Noon is endlessly inventive in this story. From a purely conceptual level, he
succeeds brilliantly in constructing a macro- and micro-level environment that is
vividly realized and full of surprising attributes. He is almost as good in creating a
cast of bizarre yet sympathetic characters – Scribble the
narrator with some bad serious bad karma; his mentor
and half-crazed buddy The Beetle; Mandy the new girl
with a bad attitude; Tristan the rasta-Vurtian whose
dreadlocks are permanently braided into the matching
hairdo of his girlfriend Suze; Twinkle the twelve year-old
as tough as a roller derby queen; and my favorite, the
Game Cat who knows all the secrets of virtual reality,
and sometimes tosses out a helpful hint.
But Noon’s prose is as vivid as his characters. He has
crafted his own crypto-punk-adelic style of writing,
sort of like what Kerouac might have done if he had
traveled a virtual road rather than a real highway. Noon invents his own hyped-up
jargon, but it is close enough to what druggies and posers say in everyday life to
make it seem all so real. His sentences are punchy, and move with a very
distinctive rhythm. I can imagine this making a great audio-book – or a mega-
movie.
Other hip sci-fi writers – William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Orson Scott Card –
may be better known, but Noon’s name is not out-of-place in this group. At a time
when most genre writers are re-heating the same left-overs, this author shows that
there are new stories out there for authors brave and bold enough to seize them.
Modern day Luddites have often complained that virtual reality
is like a drug. But in Jeff Noon’s novel Vurt, it is a drug, imbibed
by means of feathers that the addicts use to tickle the back of
their throats. Say “Aaaahhhhhh!’ and go on a journey to some
elaborate and dream-like world – either by yourself, or (through
sharing feathers) with your cronies.
is like a drug. But in Jeff Noon’s novel Vurt, it is a drug, imbibed
by means of feathers that the addicts use to tickle the back of
their throats. Say “Aaaahhhhhh!’ and go on a journey to some
elaborate and dream-like world – either by yourself, or (through
sharing feathers) with your cronies.
Noon has constructed a whole Vurt culture and a hierarchy of feathers,
some legal and easily obtained, others forbidden and almost impossible to
find. At the highest level are the yellow feathers, both highly desirable and
very dangerous. Many people never return from yellow feather trips, since
the only was of getting out of its virtual reality is by winning the game it
brings on, or die trying. But there are also many types of blue, silver and
black feathers, each with their own quirks and qualities.
some legal and easily obtained, others forbidden and almost impossible to
find. At the highest level are the yellow feathers, both highly desirable and
very dangerous. Many people never return from yellow feather trips, since
the only was of getting out of its virtual reality is by winning the game it
brings on, or die trying. But there are also many types of blue, silver and
black feathers, each with their own quirks and qualities.
| conceptual fiction [kuhn-SEP-choo-uhl FIK-shuhn] Noun: Storytelling raised to a higher degree through artful reconfiguration of the reader's sense of reality. |
| Vurt by Jeff Noon Reviewed by Ted Gioia |
Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to reviews)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way
Comes
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's
Stone
Saramago, José
Blindness
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Verne, Jules:
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules:
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Ted Gioia's personal web site
SF Site
Jospeh Peschel
The Misread City
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction and
its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials
from publishers, authors,
publicists or other parties.
A Reading List
(with links to reviews)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way
Comes
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's
Stone
Saramago, José
Blindness
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Verne, Jules:
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules:
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Ted Gioia's personal web site
SF Site
Jospeh Peschel
The Misread City
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction and
its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials
from publishers, authors,
publicists or other parties.