Nova Swing (2006) by M. John Harrison

 Audiobook

Nova Swing (2006)

by M. John Harrison

Read by Jim Frangione

   Nova Swing is a 2006 science fiction novel that won the Arthur C. Clarke and Phillip K. Dick awards.  It's the second volume in a three volume series that traverses the future-noir/new weird territory that readers associate with China Mieville, Jeff VanDerMeer, J.G. Ballard and the Stugatsky brothers from Russia.  Also the films of Tarkovsky.  Which is to say that it isn't as good as any of those reference points, but is in the same ballpark.  I found it because I plugged the name of Mieville and VanDerMeer into Facebook AI and this popped out as an option- I'd never heard of M. John Harrison, who is an incredibly prolific writer of both genre fiction and non-fiction

   Unfortunately, Nova Swing was not a great audiobook for a couple of reasons. First, it's the second book of a three volume set, so if you haven't heard volume 1, you don't know anything about the underlying scenario which is some kind of future universe where some kind of interdimensional incident has generated a set-off landscape where "tourists" bring back "artifacts" helped by tour guides, including the main character in the case and policed by local detectives who act like they are in the 1940's, even though it is set in the far future.

   The other issue with the Nova Swing audiobook is that all the name and proper nouns are made up gobbledgook words- the interdimensional locale is called the Saudade Event Site, the larger area is the Kefahuchi tract and the characters have names like Vic Serotonin and Liv Hula.  And even though I don't see the comparison anywhere, much of the vibe of Nova Swing reads like a straightened-out, genrefied version of William S. Burroughs non-sensical cut up sci fi landscapes like those in the similarly named Nova Express.