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Dryco
Going, Going, Gone
Publishers Weekly has called Jack Womack a "futurist wunderkind...fast-moving, hipper-than-hip." In his latest novel it's 1968, and Walter Bullitt, part-time U.S. government freelancer, stays busy testing new psychotropics on himself and unsuspecting citizens. Walter's conscience never interferes with his work--until he's asked to help sabotage Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign. The ghosts who've moved into his apartment aren't much comfort. Then two outre femmes fatales show up and frog-march Walter out of Max's Kansas City before the Velvet Underground can finish their first song. The ladies have a mission. They need to save New York--both his and theirs. Called "infernally clever" by Locus, Going, Going, Gone is a deeply entertaining novel that closes Jack Womack's acclaimed Ambient series and serves up an apt diagnosis of modern America. "Daringly, scaringly distinct in contemporary fiction."--Marjorie Preston, Philadelphia Weekly "The action moves with amphetamine quickness, and Womack's surefooted control over his material completely sucks us in."--Bruce Bauman, Bookforum
224 pages, Paperback
First published December 4, 2000
7 people are currently reading
256 people want to read
About the author
Jack Womack
37 books143 followers"Womack's fiction may be determinedly non-cyber, but, with its commitment to using SF as a vehicle for social critique, it definitely has a punky edge. William Gibson once said that he thought he was more interested in basic economics and politics than the average blue sky SF writer. That counts double for Womack, whose fiction is packed with grimly amusing social satire and powerful little allegories exploring urban breakdown, class war and racial tensions".
--Jim McClellan (from an interview with Jack Womack, 1995).
--Jim McClellan (from an interview with Jack Womack, 1995).
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 4, 2014
Going, Going, Gone is the final book in Jack Womack's criminally underappreciated Dryco series. You can read it if you haven't read any of the others, but you'll miss a hefty amount. (So go start them already, and follow the sequence Random Acts of Senseless Violence, Heathern, Ambient, Terraplane, Elvissey as closely as you can)
The world of Going begins in an alternate history 1968. The United States is fighting in Vietnam, the Kennedy family is active in politics, the Velvet Undergound and Nico perform in New York City. But the president is named Lodge, tv hasn't been invented, and culture is quiet. Nixon was elected president in 1960, but assassinated by Oswald in New Orleans. Looming underneath the present is a terrible history of racial removal and/or genocide, as blacks and black culture no longer exist. Realizing the extent of this world's differences from our own is one of Going's strengths.
The plot concerns one Walter Bullit, whose profession involves testing and administering mind-altering drugs for a shadowy government agency. Said agency has a new assignment for him, but Walter really doesn't want to take it on. Walter is also being stalked by visions: two weirdly dressed people appear to him, pleading for his help.
Meanwhile, Bullit also encounters two very strange women who look strikingly different and speak with unusual syntax and vocabulary. Womack readers will at once recognize them as travelers from the Dryco world. First-time readers will slowly realize that world is one where corporations rule the planet, a mysterious terrorist menace has enabled civil liberties to be curtailed, and the economy is awful - you know, a different world, one only found in science fiction.
The first half of the book introduces and develops these plot strands. We learn more about Bullit's life, including an ex-girlfriend and his vast collection of illegal records. (Those records make for a fun soundtrack, from the cheery "Pastafazoola" to the crazed "Will the Coffin Be Your Santa Claus?") A hilarious cult makes an appearance ("Take Your Mind Off Its Hinges!" "Destroy The Child Within You!").
The second half advances into new territory, and I won't say more without... .
The very end of the book is a splendid coda, a series of tiny biographical sketches for characters in the Dryco series. This is delightful stuff, a great example of how to tell stories in a handful of words. It works if you haven't read any of the books, and is better if you have, of course.
Why do I say this is the final Dryco book? Well...
Overall, Going is a good entry in the Dryco series. It offers Womack's trademark humor and worldbuilding. It has some of the fearsome might of Elvissey, and the romantic flair of Heathern. Going also demonstrates Womack's fluency with dialect. The narrator speaks (for the first 2/3rds of the book) in a mix of 50s beat lingo, older slang, and poetic observation. The Dryco visitors use that world's street talk, with nouns smooshed into verbs. And Bullit's handlers have their own subset of misdirection and codes. That's a lot to pull off, but Womack handles it with ease.
My only complaint is that the end feels rushed. A bunch of plotlines end up too quickly, like This kind of reader response is what happens when an author offers such a rich banquet for so long.
The world of Going begins in an alternate history 1968. The United States is fighting in Vietnam, the Kennedy family is active in politics, the Velvet Undergound and Nico perform in New York City. But the president is named Lodge, tv hasn't been invented, and culture is quiet. Nixon was elected president in 1960, but assassinated by Oswald in New Orleans. Looming underneath the present is a terrible history of racial removal and/or genocide, as blacks and black culture no longer exist. Realizing the extent of this world's differences from our own is one of Going's strengths.
The plot concerns one Walter Bullit, whose profession involves testing and administering mind-altering drugs for a shadowy government agency. Said agency has a new assignment for him, but Walter really doesn't want to take it on. Walter is also being stalked by visions: two weirdly dressed people appear to him, pleading for his help.
Meanwhile, Bullit also encounters two very strange women who look strikingly different and speak with unusual syntax and vocabulary. Womack readers will at once recognize them as travelers from the Dryco world. First-time readers will slowly realize that world is one where corporations rule the planet, a mysterious terrorist menace has enabled civil liberties to be curtailed, and the economy is awful - you know, a different world, one only found in science fiction.
The first half of the book introduces and develops these plot strands. We learn more about Bullit's life, including an ex-girlfriend and his vast collection of illegal records. (Those records make for a fun soundtrack, from the cheery "Pastafazoola" to the crazed "Will the Coffin Be Your Santa Claus?") A hilarious cult makes an appearance ("Take Your Mind Off Its Hinges!" "Destroy The Child Within You!").
The second half advances into new territory, and I won't say more without... .
The very end of the book is a splendid coda, a series of tiny biographical sketches for characters in the Dryco series. This is delightful stuff, a great example of how to tell stories in a handful of words. It works if you haven't read any of the books, and is better if you have, of course.
Why do I say this is the final Dryco book? Well...
Overall, Going is a good entry in the Dryco series. It offers Womack's trademark humor and worldbuilding. It has some of the fearsome might of Elvissey, and the romantic flair of Heathern. Going also demonstrates Womack's fluency with dialect. The narrator speaks (for the first 2/3rds of the book) in a mix of 50s beat lingo, older slang, and poetic observation. The Dryco visitors use that world's street talk, with nouns smooshed into verbs. And Bullit's handlers have their own subset of misdirection and codes. That's a lot to pull off, but Womack handles it with ease.
My only complaint is that the end feels rushed. A bunch of plotlines end up too quickly, like This kind of reader response is what happens when an author offers such a rich banquet for so long.
January 11, 2012
Jack Womack's "Ambient" series of alternative history/time travel science fiction novels may be unknown to many unfamiliar with science fiction and fantasy, but to those in the know, like his friend William Gibson, Womack's definitely a first-class high-wire literary act, carving out his own niche as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary American science fiction literature. He's blessed with an economy of style and a keen ear for dialogue that, in lesser hands, would be mediocre pulp fiction, not the subversively serious literature that's been his oeuvre. Womack's "Ambient" novels are a notable addition to the alternative history science fiction genre; an often subversive exploration of class and racial tensions set in an America whose destiny is being shaped by the enigmatic Dryco corporation; with a most resounding note, this great series closes with "Going Going Gone". In 1968, Walter Bullitt, a part-time Federal employee, is recruited to sabotage Bobby Kennedy's Presidential campaign. Instead, he finds himself joining forces with two mysterious women who want him to save his New York City - and theirs - plunging into a fast-paced odyssey run amok in guns, drugs and time travel. Readers beware. Hold onto your hats, since this is a journey where Womack truly takes you where no one has gone before.
