The Rise and Fall of Shimmerism by James Kracht
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(Hardcover)
- Pub. Date: March 2004
- 432pp
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: March 2004
- Publisher: iUniverse, Incorporated
- Format: Hardcover, 432pp
- ISBN-13: 9780595762187
- ISBN: 0595762182
Synopsis
An epic future-chronicle of warring philosophies, ultimately touching on the evolution of human perception - and the first glimpses of a malevolent new facet of reality.
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Rise and Fall of Shimmerismby Anonymous
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January 19, 2002: Kracht's dark and fatalistically humorous work appears to be as influenced by movies and television as much as it is by other works of science fiction. From the explosive prologue to the 'brief' courtroom denouement, Kracht knows how to draw an audience into his shamelessly chaotic universe, filled as it is with mega-corporations, oppressive bureaucracies, useless police and the consequences of religion without restraint. This IS a dark vision. Only Kracht's bemused, semi-detached narrative style imparts the material with a sense of lightness. The closest parallel this reviewer can draw would be to John Varley's 'Gaia Trilogy' (Titan, Wizard, Demon). Make no mistake, though, Kracht's tale of the hapless Simon Shadow bears only superficial similarity to Varley's final tome (Demon) - in which a genetically engineered moon suddenly appears in orbit around Saturn, attracting the faithful - and those who prey on them. Perhaps Frank Herbert's 'The Jesus Incident' - a story of a desert enclave, the Redoubt, whose population of genetic misfits seeking transcendence - is more conceptually akin to 'The Rise and Fall of Shimmerism.' This is not the sci-fi of marauding aliens and incomprehensible physics - instead, this is a STORY, a tale of one man's journey into the unknown. Simon Shadow is us. Along the way we witness the futility and consequence of dogmatic adherence to faith beyond reason. We find that a small favor may be remembered - and we find that even when all is lost Simon still lands on his feet. We all want to break away from the Dilbert-like humdrum of every day life, only Simon actually goes and does something about it. Ultimately, the cost of pursuing this vision may be too high, but it seems that in the end, he did what he had to do.
Rise and Fall of Shimmerismby Anonymous
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May 05, 2001: One part utopian satire, one part apocalyptic vision; an imaginary voyage that reads like an encyclopedic epic. Strong images dominate this work, and they did not leave my consciousness for weeks. There is also an element of realism that is hard to ignore, dealing with drug use/abuse and the nature of human perception. This is one of those works that is almost recursive in its use of allegory. The primary story thread - that of Simon Shadow and his quest for freedom from the constraints of a society plagued by overpopulation - has, wrapped around it, two 'lesser' story threads, which themselves are intertwined (the military presence above the planet Reetar, and the survivors of the crashed starship below). The three work in unison, leading to an almost perfect (and always entertaining) use of the 'deus ex machina' - and I say 'perfect' since this work's overall theme is religion - or rather, the dominant, soulless spirituality that runs rampant in the year 2167. Despite its length, it blazed by. Very well written.
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