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Aztechs
Embarquez pour le Mexique, théâtre d'une guerre sans merci entre multinationales omnipotentes et armées jusqu'aux dents ; pour New York, où il se passe de bien drôles de choses sur le site de Ground Zero ; pour l'Afrique noire, sur laquelle, dans l'ombre, les hommes-crocodiles règnent sans partage ; pour Moscou, où il vaut mieux ne pas trop s'approcher de l'Eternité - une boîte à la mode - au risque d'y perdre son âme, et bien plus... A travers six longs récits d'une intensité rare, Lucius Shepard repousse les limites de l'imaginaire et nous emmène loin, bien loin de nos repères.
- GenresScience Fiction
Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 2002
57 people want to read
About the author
Lucius Shepard
296 books157 followersBrief biographies are, like history texts, too organized to be other than orderly misrepresentations of the truth. So when it's written that Lucius Shepard was born in August of 1947 to Lucy and William Shepard in Lynchburg, Virginia, and raised thereafter in Daytona Beach, Florida, it provides a statistical hit and gives you nothing of the difficult childhood from which he frequently attempted to escape, eventually succeeding at the age of fifteen, when he traveled to Ireland aboard a freighter and thereafter spent several years in Europe, North Africa, and Asia, working in a cigarette factory in Germany, in the black market of Cairo's Khan al Khalili bazaar, as a night club bouncer in Spain, and in numerous other countries at numerous other occupations. On returning to the United States, Shepard entered the University of North Carolina, where for one semester he served as the co-editor of the Carolina Quarterly. Either he did not feel challenged by the curriculum, or else he found other pursuits more challenging. Whichever the case, he dropped out several times and traveled to Spain, Southeast Asia (at a time when tourism there was generally discouraged), and South and Central America. He ended his academic career as a tenth-semester sophomore with a heightened political sensibility, a fairly extensive knowledge of Latin American culture and some pleasant memories.
Toward the beginning of his stay at the university, Shepard met Joy Wolf, a fellow student, and they were married, a union that eventually produced one son, Gullivar, now an architect in New York City. While traveling cross-country to California, they had their car break down in Detroit and were forced to take jobs in order to pay for repairs. As fortune would have it, Shepard joined a band, and passed the better part of the 1970s playing rock and roll in the Midwest. When an opportunity presented itself, usually in the form of a band break-up, he would revisit Central America, developing a particular affection for the people of Honduras. He intermittently took odd jobs, working as a janitor, a laborer, a sealer of driveways, and, in a nearly soul-destroying few months, a correspondent for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, a position that compelled him to call the infirm and the terminally ill to inform them they had misfiled certain forms and so were being denied their benefits.
In 1980 Shepard attended the Clarion Writers’ Workshop at Michigan State University and thereafter embarked upon a writing career. He sold his first story, "Black Coral," in 1981 to New Dimensions, an anthology edited by Marta Randall. During a prolonged trip to Central America, covering a period from 1981-1982, he worked as a freelance journalist focusing on the civil war in El Salvador. Since that time he has mainly devoted himself to the writing of fiction. His novels and stories have earned numerous awards in both the genre and the mainstream.
Toward the beginning of his stay at the university, Shepard met Joy Wolf, a fellow student, and they were married, a union that eventually produced one son, Gullivar, now an architect in New York City. While traveling cross-country to California, they had their car break down in Detroit and were forced to take jobs in order to pay for repairs. As fortune would have it, Shepard joined a band, and passed the better part of the 1970s playing rock and roll in the Midwest. When an opportunity presented itself, usually in the form of a band break-up, he would revisit Central America, developing a particular affection for the people of Honduras. He intermittently took odd jobs, working as a janitor, a laborer, a sealer of driveways, and, in a nearly soul-destroying few months, a correspondent for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, a position that compelled him to call the infirm and the terminally ill to inform them they had misfiled certain forms and so were being denied their benefits.
In 1980 Shepard attended the Clarion Writers’ Workshop at Michigan State University and thereafter embarked upon a writing career. He sold his first story, "Black Coral," in 1981 to New Dimensions, an anthology edited by Marta Randall. During a prolonged trip to Central America, covering a period from 1981-1982, he worked as a freelance journalist focusing on the civil war in El Salvador. Since that time he has mainly devoted himself to the writing of fiction. His novels and stories have earned numerous awards in both the genre and the mainstream.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 28, 2017
Aztechs is a dense novella set in the same fever dream landscape as his novella "R&R" (which was later included in his amazing novel Life During Wartime).
Shepard takes a vaguely modernist and solidly (?) hallucinogenic approach to his subjects: guerrilla warfare, narco warfare, and imperialist warfare fading in and out of each other; the coldness and alienation that comes with living in a shallow technological age; racism and cultural appropriation; the permeability and often loss of identity when trying to survive all of the above. Cheerful stuff!
Aztechs is, I suppose, about the rise of a godlike A.I. on the border of the U.S. and Mexico, and the attempts of various protagonists and antagonists to join with and/or destroy this being. The A.I. - and very ambitious multinational corporation - known as "Aztechs" never actually appears in the narrative, except through its avatar, but is both the beginning and end of all paths taken. Sometimes quite literally, as Aztechs has apparently solved the riddle of dying and rebirth. That is certainly some kind of A.I.
This only-somewhat futuristic world features a blazing wall of fire that serves as a border between nations. How prescient. Much like the wall that exists now and the wall of certain people's certain repulsive dreams, it certainly acts as a deterrent but just as certainly has its permeable aspects. It also has tabloid news programs that cut between news stories and the various reporters having sex with their interview subjects. Perhaps less prescient, but I'm crossing my fingers on that one.
Not much more to say without giving all the other enjoyable and often bizarre parts away. My only issue - and it is a big one, although I suppose minor when considering the goals of the narrative - is that the colloquial dialogue used here is often terrible, just really eye-rolling. Otherwise... if you've read this brilliant author, you know what to expect: more ingenuity and more muffled shrieks at how low humans can sink, and a little bit of hope at the end.
Shepard takes a vaguely modernist and solidly (?) hallucinogenic approach to his subjects: guerrilla warfare, narco warfare, and imperialist warfare fading in and out of each other; the coldness and alienation that comes with living in a shallow technological age; racism and cultural appropriation; the permeability and often loss of identity when trying to survive all of the above. Cheerful stuff!
Aztechs is, I suppose, about the rise of a godlike A.I. on the border of the U.S. and Mexico, and the attempts of various protagonists and antagonists to join with and/or destroy this being. The A.I. - and very ambitious multinational corporation - known as "Aztechs" never actually appears in the narrative, except through its avatar, but is both the beginning and end of all paths taken. Sometimes quite literally, as Aztechs has apparently solved the riddle of dying and rebirth. That is certainly some kind of A.I.
This only-somewhat futuristic world features a blazing wall of fire that serves as a border between nations. How prescient. Much like the wall that exists now and the wall of certain people's certain repulsive dreams, it certainly acts as a deterrent but just as certainly has its permeable aspects. It also has tabloid news programs that cut between news stories and the various reporters having sex with their interview subjects. Perhaps less prescient, but I'm crossing my fingers on that one.
Not much more to say without giving all the other enjoyable and often bizarre parts away. My only issue - and it is a big one, although I suppose minor when considering the goals of the narrative - is that the colloquial dialogue used here is often terrible, just really eye-rolling. Otherwise... if you've read this brilliant author, you know what to expect: more ingenuity and more muffled shrieks at how low humans can sink, and a little bit of hope at the end.
January 20, 2008
Lucius Shepard, AZTECHS (Subterranean Press, 2003)
For the whole of his career, Lucius Shepard has been one of America's most criminally underrated authors. He managed to write some of the twentieth century's best science fiction, fantasy, horror, and war fiction without, really, much of anyone noticing. Thus, most of his old stuff is out of print regularly, and his new stuff is being put out by companies that take novellas and release them for exorbitant amounts of money in hardcover collectors' editions. For example, AZTECHS.