August 3, 2020
El relato de Walter Bullit, un traficante hipster a sueldo del gobierno USA en unos 1968 alternativos resulta muy divertido al principio pero se va desinflando según el argumento empieza a desenvolverse hacia la colisión con el universo Dryco. Dicha conclusión, no por menos esperada y lógica para el lector atento a las pistas sobre gnosticismo que se habían ido dejando aquí y allá por las seis novelas de la serie, no quita que resulte poco orgánica, es decir, la historia de Walter podría funcionar (y funciona) perfectamente sin la interferencia del universo Dryco (además es bastante más interesante), y como los acontecimientos "apocalípticos" de la resolución no son consecuencia de los dos tercios de la novela que llevamos leída, el conjunto parece un injerto para resolver el ciclo de Dryco en una novela que iba por otro camino, un injerto que no acaba de funcionar. Por lo demás, Womack escribe fenomenal a pesar de lo puñetero que es el argot hipster que emplea, luce un ingenioso sentido del humor (la coda final sobre los personajes del ciclo también es muy ingeniosa,) y la novela es, en general, ágil y entretenida, pero de nuevo el aspecto argumental vuelve a jugarle una mala pasada.
July 5, 2013
After the supreme downer of Random Acts of Senseless Violence, the previous book in the Dryco cycle, "Going, Going, Gone" is a wonderful mashup/sendup of Scientology (and other cults), parallel worlds, stoners, record fanatics, and conspiracy theorists written by a stoner CIA/FBI record fanatic who is about to get Oswalded, but not if he can help it.
Walter Bullitt has a wonderful hippy lingo - it makes you smile reading it. The best I can give you is that is a cross between "The Dude" (Lebowski) and Raymond Chandler. In fact the whole book, character and plots and scenery, is like a Coen bros. movie. Just great fun. And you need the previous books in the cycle to really understand what is happening. It will not work as a standalone as things are not explained as they are happening and the cross references to characters and events are sometime subtle.
As far as the plot: you need to discover it as it goes along, but to go all analogy on you: It's like "Boeing, Boeing" if instead of a Parisian pilot on the make with stewardesses in three different time zones, you have a New York pharmaficionado on the run with two futuristic stewardesses in the three different parallel worlds. From "Boeing, Boeing" to "Going, Going, Gone".
Walter Bullitt has a wonderful hippy lingo - it makes you smile reading it. The best I can give you is that is a cross between "The Dude" (Lebowski) and Raymond Chandler. In fact the whole book, character and plots and scenery, is like a Coen bros. movie. Just great fun. And you need the previous books in the cycle to really understand what is happening. It will not work as a standalone as things are not explained as they are happening and the cross references to characters and events are sometime subtle.
As far as the plot: you need to discover it as it goes along, but to go all analogy on you: It's like "Boeing, Boeing" if instead of a Parisian pilot on the make with stewardesses in three different time zones, you have a New York pharmaficionado on the run with two futuristic stewardesses in the three different parallel worlds. From "Boeing, Boeing" to "Going, Going, Gone".
January 6, 2017
Once again I've managed to read a book from a series without having read any of the others. In this case the last of 4? 5?
In any case, this book was laugh out loud funny to me. The story kept me entertained, the jargon is fantastic, and there is just enough strangeness to keep you on your toes.
Hallucigenics, cults, conspiracies, and a good dose of sci-fi make this a 4star read for me.
The end may have held together better, had I the benefit of the background from the other books, but a fun read nonetheless.
In any case, this book was laugh out loud funny to me. The story kept me entertained, the jargon is fantastic, and there is just enough strangeness to keep you on your toes.
Hallucigenics, cults, conspiracies, and a good dose of sci-fi make this a 4star read for me.
The end may have held together better, had I the benefit of the background from the other books, but a fun read nonetheless.
June 17, 2012
As is too often the case, I did not read the previous five novels of Womack's Dryco series prior to reading this one, their conclusion, and the experience of it probably suffered as a result. Still, it was a clever satire in science fictional guise.
December 27, 2017
This is the last in the Dryco series of 6 books by Jack Womack and it's one of my favorites.
I don't have all that much to say about it -- check out the review essay by Bryan Alexander on this site for an excellent backgrounder to the book and series. Its not the easiest read, by any means. Womack creates neologisms galore in this series, but many become self evident after a while, and all strengthen the distinct nature of the parallel world they help create.
