means alien here.
If you want to really go on a trip with a book, this is the one.
Take your time and savor the fact that alien truly means alien here.
August 24, 2019
Good read, somewhat long but worth the slog!
October 9, 2019
Jacket blurb was Intriguing. unfortunately the book did not live up to the hype and was pretty much a muddle.
October 22, 2019
If you like Rudy Rucker, you will like this book. Otherwise, too Rudy Ruckerish.
November 22, 2019
While I found this book a little long, I love how insanely weird and wild of a ride it is. It is Ruday Rucker so I didn't expect anything less. Full review on the way.
August 6, 2020
Really enjoyed this, like another classic Rucker.
April 8, 2022
How could you not love a book like this?
June 28, 2023
Not for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews