The Long Orbit

by Mick Farren

Though firmly ensconced in a futuristic world, Marlowe lives in the past of 1940s detectives, but his fantasy life assumes the hard edge of reality when he takes a case offered by a mysterious woman

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk, Mystery, Space

264 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 12, 1988

About the author

Farren 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.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Farren brought his own unique sex, drugs and rock and roll perspective to his scifi works. Plenty of all three (all in weird ways) to be sure in this, but also an interesting story in a dsytopian future; one very similar to his other works of the period (Mars the red planet, etc.). Lots of fun!

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Your standard Mick Farren sci-fi/popular culture mash-up... a little sex, a little rock 'n roll, a little mystery, a little revolution.... good enough for a summer read.

[Snakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out gangbusters and was really engaging in the first half. Thereafter the plot started to wander and became more convoluted. The ending was set during a union meeting, so therefore just three stars.

[Redsteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Mick Farren's cyberpunk future, Marlowe is a Leisure-Out, someone who tested too badly in response to authority but with a high enough IQ to qualify for sterilization, a minimum income tied to the production of a industrial robot, and residence in “the Zone”, a crowded ghetto full of similar people - grouped into various subcultures. Not a fulfilling or luxurious life, but at least he wasn't "in one of the underclass ghettos living on soyjacks and gin, or worse still, in one of the new control enclosures, wearing black and white pajamas and a prefrontal suppressor in the middle of his forehead." Hired to locate a rich heiress who disappeared in the Zone, Marlowe quickly finds his life becoming way too real way too fast. The story quickly moves across a dystopian version of America and into space, dealing with everyone from the grindingly poor to the super rich. Like most of Farren’s other novels. The Long Orbit doesn’t go into a huge amount of wherefores, but you do get the feel that his world has a real history. Marlowe is a very reluctant hero (even more so than the protagonists in Farren’s other books) – he’s not skilled or dedicated; in fact, he’s spent his entire life, essentially on welfare, roleplaying a noir detective. Although, I suppose his dedication is to his role. As they say in the Zone, “A compromised image is worse than a deathwish. A deathwish could be quite acceptable under the right circumstances, while a compromised image could make a man a pariah.” 4 stars.

[Christine Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this years ago when living with a friend with a friend, and recently pestered him with 'what was that cyberpunk book with the 1940s guy and space rastas?' . I do love that every fictional space colony gets ganja smoking rastas.

The book is sometimes silly, and doesn't go deep, but I would class it as a fun read, especially if you compare and contrast to Books like Count Zero by Gibson, or in the Leisure Out/drop out context on the concept of post scarcity occupation of a population in more cerebral titles like Beggars in Spain by Kress.

Also, old trope. Do not judge a book by the cover art, it is terrible!

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad I made sure I read 'The Big Sleep' before this as the protagonist is cosplaying Philip Marlowe and a knowledge of the references adds a fair bit. Messed-up sisters from a wealthy family, you don't say?

Moving on, this is pretty standard pulpy sci-fi that's typical of Farren's novels - a wish fulfillment rock and roll adventure full of booze and girls and counterculture tropes. It heavily rips off a lot of cyberpunk including Neuromancer. If any of this review made sense to you you'll probably get something out of it.

[Heather Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.75 stars*. “Though firmly ensconced in a futuristic world, Marlowe lives in the past of 1940s detectives, but his fantasy life assumes the hard edge of reality when he takes a case offered by a mysterious woman.” This book blurb sounds pretty straight forward but this book is absolutely bizarro world! The world that Marlow lives in is creepy and dark and just nuts!! I found “The Long Orbit” to be fun and fascinating and entertaining and one of my favorite reads this year.

[Johnny J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The great little book that could...

I read this book one night while recovering from finals, and 3 jobs. I still remember the fusion of detective story, zombie apocalypse and Sci-Fi. Back when the best way to escape for was a paperback. This one still sticks in my memory.

[Noach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not enjoyed a science fiction book this much since the first time I read Asmiov's foundation as a teenager. In fact, it reminded me of the first book's exploration of the planet Trantor by sector.

The future is supposed to be dystopic in Farren's book... but to me this one didn't seem like an 'unreal future extreme dystopia' but rather, the future described seems all too likely.

For plot synopses look elsewhere. I loved the combination of noir detective and dystopian sci-fi. The characters were well-formed wire-frames, but I was totally OK with that. What drove the book for me was the exploration of the different subcultures.

Recommended!

[Klas Holmlund · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books I love that, wanting more, I discover is a one off, almost a one-hit wonder. This book starts out simple, almost cliché, but picks up pace from the first page to the last. And when you're done, you're left wanting more. Which there is, sadly, very little of. The author of this book was a punk rocker who died on stage, who spent most of his career creating music, and died too young. Recommended.