Volteface

TCity Trilogy #2

by Mark Adlard, Paul Alexander (Illustrator)

Ace Books, 1978; first American paperback edition. Second book in the Tcity Trilogy, which also includes "Interface" and "Multiface." The Science Fiction Sourcebook calls the trilogy "extraordinarily erudite" and The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction says the trilogy is "ambitious in scope and deserves to be more widely known."

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

213 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 3 out of 5]

review of
Mark Adlard's Volteface
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - August 3, 2012

I'd previously read Adlard's Interface & added it to my Goodreads list back in January 2008 when I didn't even necessarily bother to review or rate bks. When I found this one I picked it up b/c I vaguely remembered liking the last one. Then I realized that Volteface is the sequel to Interface.

They both revolve around a city where the occupants are 'benevolently' overseen by administrators living outside the city. In the case of Interface I remember the residents living in what seemed like a giant shopping mall, a world of plenty. Nonetheless, the occupants are dissatisfied & eventually revolt & escape.

In Volteface, the administrative Central Executive is concerned about the well-being of the city dwellers & tries out various new tactics to reinvigorate them as the residents seem to be losing their lust-for-life. One of the tactics is to create new fantasy clubs - a simulation of being on the moon, a simulation of sped-up mortality. While these aren't central to the plot they give Adlard a chance to go off on some interesting descriptive tangents.

The Executive plan also includes reintroducing work wch in turn introduces the unfairness, sleaziness, & competitiveness that'd been hitherto done away w/ by social planning. This is probably the most interesting part of the novel. Adlard uses the future to recontextualize (what was) the present in order to re-examine business, in particular, from a new light.

Adlard's one of those mysterious authors to me. The wikipedia entry on him is sparse - only 4 bks are listed even tho he's 80 yrs old as of this review & has therefore had plenty of time to either write alot or otherwise lead an interesting life. Both Interface & Volteface seem pretty critical of contemporary society so it seems like Adlard wd've been highly motivated to continue saying what he had to say.

[Apocryphal Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book in the TCity trilogy, which looks at a hypothetical future society in the industrial Teeside region. Like the first, this book is something of a thought experiment in search of a plot. The setting is explored from the point of view of several characters who are navigating the city as it itself evolves, so there is something of a metaplot, but most of the stories explored here are personal, and frankly, mundane. For example, one of the things that has happened in the setting is that mass automation of society has left citizens with very little to do except debauch themselves in drinking and sex. Because of this, a certain amount of ennui has settled in. The executives of The Company have decided to combat this by giving people 'jobs' (you know, with titles like 'productivity manage') in order to give them a sense of purpose. One of the characters find himself trying to solve the problem of trying to get rid of a surplus of 10K rings from inventory, while dealing with a shortage of nipple rings. His boss doesn't seem too interested - he's mostly too busy entertaining clients (i.e hi posse of friends) to concern himself. Meanwhile, another character finds herself involved in a love triangle with a computer, and someone else is involved in an experiment to manually drive cars.

It's an easy enough read. often it feels like there's not a lot going on in these books, but the personal situations the characters find themselves in are often amusing, and the view on society is fascinating. These books are over 50 years old, but seem to have predicted a future society that the tech-bros of today seem hell-bent on driving us toward right now. This is both fascinating and alarming. Onward to book 3!

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book with a unique world setting. However, I'm not really sure what the point was; there was very little in the way of a cohesive and linear plot/structure. Maybe that was the point?