jdavidhacker1 reviewed Stonefish by Scott R. Jones
None
5 stars
Scott Jones defies genre expectations all the way round. This cyberpunk, dys- or I guess u-topian (depending on how you feel about it), weird fiction, horror, crypto zoological mystery should maybe not work...but it does and beautifully at that.returnAs one might expect from Scott there are certainly religious and mystical overtones (I particularly enjoy the parallel to Christ carrying his cross upon his back late in the novel) as well. With clever references to the present day, our protagonist (a journalist by trade) goes on the hunt for a missing tech mogul in a world teetering both on the edge of climate collapse and transformative consciousness, in the midst of another mysterious crisis featuring strange phenomena robbing people of their senses. returnI would describe or summarize some of what's encountered along the way, but repeatedly the very nature and substance of reality is called into question. As the, intertextually referenced, …
Scott Jones defies genre expectations all the way round. This cyberpunk, dys- or I guess u-topian (depending on how you feel about it), weird fiction, horror, crypto zoological mystery should maybe not work...but it does and beautifully at that.returnAs one might expect from Scott there are certainly religious and mystical overtones (I particularly enjoy the parallel to Christ carrying his cross upon his back late in the novel) as well. With clever references to the present day, our protagonist (a journalist by trade) goes on the hunt for a missing tech mogul in a world teetering both on the edge of climate collapse and transformative consciousness, in the midst of another mysterious crisis featuring strange phenomena robbing people of their senses. returnI would describe or summarize some of what's encountered along the way, but repeatedly the very nature and substance of reality is called into question. As the, intertextually referenced, Matrix advertising campaign told us in the 90s, one can't be told what this story is. Or at least, can't be without robbing you of the journey and experience (unless, like me, you are completely okay with spoilers).returnWhile reading it, I kept thinking something about Stonefish reminded me of Murakam's 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World' and I've struggled to think of why. Other than some very superficial trappings, they don't on the surface seem similar enough to have evoked that in me. But I can't help feel they share some DNA. Maybe its the birth and death of worlds, questions about the nature of reality, but one entirely internal and one very external.