The entire series is woefully underappreciated and deserves to be celebrated. Fans of dystopian SF, alternate history and early cyberpunk would particularly feel at home with these books. (The books are: Random Acts of Senseless Violence, Heathern, Ambient, Terraplane, Elvissey, and the one).
I don't have all that much to say about it -- check out the review essay by Bryan Alexander on this site for an excellent backgrounder to the book and series. Its not the easiest read, by any means. Womack creates neologisms galore in this series, but many become self evident after a while, and all strengthen the distinct nature of the parallel world they help create.
The entire series is woefully underappreciated and deserves to be celebrated. Fans of dystopian SF, alternate history and early cyberpunk would particularly feel at home with these books. (The books are: Random Acts of Senseless Violence, Heathern, Ambient, Terraplane, Elvissey, and the one).
March 28, 2024
I liked the loopy, Thomas Pynchon-esque prose; I was less keen on the bitty-seeming plot, and the rather rushed ending. A great series like Dryco perhaps deserved more of a drawn out last act even if I don't object to the details of the ending itself. Overall, still a fine and worthwhile SF book - can't really be called 'cyberpunk' like earlier Dryco books, yet in many ways seems a fitting endpoint.
7.5/10
7.5/10
December 28, 2020
If this strange book is too strange for me, what a strange book this must really be.
I went along for the ride and finished this - but it's not something I'd look forward to doing again any time soon...
I went along for the ride and finished this - but it's not something I'd look forward to doing again any time soon...
February 21, 2021
2 1/2 stars.
Really enjoyed Womack’s non-fiction look at UFO pulp ...Flying Saucers are Real!, so figured I would check out his fiction. Dug parts of the novel but, perhaps my not being much of a sci-fi guy, led to my not being much of a fan of the entire novel.
Really enjoyed Womack’s non-fiction look at UFO pulp ...Flying Saucers are Real!, so figured I would check out his fiction. Dug parts of the novel but, perhaps my not being much of a sci-fi guy, led to my not being much of a fan of the entire novel.
April 5, 2018
i can't breathe. dryco stupendous. do not miss this series, essentialed.
June 15, 2020
Glad to have read all five in internal order. 20 years after publishing. Still current and very enjoyable. Thanks for this, Jack.
April 17, 2025
cool book with great descriptions but sometimes a bit confusing
July 25, 2011
Going, Going, Gone is Jack Womack's sixth and final book in his "Ambient" New York setting. This book focuses primarily on the alternate New York first explored in book 2 (Terraplane). The main character, Walter Bullit, is a resident of alternate New York. He is a psychotropic expert and a freelance agent for the US government. The feds wish to hire Walter to perform a pharmaceutical mission against the alternate world's Kennedy family. His mission is complicated when he becomes the focus of investigation of 2 agents from "ambient" New York who have crossed over to this world.
This is a nice wrap up to the series, with the fate of both New Yorks tied up nicely. Overall, I really enjoyed this series. It includes 2 novels I loved (Terraplane, Random Acts of Senseless Violence), 2 that were quite good (Elvissey, Going Going Gone), 1 that was decent (Ambient), and 1 that you could skip (Heathern).
If you want to read these books in order of the internal chronology (rather than publication order), they would go:
Random Acts of Senseless Violence
Heathern
Ambient
Terraplane
Elvissey
Going Going Gone
This is a nice wrap up to the series, with the fate of both New Yorks tied up nicely. Overall, I really enjoyed this series. It includes 2 novels I loved (Terraplane, Random Acts of Senseless Violence), 2 that were quite good (Elvissey, Going Going Gone), 1 that was decent (Ambient), and 1 that you could skip (Heathern).
If you want to read these books in order of the internal chronology (rather than publication order), they would go:
Random Acts of Senseless Violence
Heathern
Ambient
Terraplane
Elvissey
Going Going Gone
April 8, 2013
The closing novel in the Ambient sequence, written in an experimental language and taking an interesting approach to the topic of parallel worlds. Recommended. For a detailed review, please visit my blog: http://tesatorul.blogspot.ro/2008/01/....
Want to read
December 25, 2014just requested this from pprbkswp. I'm really starting to liker Womack's work
August 14, 2015
3.5 stars.
November 7, 2016
It was a fitting end to an interesting sci-fi series.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews