By Jeff VanderMeer
Omnivoracious
December 27th, 2011
This novella-with-extras chronicles the high-velocity adventures of a trans-human teenager in a Disney-dominated Tomorrow, ‘battling wireheads and wumpuses” until an encounter with the “meat girl” of his dreams changes his life. Published by PM Press in their “Outspoken Authors” series, the book also includes two somewhat related nonfiction pieces by Doctorow: “Creativity vs. Copyright” and an interview. As Kelly Link has said, “[he] doesn’t just write about the future—I think he lives there.” Opening lines: “I piloted the mecha through the streets of Detroit, hunting wumpuses. The mecha was a relic of the Mecha Wars, when the nation tore itself to shreds with lethal robots…”