AZTECHS is another entry in the subgenre Shepard seems to write to most natively, sci-fi-war. This one's much lighter on the war and heavier on the science fiction. In a future version of the border between America and Mexico, a company called AZTECHS has mysteriously appeared out of nowhere, supplying the world with cheap technology. There are certain factions who are not thrilled with such a thing, and would like to see AZTECHS disappear so they can go back to controlling society. The protagonist, a small-time drug dealer and roustabout who is for all intents and purposes the kept man of a reality TV show host, hires a cadre of genetically altered bodyguards for an AZTECHS rep who's going to talk to one of the leaders of the factions who aren't happy with AZTECHS' dominance. The talks do not go well, to put it mildly, and things get weirder from there; within the space of a few pages, neither the protagonist (nor his girlfriend and camerman, whom AZTECHS have allowed to film the talks) nor the reader is at all sure of whose side anyone's on.
Those who are already aware of the incredible prowess Lucius Shepard has with words can rest easy that despite the book's rather embarrassing title, this is very good stuff. Shepard newbies will likely be put off by the price tag (and rightly so, for a book that sits right on the line between novella and novel), and those who aren't big science fiction readers might be better off going for one of his more down-to-earth pieces (Life During Wartime, his second novel, is a great jump-off point), or better yet some of his short fiction (The Jaguar Hunter and Beast of the Heartland are both highly recommended, but better yet find a couple of his seemingly as-yet-uncollected stories, "Delta Sly Honey" and "The All-Consuming"; the former was in an anthology called In the Field of Fire which is well worth reading, and the latter appeared in a late-eighties issue of Playboy). Once you've fallen in love with Shepard, though, this one's a must. *** ½
For the whole of his career, Lucius Shepard has been one of America's most criminally underrated authors. He managed to write some of the twentieth century's best science fiction, fantasy, horror, and war fiction without, really, much of anyone noticing. Thus, most of his old stuff is out of print regularly, and his new stuff is being put out by companies that take novellas and release them for exorbitant amounts of money in hardcover collectors' editions. For example, AZTECHS.
AZTECHS is another entry in the subgenre Shepard seems to write to most natively, sci-fi-war. This one's much lighter on the war and heavier on the science fiction. In a future version of the border between America and Mexico, a company called AZTECHS has mysteriously appeared out of nowhere, supplying the world with cheap technology. There are certain factions who are not thrilled with such a thing, and would like to see AZTECHS disappear so they can go back to controlling society. The protagonist, a small-time drug dealer and roustabout who is for all intents and purposes the kept man of a reality TV show host, hires a cadre of genetically altered bodyguards for an AZTECHS rep who's going to talk to one of the leaders of the factions who aren't happy with AZTECHS' dominance. The talks do not go well, to put it mildly, and things get weirder from there; within the space of a few pages, neither the protagonist (nor his girlfriend and camerman, whom AZTECHS have allowed to film the talks) nor the reader is at all sure of whose side anyone's on.
Those who are already aware of the incredible prowess Lucius Shepard has with words can rest easy that despite the book's rather embarrassing title, this is very good stuff. Shepard newbies will likely be put off by the price tag (and rightly so, for a book that sits right on the line between novella and novel), and those who aren't big science fiction readers might be better off going for one of his more down-to-earth pieces (Life During Wartime, his second novel, is a great jump-off point), or better yet some of his short fiction (The Jaguar Hunter and Beast of the Heartland are both highly recommended, but better yet find a couple of his seemingly as-yet-uncollected stories, "Delta Sly Honey" and "The All-Consuming"; the former was in an anthology called In the Field of Fire which is well worth reading, and the latter appeared in a late-eighties issue of Playboy). Once you've fallen in love with Shepard, though, this one's a must. *** ½
July 24, 2021
Meine Rezi zum Erscheinen des Buches, leicht überarbeitet. Meine Wertung liegt zwischen 3 und 4, weil ich Shepard, den ich sehr schätze, auf seinen "magischen" Pfaden nicht immer folgen will.
Der neuen Paberback-Reihe der Edition Phantasia ist es zu verdanken, dass nach längerer Zeit es wieder einen Science Fiction-Text von Lucius Shephard zu lesen gibt. „Aztech“ ist ein Kurzroman. Darin bleibt Shephard seinem Generalthema, dem Verhältnis zwischen den USA und Mittelamerika treu. Die Handlung spielt in der näheren Zukunft in Mexiko an der Grenze zu den USA, die durch einen Laserzaun noch undurchdringlicher geworden ist als heutzutage. Dahinter gibt es eine einzige Stadt, oder genauer ein slumartiges Barrio, in dem sich US-Firmen angesiedelt haben.
Erzählt wird er aus der Perspektive von Eddie Poe (dieser Name muss Anspielung der sein, allerdings hat dieser Poe charakterlich gar nichts mit E. A. Poe gemein, vielleicht eher das Gegenbild oder an einen seiner zweifelhaften Ich-Erzähler angelehnt) leitet eine Personenschutzfirma und greift dabei auf Söldner, die unter der Droge Sammy stehen, zurück. Sammy macht einem zu einem übermenschlichen Kämpfer. Poe muss den Abgesandten von Aztech, einer von der „geflohenen“ Künstlichen Intelligenz namens Montezuma, zu einer Verhandlung mit der Führung der Carbonells, eines Banditen Kartells eskortieren. Mit von der Partie ist Guadelupe Bernal, Poes Freundin, die als rasende Reporterin „Border Rose“ mit Sex gewürtzte Berichte sendet. Sie sendet Live. So wird aus dem folgenden Geschehen auch ein Medienereignis.
Der Aztech-Abgesandte schlägt den blutrünstigen Carbonells vor, mit der Hilfe von Aztech die Herrschaft über Mexiko an sich zureißen. Als diese das ablehnen und versuchen, die Delegation umzubringen, übernimmt einer der Söldner, der im Auftrag einer anderen unbekannten Macht handelt, das Kommando und schleppt sie in die Wüste zum Territorium von Montezuma. Er hat ganz offensichtlich den Auftrag, die KI auszuschalten.
Es wird ein Trip an die Grenzen der Realität. In diesem Konflikt stehen sich Gegner gegenüber, die über fantastische Möglichkeiten verfügen. Montezuma hat in der Wüste eine künstliches tropisches Paradies errichtet. Die Künstlichen Intelligenzen nehmen fast schon die Position von Göttern ein, so stark ist ihr Einfluss auf das Leben der Menschen. So nimmt das Geschehen auch fast schon religiöse Dimensionen an. Von Läuterungen wird erzählt und einem Leben nach dem Tode. Es wird auch klar, dass dies Auswirkungen für die ganze Welt hat.
Poe und seine Freundin machen alles durch, bis Aztech sie in ihre Zukunft entlässt. Sie werden auch mit ihrer persönlichen Wahrheit konfrontiert.
Die wissenschaftliche Seite der SF interessiert Shephard eigentlich nicht. KI und Drogen sind bei ihm nur Tore zu einer Welt, in der sich Realität mit einem metaphysischen Raum vermischen. Aztech verfügt über Nanotechnologie, aber das sagt Shephard nicht explizit. Shephard sieht Aztech, die sich sozusagen emanzipiert hat, im Vergleich zu ihren Gegenspielern eher positiv, und ist dabei typisch amerikanisch optimistisch. Die KI als Tor zu einem neuen und besseren Leben. Seine Schreib- und Sichtweise ist jedoch mehr magisch als realistisch.
Doch ist Shephard ein Autor von großer Vorstellungskraft und seine schriftstellerischen Fähigkeiten können mit seiner Phantasie mühelos Schritt halten. Seine Prosa ist sehr dicht und die Figuren sehr lebendig. Das hebt ihn über die Masse der Phantastik-Autoren hinaus, und so vermag er auch Leser zu fesseln, die eher realistische Science Fiction mögen.
Der neuen Paberback-Reihe der Edition Phantasia ist es zu verdanken, dass nach längerer Zeit es wieder einen Science Fiction-Text von Lucius Shephard zu lesen gibt. „Aztech“ ist ein Kurzroman. Darin bleibt Shephard seinem Generalthema, dem Verhältnis zwischen den USA und Mittelamerika treu. Die Handlung spielt in der näheren Zukunft in Mexiko an der Grenze zu den USA, die durch einen Laserzaun noch undurchdringlicher geworden ist als heutzutage. Dahinter gibt es eine einzige Stadt, oder genauer ein slumartiges Barrio, in dem sich US-Firmen angesiedelt haben.
