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Kalifornia
Meet Sandy Figueroa, TV teen heartthrob of the future. Thanks to the miracle of the wires, his every sensation can be shared by audience participants across the world. Well...could be. Since Mom died in an accident on the moon, the family show has gone into reruns. Only Sandy's older sister remains on the wires in her highly rated show, Poppy on the Run. And now, on the eve of California's bicentennial, Poppy plans some fireworks of her live on the wires, she's going to bring new life into the world - Calafia, the first human born wired.
Which makes the child more valuable than Poppy knows. Which explains why someone kidnaps her. Which means that, by fate's fickle hand, it's up to Sandy to rescue the child of the future.
What lousy news for the world!
Marvelously inventive, wildly funny, Kalifornia is a stunning excursion into the State of the Future.
Which makes the child more valuable than Poppy knows. Which explains why someone kidnaps her. Which means that, by fate's fickle hand, it's up to Sandy to rescue the child of the future.
What lousy news for the world!
Marvelously inventive, wildly funny, Kalifornia is a stunning excursion into the State of the Future.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
245 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
12 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 2, 2016
A Dizzying Fast-Paced Satirical Cyberpunk Novel from one of the Literary Movement's Masters
"Kalifornia" is a dizzy, fast-paced, fictional deconstruction of postmodern American society from Marc Laidlaw, among the major figures in the 1980s cyberpunk literary movement in Anglo-American speculative fiction. In many respects, it should be seen as quite prescient in its depiction of mid 21st Century reality television, with Laidlaw introducing us to the trials and tribulations of the Figueroas, the "first family" of "wired" - via artificial nerves - virtual reality. The book opens with Poppy, the only Figueroa still "wired", giving birth on California's bicentennial birthday, to Calafia, the first "wired" newborn, during a live "wired" broadcast seen by millions. Abducted by a secretive cult of Kali worshippers, young Calafia - or Kalifornia as she is renamed by the cult - realizes she can manipulate others through her "wires", and soon takes over the cult. Meanwhile, the governor of California, RevGov Thaxter Halfjest, has an agenda of his own through which he hopes to manipulate Kalifornia, and through her, rule the world. Laidlaw's near future novel lacks the grittiness and realism found in William Gibson's best cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk speculative fiction, but it's still a wild, entertaining, ride that remains a memorable fictional satire of contemporary American society and culture. It's definitely the funniest cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk speculative fiction novel I've read - and I note this having just read it again for the third time - and one that remains a neglected classic by one of cyberpunk's most notable writers.
"Kalifornia" is a dizzy, fast-paced, fictional deconstruction of postmodern American society from Marc Laidlaw, among the major figures in the 1980s cyberpunk literary movement in Anglo-American speculative fiction. In many respects, it should be seen as quite prescient in its depiction of mid 21st Century reality television, with Laidlaw introducing us to the trials and tribulations of the Figueroas, the "first family" of "wired" - via artificial nerves - virtual reality. The book opens with Poppy, the only Figueroa still "wired", giving birth on California's bicentennial birthday, to Calafia, the first "wired" newborn, during a live "wired" broadcast seen by millions. Abducted by a secretive cult of Kali worshippers, young Calafia - or Kalifornia as she is renamed by the cult - realizes she can manipulate others through her "wires", and soon takes over the cult. Meanwhile, the governor of California, RevGov Thaxter Halfjest, has an agenda of his own through which he hopes to manipulate Kalifornia, and through her, rule the world. Laidlaw's near future novel lacks the grittiness and realism found in William Gibson's best cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk speculative fiction, but it's still a wild, entertaining, ride that remains a memorable fictional satire of contemporary American society and culture. It's definitely the funniest cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk speculative fiction novel I've read - and I note this having just read it again for the third time - and one that remains a neglected classic by one of cyberpunk's most notable writers.
October 5, 2023
The setting is so prescient it's almost boring from a contemporary standpoint.
March 9, 2024
"You think anyone listened to the Beatles once they heard Ringo work solo?"
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews