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RIMWritten by Alexander Besher
Welcome to Neo-Tokyo! It’s 2027 and the modern world has turned to Japanese culture. Most of the world has embraced Tibetan Buddhism, and even an American speaking to an American would address the other as Johnson-san or Smith-san. On top of this, the world is wild with intellectual breakthroughs in cyberculture. Almost every person’s life is run in a series of daily virtual dealings; half of one’s furniture is interactive hologram, and even the clothing is computerized. You know they’re high-tech when you can’t tell the difference between a human and an android unless you slash out the circuit board at the base of its skull. And slash they do—the mega-corporations have taken over the virtual world, and they’re at each other’s throats. You think our corporations are bad today? They haven’t covered exploitation in the slightest. It’s a cybermad, mad, mad, mad world out there and the yakuza are definitely in business.
In this dynamic world (California, in fact) lives Frank Gobi, professor of “transcultural corporate anthropology and organizational shamanism” at Berkeley and, on the side, groundbreaker in the transmigration of the soul, or the anthropology of the afterlife. Satori Corporation, the biggest proprietor of the virtual world, is attempting to hire the highly skilled Gobi who is an ex-psychic-detective. Although Gobi wouldn’t touch corporate dealings with a ten mile pole, he eventually consents for a very personal reason. The story? Neo-Tokyo has survived the biggest earthquake of the millennium, an 11.0 on the Richter scale. The only problem is, it “phases out” for twelve hours of the day, disappearing completely out of existence in an everyday transition. No one outside of the area knows quite what’s going on, as the subject matter is taboo in conversation—yet another reason for Frank Gobi to avoid Satori’s mess. However, the biggest online entertainment venue in the world, Satori City, has crashed, keeping literally millions of people mentally suspended in cyberspace. One of these victims is Gobi’s son Trevor. In order to save the souls before they are terminated, Gobi reluctantly goes on a quest in Neo-Tokyo to find and destroy whatever or whoever is responsible for the crash and to get Satori City back online, rescuing Satori’s CEO in the process.
On the outside, the cyberpunk Rim looks and sounds like a cheesy, overdone sci-fi piece. However, Besher has some great visual description and insight, and some even say that he has started a new genre altogether: cybernoir. This will be an exciting concept to mystery lovers and SF addicts alike. The first time I read this, the images in Besher’s head seemed rather difficult to follow. However, for those of you who know little or nothing about Japanese social thought, there is a learning experience here. The Oriental culture is charming, and there’s a chance to add to your vocabulary as well, not only in Japanese but in Spanish and Tibetan as well. There’s decent suspense, too, and between downloading consciousnesses, kamikaze otaku, the reincarnation of holoid monkeys, and fully loaded networking, there are a lot of new ideas encompassed. Besher is certainly creative, and anyone interested in learning a little about the spirit of Zen in an easygoing setting will enjoy this book for sure. There is a great spiritual aspect to Besher’s writing and his ideas are certainly intriguing.
Yet, the typical Christian reader may find there is much lacking. Although Besher doesn’t condemn Christianity, at times he does insult the radical fanatic televangelism aspect, which has the potential to be offensive. Most would not be bothered; I myself hold with this line of thought: “And when God, who created the entire universe with all of its glories, decides to deliver a message to humanity, He WILL NOT use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle.” Still, it may offend some Christian readers, particularly of the ecumenical bent. Besher tosses in a few minor blows at televangelism, which can get a little depressing (mostly from acknowledging the existence of televangelism). But that is nothing compared to the downtrodden social spirit in the book. Those weak of stomach, stay away from this reading. In addition to being profane, the book abounds with blood and gore, which is okay for noir but completely incompatible with “Thou shalt not kill.” The book is also much more immoral than the ecstatic reviews on the back cover read like. There is a lot of sex for such a little book, and none of it within the bounds of matrimony, I guarantee you. There is even a new class of illegal drugs, and although a synthesized hit of the San Andreas Fault may be interesting, it certainly isn’t right. If you are laid-back in your outlook on the literary world, I would recommend this book for culture comparison, complication and comedy in an easy read. Otherwise, avoid it. It is neither moral nor deep and depending on your tolerance, it may offend you. If you find you like it, try Besher’s Mir and Chi, the remainder of the trilogy, and be sure to let me know what you think.
- Tina Hegg
September 2002
September 2002
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