September 25–October 2, 1997

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Comp Lit

Novels in Cyberland

"This is not a cybernovel!" Astro Teller adamantly insists of Exegesis. "I'm not trying to glorify or even focus on cyberspace as a plot device. It just happens to be a good way to get at the philosophical issues about the meaning of being human that I'm trying to get at. I hope I haven't just tapped into the zeitgeist. I wanted to write a real work of literature."

While Astro Teller seems intent on keeping his work from being perceived as trendy or gimmicky, there are plenty of fiction writers out there who are shamelessly hitting high-tech hot buttons in an effort to attract hip, computer-savvy readers. A recent sampler:

As Francesca by Martha Baer (Broadway Books): Originally published as a serial in HotWired, the online arm of Wired magazine, this sometimes chilling, sometimes flatfooted novel explores the manipulation of identity in online chat rooms. Elaine Botsch is a run-of-the-mill middle manager who adapts a flamboyant, hypersexual persona, Francesca, in Internet chat rooms by night. Online, Elaine plays out elaborate sex-slave fantasies with an electronic correspondent named Inez. When Freudian slippage comes to bear and Elaine accidentally types out her real name while online, Inez's obsessive nature rears its head and Elaine's two worlds collide.

Flame War: A Cyberthriller by Joshua Quittner and Michelle Slatalla (William Morrow): Exploding floppy discs, an "urban crypto militia" that hangs out over java at a chic Manhattan restaurant called Cafe Info, a plot to hold the U.S. government hostage by capturing all of Congress' private electronic transmissions, and sexy Gen X protagonists make for light but hardly enlightening entertainment. This is a very conventional book with a thin overlay of hip tech. The authors' few analytical forays into hacker culture here pale in the light of their scintillating non-fiction presentation of similar topics in 1996's Masters of Deception. That earlier work really gets into the meat of the cybermedium; this one's just digital sprinkles on a gooey old-fashioned sundae.

Interface by Stephen Bury (Bantam): While often clumsily written, this inexpensive paperback original is worth a read for two reasons. First, it's a pseudonymous work by one J. Frederick George and his nephew, Neal Stephenson, author of one of the classic virtual reality/cyber novels, Snow Crash. More importantly, it's probably (although perhaps accidentally) the funniest Artificial Intelligence book to date. Interface offers a presidential candidate who has a chip implanted in his brain by a cadre of international backers and becomes their digital puppet. This is the stuff of wicked satire, yet it's hard to tell (especially when the cornball triumph-of-the-will conclusion rolls around) whether the authors might not just be taking themselves seriously. In any case, let's hope somebody shrewd buys the movie rights: this could be The Manchurian Candidate meets The Stepford Wives.

-Jim Gladstone