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Who's heard of Paul Di Filippo's novel Ciphers? It was published by Cambrian Publications in 1997, it runs nearly 600 pages, it's filled with conspiracy theories, rock n roll, and lots of sex, and the author considers it a "thematic sequel" to Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. I say of all the Pynchonesque novels recently published -- Wallace's Infinite Jest, Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, etc -- it's the best of the bunch.
The only problem is, probably not many people have heard of Ciphers, because it was released through such a small publisher. I doubt many bookstores carry it. Luckily, you can still get it through the publisher's website. But I think if Ciphers had been released by a larger publisher, it would've struck up a lot of interest, and most likely would be considered on par with Stephenson's Snow Crash -- though most likely it would have a larger impact, as it isn't stuck in any sort of sci-fi setting. Just like Gravity's Rainbow took a skewed look back at WW2 and judged its effects on the '60s and '70s, Ciphers focuses its kaleidoscopic gaze on the period ranging from the mid-'50s up to May, 1993, in which the "main" narrative takes pace.
The benefit of the small publisher is that Filippo is free to write the sort of book a major publisher wouldn't touch, these days -- at least, from a first-time novelist, as Filippo was when this book came out (a veteran short-story writer, Ciphers was his first novel). In fact, this is the sort of book you'd expect to see in GR's day, but today, probably not. Just like Stephenson had to write four focused novels before he could unleash the unwieldy and massive Cryptonomicon, Filippo most likely would've had trouble getting a publisher to release Ciphers in its uncut form.
The writing is good throughout, though it will no doubt annoy many readers. It's Pynchonesque for sure, but instead of Pynchon's long sentences and sometimes-complex style, Ciphers is Pynchonesque in that the narrative is written as if from the pen of Tyrone Slothrop himself. You know how the narrative in GR will become a bit more casual, more hip during the Slothrop sections? Ciphers is like that throughout; written in the third person, the narrator nevertheless has a voice of his own, dropping rock n roll lyrics, allusions, and sidebars at whim, all in a speedfreak, Lester Bangs-esque manner. It's good, but does get overwhelming after a while. The book is also Pynchonesque in its love of conspiracies, shadowy Thems pulling our hapless protagonists' strings, and the goofy names characters are given.
The story, in a nutshell: In May 1993, Cyril Prothero, an over-educated guy in his mid-30s who works in a CD store, discovers that his girlfriend, Ruby Tuesday, who's taken a temp job at the mysterious Wu Labs, has gone missing. Ruby leaves evidence that Wu Labs, run by the nefarious and never-seen Doctor Wu, is up to no good. Cy hooks up with Polly Peptide, gorgeous girlfriend of his best friend Augie Augenblick -- another Wu employee who's also gone missing -- and the two go from one misadventure to the next, trying to solve the problem. Along the way they engage the services of the deaf and blind Max Parallax, a private investigator who solves all his cases without ever leaving his apartment. In addition to this, side-narratives run which concern characters in previous decades who at first seem to have little to do with Cy's storyline, but gradually tie in with it -- among them, Phillipe deClosets, a French dignitary who comes across a lost temple in Cambodia in the 1950s, Mekong Melusine, Phillipe's daughter, who after becoming the East's most famous prostitute finds employment with Wu Labs, and Claude Lollolo, Phillipe's son (by a different mother), an African royalty who also works undercover for Wu Labs, and whose job includes sleeping with a snake-worshiping goddess and "buggering" fellow Wu employees.
The book is a rollercoaster of a ride, definitely in the vein of Pynchon, but not as complicated or complex. Filippo even includes double-columned annotations in the back, explaining every rock lyric, song title, and sidebar dropped in the narrative. What more could you ask for?
Filippo has a page dedicated to this book on his official site, right
HERE.
The page has links to reviews, but one in particular, Lance Olsen's write-up for American Book Review, does a great job of summing up the plot and relaying how enjoyable Ciphers is:
Lance Olsen's Review. |
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