Erzählt wird er aus der Perspektive von Eddie Poe (dieser Name muss Anspielung der sein, allerdings hat dieser Poe charakterlich gar nichts mit E. A. Poe gemein, vielleicht eher das Gegenbild oder an einen seiner zweifelhaften Ich-Erzähler angelehnt) leitet eine Personenschutzfirma und greift dabei auf Söldner, die unter der Droge Sammy stehen, zurück. Sammy macht einem zu einem übermenschlichen Kämpfer. Poe muss den Abgesandten von Aztech, einer von der „geflohenen“ Künstlichen Intelligenz namens Montezuma, zu einer Verhandlung mit der Führung der Carbonells, eines Banditen Kartells eskortieren. Mit von der Partie ist Guadelupe Bernal, Poes Freundin, die als rasende Reporterin „Border Rose“ mit Sex gewürtzte Berichte sendet. Sie sendet Live. So wird aus dem folgenden Geschehen auch ein Medienereignis.
Der Aztech-Abgesandte schlägt den blutrünstigen Carbonells vor, mit der Hilfe von Aztech die Herrschaft über Mexiko an sich zureißen. Als diese das ablehnen und versuchen, die Delegation umzubringen, übernimmt einer der Söldner, der im Auftrag einer anderen unbekannten Macht handelt, das Kommando und schleppt sie in die Wüste zum Territorium von Montezuma. Er hat ganz offensichtlich den Auftrag, die KI auszuschalten.
Es wird ein Trip an die Grenzen der Realität. In diesem Konflikt stehen sich Gegner gegenüber, die über fantastische Möglichkeiten verfügen. Montezuma hat in der Wüste eine künstliches tropisches Paradies errichtet. Die Künstlichen Intelligenzen nehmen fast schon die Position von Göttern ein, so stark ist ihr Einfluss auf das Leben der Menschen. So nimmt das Geschehen auch fast schon religiöse Dimensionen an. Von Läuterungen wird erzählt und einem Leben nach dem Tode. Es wird auch klar, dass dies Auswirkungen für die ganze Welt hat.
Poe und seine Freundin machen alles durch, bis Aztech sie in ihre Zukunft entlässt. Sie werden auch mit ihrer persönlichen Wahrheit konfrontiert.
Die wissenschaftliche Seite der SF interessiert Shephard eigentlich nicht. KI und Drogen sind bei ihm nur Tore zu einer Welt, in der sich Realität mit einem metaphysischen Raum vermischen. Aztech verfügt über Nanotechnologie, aber das sagt Shephard nicht explizit. Shephard sieht Aztech, die sich sozusagen emanzipiert hat, im Vergleich zu ihren Gegenspielern eher positiv, und ist dabei typisch amerikanisch optimistisch. Die KI als Tor zu einem neuen und besseren Leben. Seine Schreib- und Sichtweise ist jedoch mehr magisch als realistisch.
Doch ist Shephard ein Autor von großer Vorstellungskraft und seine schriftstellerischen Fähigkeiten können mit seiner Phantasie mühelos Schritt halten. Seine Prosa ist sehr dicht und die Figuren sehr lebendig. Das hebt ihn über die Masse der Phantastik-Autoren hinaus, und so vermag er auch Leser zu fesseln, die eher realistische Science Fiction mögen.
August 13, 2020
Aztechs opens strong with an excellent description of Eddie's father Papa, and their dynamic. It fleshes out the setting, which is an intriguing and visually excellent one. Then it takes a step down into a standard turf war type plot (though not without some surprises) - some silly sex video asides - and ultimately loses its footing completely by the end. I actually had trouble even reading the denouement, I had completely lost interest.
This is a great example of Shepard's strengths and weaknesses. He's great with cool environments and his main character. He's terrible with his romance. If he slips into posturing... prepare to slog.
Two and a half stars rounded up.
This is a great example of Shepard's strengths and weaknesses. He's great with cool environments and his main character. He's terrible with his romance. If he slips into posturing... prepare to slog.
