John Shirley's STORMLAND

 

STORMLAND

 Author: John Shirley 

Publisher: Blackstone 

Price: $18.99 (US) 

Isbn: 978-1094017822

John Shirley’s latest science fiction novel, STORMLAND, is a post-apocalyptic environmental cautionary tale just as daring as Shirley’s groundbreaking dystopian trilogy, A SONG CALLED YOUTH (comprised of ECLIPSE [1985], ECLIPSE PENUMBRA [1988], and ECLIPSE CORONA [1990]). Given recent developments in the United States, Shirley’s foundational cyberpunk trilogy about a fascist takeover of America seems more relevant with each passing day. In coming decades, STORMLAND will be considered just as prescient.

The near-future South Carolina presented in this novel is beset by climate-change-caused tropical storms that are savage and unrelenting. The main character, Darryl Webb, is a bounty hunter contracted to track down an elusive serial killer, the DC Strangler, who’s hiding somewhere inside “Stormland,” the violent, uncontrolled wasteland into which Charleston, South Carolina has devolved.

The speculative elements that drive the plot are far more plausible than most casual readers might suspect. For example, after Webb catches up with the DC Strangler early in the novel, the killer reveals that he’s already turned himself over to law enforcement authorities—namely, agents of Justice Inc., a privatized version of the FBI. As a result of his surrender, the killer has become the subject of an unusual experiment run by Societal Solutions, LLC (the corporation that runs Justice Inc.). Rather than send the perpetrator to prison, as one might expect, Societal Solutions instead agreed to let him go on the condition that he allow himself to be a guinea pig in an experimental program intended to prevent serial killers from following through on their atavistic urges. This methodology employs “Neuro-Cellular Behavioral Modification” to repair damage to the amygdala through the use of stem cells. Because he’s ostensibly been cured of his compulsions, the former killer volunteers to help Webb track down an unrelated serial murderer who’s been using the perpetual chaos of Stormland as a cover for his crimes.

It turns out that the true antagonists of STORMLAND are not the DC Strangler or any other run-of-the-mill serial killer, but the rich, sadistic elites who utilize surveillance drones, virtual reality, and cutting-edge mind control technology to experience the thrill of mass murder vicariously via remote-controlled “Manchurian Candidates” let loose in the autonomous zone of STORMLAND. (Readers of my nonfiction book, CHAMELEO [2015], might recognize that some of these “speculative” elements aren’t quite as speculative as they should be in an ideal world.)

Written in muscular, clipped, precise prose, STORMLAND combines the best elements of the detective thriller with the progressive, futuristic social satire that Shirley pioneered when he wrote the first cyberpunk novel, CITY COME A-WALKIN’ (1980), over forty years ago.