Synopsis
Though he is also a mathematician, computer scientist, and essayist, Rudy Rucker is best known for his ground-breaking science fiction. The companion volume to Seek!, Rucker's selected nonfiction, Gnarl! brings together three dozen of the writer's best science fiction short stories. His first major story collection in 17 years, the volume includes a number of previously unanthologized stories, including tales cowritten with Marc Laidlaw, Paul Di Filippo, and Bruce Sterling. Classics such as "The Fifty-Seventh Franz Kafka," a timely meditation on the paradoxes of cloning, are side by side with works of pseudomemoir like "The Indian Rope Trick Explained." The Rucker formula - cutting-edge physics, a wild but perversely logical imagination, and a decidedly punk attitude - illuminates this new collection.
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Reviews
Gnarly is surfer slang for complex wave conditions. Used as a noun, it suggests a startling intricacy of detail. Gnarl! collects three dozen stories written since the 1970s by cyberpunk pioneer Rucker (Freeware). Arranged in chronological order, the stories combine hard science with a gonzo "sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll" sensibility. By far the best pieces are those written after 1986, when Rucker moved to California, and of those, collaborative efforts with Bruce Sterling and Marc Laidlaw are especially good. Two Rucker-Laidlaw yarns, "Probability Pipeline" and "Chaos Surfari," are among the best in the collection. Both feature a couple of physics-savvy stoners who build a surfboard using Imipolex, the weird Nazi plastic from Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. "The Indian Rope Trick Explained" introduces the concept of Aether Pitons; "Soft Death" postulates immortality through software engineering; and "Rapture in Space" describes the making of the first zero-gravity sex video. Not everything is of high quality, but at his best Rucker invites comparisons with sf crossover artist Philip K. Dick or Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics. Recommended for most fiction collections and essential for sf enthusiasts.DEdward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Gnarl!: Stories
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Four Walls Eight Windows, 2000
ISBN 10: 1568581599
ISBN 13: 9781568581590
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Gnarl!: Stories
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Gnarl!: Stories
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Gnarl!: Stories
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Gnarl! Stories [SIGNED]
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Seller: Space Age Books LLC, Conroe, TX, U.S.A.
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Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. "First printing April 2000" and full printing line with "1" on its copyright page. Signed, with no personalization or inscription, by author Rudy Rucker on its title page. This book is in near fine condition, marred only by light bumps on its spine ends. Its binding is sound and square, with no spine crease. Covers are unmarked and otherwise unworn, with bright metallic red titles on its spine. Its pages are unworn and otherwise unmarked. Not a remainder. Its dust jacket, now protected by a removable mylar cover, is also in near fine condition: whole, bright, and unmarked, with traces of wear on its spine ends but otherwise unworn. I will ship this book in a moisture proof zip-loc bag, padded in bubble wrap, inside a sturdy box to assure it reaches its new owner in the same condition as my description. Simply noted: tipped-in with this book is the publisher's press release announcing its publication. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 003823
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Gnarl!: Stories
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 566 pp. Dust jacket in very good condition, mylar cover. Pages clean; sound binding. . Jacket Condition: Very Good. Size: 8vo - over 7 3/4 in - 9 3/4 in Tall. Year: 2000. Seller Inventory # BBS-046735
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Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First Edition. Signed by Rudy Rucker on title page - signature only. First Edition, First Printing. With corresponding number line. Book is in Fine condition. Boards are clean, not bumped. Not remaindered. Dust Jacket is in Fine condition. Not chipped or crinkled. Not price clipped. Book is covered by Mylar Brodart. All-ways well boxed, All-ways fast service. Thanks. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 045266
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Gnarl!: Stories *SIGNED*
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Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. First printing of first edition with complete number line (10-1). Flat SIGNED by Rucker on title page. Unmarked, unclipped, extremely bright, exceedingly tight, crisp, unread copy in superb condition. Tiny bit of of edge wear to base of spine. This copy is marvelous! Archival mylar covered out jacket. Carefully bubble wrapped and ships in sturdy box. Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # 1434