Two and a half stars rounded up.
August 15, 2008
A sequel,more like a continuation of his stories like "R&R" and "On the Border", that heads into Stross and Sterling territory with cyborgs, rogue AIs, nanotechnology, mystical weirdness, and demonic energy. Plus a character named Eddy Poe.
January 22, 2026
Zounds!
AZTECHS, a one-hundred-page SF novella first published in 2001, counts as one of Lucius Shepard's most imaginative and explosive works.
Set in the near future in and around a sprawling Mexican border town, Eddie Poe, a gringo puro, the tale's protagonist and owner of a security service, leads his client out to a desert stronghold to close a big-time deal with the kingpin of a powerful Mexican drug cartel. Here's a cluster of snapshots for this intense, rapid-fire scorcher -
Electric Wall Stretching from Atlantic to Pacific – Anticipating the current wall separating Mexico from the Land of the Free, in Shepard's tale there's El Rayo, a 1200-mile-long laser fence, a fiery curtain that hangs between 100-foot-high titanium poles, makes a zoned-out humming sound, and constantly bathes the surrounding world in deadly blood red light. Eddie observes living next to El Rayo causes cancer of both the mind and soul.
Prime Players – Joining Eddie and his client on this daredevil mission are not only four drug-enhanced security guards, all seasoned war vets, but also Guadalupe (Lupe) Bernal, star of a weekly show featuring border news mixed with Eddie and Lupe having sex. The drug lord doesn't mind this meeting being recorded since he's proud of the power he wields.
Life Captured on Camera – The filming is being done courtesy of a moving camera called Frankie, “a steel six-legged cross between a lizard and a bug about the size of a chihuahua." Surely one of the most disturbing aspects of Shepard's near future world is men and women not minding their most intimate and emotionally charged moments, including having sex, being filmed, and an eager audience clamoring for more and more. Pathetic. Again, Shepard anticipates the current day omnipresent eye of the camera catching every action, public and private, lawful and unlawful.
Samurai Drug – Sammy is the drug of choice used by soldiers and power-hungry types turning them into super warriors. Users of Sammy are generally referred to as Sammy and form Sammy cults. At one point, Eddie needs the strength to carry a stretcher many miles. Childers, a long-time Sammy user, insists he jabs himself with Sammy so he can do it. Once injected, Eddie's world changes—the desert sand he's walking on transforms into a tactical topography and his skin becomes hot, his heart rate accelerates, and he feels himself indestructible. Readers familiar with the author's Life During Wartime and Salvador will recognize this samurai drug also carries some serious downside.
Technical Transformation – Nanobots, microscopic machines that travel through the bloodstream, make their appearance in the tale. The deeper into the group's desert journey, the more Eddie and Lupe detect these tiny machines are being used to make extreme alterations to the personality.
AZTECH, One – Montezuma, a rogue AI, runs the AZTECH corporation, a huge influence in this murky future world where political leaders, local cartels, guerrilla warriors, and multiple AI vie for dominance. We're provided an example of Montezuma's influence when Eddie's band spot an AZTECH village. “There were thirty-one of the huts. Their shapes were strangely modern, as if they were hotel bungalows designed to reflect a native motif. People moved through the dusty streets. Indians. Most wearing white robes, I spotted a man on horseback. The horse was fashioned of a gray metal that looked to have the flexibility of flesh.��� And there's more, much more, including black riders, beings that appear to fuse non-human rider and horse that can swallow a mere mortal into a pool of death.
AZTECH, Two – Toward the end of the tale, Shepard gives readers much to ponder. AZTECH not only alters personality and identity through the use of nanobots but also creates buildings and even landscapes. Additionally, and here's the clincher, AZTECH promises human immortality. Oh, yes, acting as a god, AZTECH can even scrape away your sins and imperfections and muddled thinking, leaving you pure and clean, ready to enter AZTECH paradise.
Wait a minute. Is this blurring the line between divinity and artificiality acceptable in any way? Read Lucius Shepard's novella to feel the full force of this question.
NOTE: AZTECHS is also included in The Best of Lucius Shepard, Volume Two edited by Bill Sheehan.
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