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Original Essays | February 8, 2012

Kent Hartman: IMG A Raider by Any Other Name

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Perhaps you are aware of the fact that there is an oddly popular trivia game floating around that a group of clever (and likely bored) college... Continue »
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1 Beaverton Science Fiction and Fantasy- A to Z

End of the World Blues

by Jon Courte Grimwood

End of the World Blues Cover

ISBN13: 9780553589962
ISBN10: 0553589962
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

From Jon Courtenay Grimwood, author of the celebrated Arabesk series, comes a stunningly inventive novel of futuristic noir set in a world of shifting realities. Here a man is drawn into a gritty postmodern subculture and a secret kingdom of otherworldly beings to find what he lost long ago: a reason to live.

Kit Nouveau figured hed already come to the end of the world. An Iraqi war veteran, expatriate, and part owner of Pirate Marys, the best Irish bar in Tokyo, Kit had settled down to await the inevitable with barely a whimper. It wasnt exactly how Kit thought hed end up, and he was right.

Its going to end up a lot worse.

A teenage runaway with fifteen million dollars in stolen cash and a taste for cosplay is about to save Kits life in a lethal swirl of scarlet and bridal lace. Lady Neku, a.k.a. Countess of High Strange, has her own dangerous destiny to fulfill and its mysteriously connected to Kits ravaged past. Now Kits only hope for redemption is to save an ex-girlfriend he tragically failed once before. But everyone says its already too late. And shes left behind only one ominous clue: her suicide note.

Review:

"Straightforward explanations and linear plotting are in short supply in this stand-alone novel; rather, Grimwood's latest tale reads as if Kurt Vonnegut were writing manga for the producers of Doctor Who. The story starts in near-future Tokyo, where expatriate soldier Kit Nouveau runs an Irish bar. A runaway teenage girl, Lady Neku, hides $15 million in a train station locker and then tidily kills a mugger to save Kit's life, and soon both are deeply enmeshed in multi-layered clan wars. Kit's involves a reputed yakuza syndicate, various British police and spy agencies and several of his past and present lovers. Neku's concerns the alternate reality where she's a semi-immortal princess and the incipient bride to the heir of a rival family. The connections between the two are often vague, but Grimwood (Stamping Butterflies) stabilizes the story with uniformly compelling characterizations and vivid settings. Genre fans may find the book difficult to label, but readers with flexible expectations will find it easy to enjoy." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

From the author of the celebrated "Arabesk" series comes a stunningly inventive novel of futuristic noir set in a world of shifting realities. A man is drawn into a gritty postmodern subculture and a secret kingdom of otherworldly beings to find what he had lost long ago: a reason to live.
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About the Author

Jon Courtenay Grimwood lives in England. The third book in his acclaimed Arabesk series, Felaheen, won the 2003 British Science Fiction Association Award, appeared on Locus Magazine's 2003 Recommended Reading List, and appeared on SFSite's Best of 2003 list.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
FNORDinc, November 23, 2010 (view all comments by FNORDinc)
interstellar gods managing the leftover refugees of humanity. our world is nothing but a constructed barrier of safety created by them to allow us life.

think this book is sci-fi? it is not. this book is a thinly veiled series of structured thoughts showing the smallness of our universe. everything we know is insignificant. interestingly enough, everything outside our understanding is also also insignificant.

From the the Hagakure, The Way of the Samurai -
“Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige’s wall there was this one: ”Matters of’ great concern should be treated lightly. Matters of small concern should be treated seriously. Among one’s affairs there should not be more than two or three matters of what one could call great concern. If these are deliberated upon during ordinary times, they can be understood.”

These are ordinary times and the deliberation of concerns will not be fully qualified and resolved until the end of the tale…

This story revolves around, Kit Noveau, an ex-rocker from Ireland. living in Tokyo. he is also ex-military, unable to go home without fear of being arrested for being a deserter, not that he would want to go home.

for ten years he has been married and hiding out in Tokyo. his wife is an introverted world respected pottery artist. his best friend is an Australian biker in hiding, unable to return home himself. Yoshi, Kit’s wife, owns a bar called “Pirate Marys” in a rundown part of Tokyo.

Enter into the story Lady Neku. Neku carries blades and wears costume. Neku is hiding $15 million dollars in a train station pay per day locker. Kit gives her fresh coffee on cold mornings and she feels she owns him more than owes him.

When a homeless man (or an assassin) attacks Kit one morning, Lady Neku leaves a blade in the attacker’s lung, and blood pouring from his body. soon after she rips a hole in time space and steps through.

everything else is story… but it is more detective novel than sci-fi fantasy. all the elements of this book meld together into a nice blend of images. it is like reading Murakami lite with a bit of bit of gaiman and joe hill.

-- FNORDinc.com
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780553589962
Author:
Grimwood, Jon Courte
Publisher:
Spectra Books
Author:
Grimwood, Jon Courtenay
Subject:
Science Fiction - General
Subject:
Young men
Subject:
Yakuza
Subject:
Mystery fiction
Subject:
Japan
Subject:
Science / General
Subject:
Science Fiction and Fantasy-A to Z
Copyright:
2007
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Publication Date:
20070931
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
348
Dimensions:
8.96x6.10x.80 in. .78 lbs.
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Related Aisles

End of the World Blues Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$3.50 In Stock
Product details 348 pages Spectra Books - English 9780553589962 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Straightforward explanations and linear plotting are in short supply in this stand-alone novel; rather, Grimwood's latest tale reads as if Kurt Vonnegut were writing manga for the producers of Doctor Who. The story starts in near-future Tokyo, where expatriate soldier Kit Nouveau runs an Irish bar. A runaway teenage girl, Lady Neku, hides $15 million in a train station locker and then tidily kills a mugger to save Kit's life, and soon both are deeply enmeshed in multi-layered clan wars. Kit's involves a reputed yakuza syndicate, various British police and spy agencies and several of his past and present lovers. Neku's concerns the alternate reality where she's a semi-immortal princess and the incipient bride to the heir of a rival family. The connections between the two are often vague, but Grimwood (Stamping Butterflies) stabilizes the story with uniformly compelling characterizations and vivid settings. Genre fans may find the book difficult to label, but readers with flexible expectations will find it easy to enjoy." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Synopsis" by , From the author of the celebrated "Arabesk" series comes a stunningly inventive novel of futuristic noir set in a world of shifting realities. A man is drawn into a gritty postmodern subculture and a secret kingdom of otherworldly beings to find what he had lost long ago: a reason to live.
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