Books › Cities of the Red Night
Cities of the Red Night
A Novel
First published 1982 · 352 pages
A fever dream of time-traveling pirates, hardboiled detectives, and ancient plagues that dismantles reality itself.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like being plunged into a brilliant, terrifying fever dream where the boundaries of time, space, and morality have completely dissolved. The narrative pace is intentionally meandering, dragging you through a hallucinatory labyrinth of hardboiled detective tropes, utopian pirate republics, and ancient, apocalyptic plagues. It is a deeply disorienting experience, drenched in a mood of grotesque paranoia and visceral surrealism. The prose shifts abruptly from deadpan satire to explicit, transgressive body horror, demanding a reader who is willing to surrender to its chaotic, anti-authoritarian rhythm. It will delight fans of extreme postmodernism and radical queer literature who crave stories that actively subvert the very concept of narrative control, leaving you dizzy, disturbed, and entirely transformed.
- Mood
- feverish
- disorienting
- paranoid
- grotesque
- Tone
- satirical
- subversive
- hallucinatory
- cynical
- deadpan
- Pace
- meandering
- Themes
- radical queer liberation · subversion of control systems · the nature of disease · malleability of time and reality · anti-authoritarian rebellion
- The writing
- A visceral, hallucinatory blend of hardboiled pastiche, historical chronicle, and surrealist cut-up techniques.
- The arc
- Begins in disorienting fragmentation and builds into a feverish, apocalyptic crescendo of radical rebellion.
- Who it's for
- Fans of transgressive, boundary-pushing postmodernism who don't mind getting lost in a labyrinth of sex, violence, and anti-authoritarian philosophy.
Content notes
- graphic violence
- explicit sexual content
- sexual violence
- drug use
- body horror
- ritual murder
About the book
Clem Snide, a private detective, has to solve a case of ritual murder. In the Gobi Desert 100,000 years ago, a red virus has erupted. And in the 18th century, gay pirates have set up their own republics in South America and are at war with the conquistadors. All three stories are merged at the end in a giant trans-time, trans-space battle.
Description from Open Library.
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