Books › Only forward
Only forward
First published 1994 · 455 pages
A sarcastic, neon-soaked fever dream that lures you in with weird cityscapes and then breaks your heart with its psychological depth.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into a neon-lit, hardboiled detective novel that slowly dissolves into a surreal psychological fever dream. It starts with a brisk, darkly comedic energy, guiding you through a bizarre, hyper-segmented metropolis where the narrator's wry, cynical voice keeps you grounded amid the absurdity. But as the narrative progresses, the quirky cyberpunk veneer peels back to reveal a deeply melancholic and unsettling exploration of memory and trauma. The prose shifts from punchy, sarcastic observations to haunting, dreamlike poetry, pulling you into the literal architecture of the human mind. It is a wildly inventive, genre-bending experience that delights fans of weird fiction and leaves them unexpectedly moved by its vulnerable emotional core.
- Mood
- neon-drenched
- dreamlike
- unsettling
- melancholic
- Tone
- wry
- cynical
- surreal
- vulnerable
- darkly comedic
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- confronting past trauma · the architecture of the mind · escapism vs. reality · the burden of memory · surreal urbanism
- The writing
- Punchy, hardboiled, and laced with dark humor, the prose seamlessly shifts from witty urban observations to hauntingly poetic dream logic.
- The arc
- Begins as a sarcastic, freewheeling romp through a bizarre metropolis before plunging into a deeply vulnerable, surreal confrontation with buried trauma.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love weird, genre-bending cyberpunk that hides a surprisingly tender and devastating psychological core beneath a cynical exterior.
Content notes
- violence
- psychological trauma
- profanity
- gore
About the book
tark lives in Colour, a neighbourhood whose inhabitants like to be co-ordinated with their surroundings – a neighbourhood where spangly purple trousers are admired by the walls of buildings as you pass them. Close by is Sound, where you mustn’t make any, apart from one designated hour a day when you can scream your lungs raw. Then there’s Red – get off at Fuck Station Zero if you want to see a tactical nuclear battle recreated as a sales demonstration.
Stark has friends in Red, which is just as well because Something is about to happen. And when a Something happens it’s no good chanting ‘Duck and cover’ while cowering in a corner, because a Something is always from the past, Stark’s past, and it won’t go away until you face it full on.
Description from Open Library.
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