Can’t wait until Friday to check out Repo Men, the new science fiction thriller starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker? Well, head on down to your local retailer and grab the book that the movie is based on. Originally titled The Repossession Mambo, the book has been re-released under the title Repo Men. It was written by Eric Garcia, whose other works include Matchstick Men (also adapted to the big screen in 2003) and the “Rex” series (Anonymous Rex, Casual Rex) which was the basis of a 2004 television pilot on the SyFy channel.
If after reading Repo Men you’re find that you’re interested in reading more books that focus on the dark and strange side of biomedicine and other future technologies, I’d be happy to recommend a few:
Ribofunk by Paul Di Filippo. Ribofunk’s tales of genetically-enhanced thieves, animal-man hybrids and Protein Policemen remains a great work of post-cyberpunk fiction, with the issues it raises becoming more relevant with each passing year. I’m not sure if this book is currently in print, but you can usually find used copies online without too much trouble.
Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology, edited by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel. The original Cyberpunk movement is long gone, but its children live on. This collection of post-cyberpunk stories features authors Cory Doctorow, Jonathan Lethem, Bruce Sterling, Elizabeth Bear and many others. I do some public relations work for Tachyon Publications, the publisher of this book, although this was published well before my time with the company. When my friends at Tachyon offered to send me a few of their books for my collection, this was one of the very first I asked for. Love it.
The Ware Tetralogy: Software, Freeware, Wetware, Realware by Rudy Rucker. A renegade human scientist imbues robot lifeforms with free will and artificial intelligence. This decision sets into motion a series of radical changes for humanity, including the creation of several hybrid race, and sets all of them on course for their ultimate post-singularity destiny. The original paperbacks are out of print, but will be re-released in an omnibus edition from Prime Books this year. I can’t say enough good things about Rucker’s work. It’s all deeply strange and a lot of fun. Although it’s not in any way related to the topic of this post, I’d recommend his The Hollow Earth. It’s the best book about a country boy, a runaway slave and Edgar Allan Poe fleeing to the center of the earth and communing with strange beings you’ll ever read.
Also, while it isn’t a book, I hope at least some of you are familiar with the rock opera “Repo: The Genetic Opera.” It’s basically a rock musical with a very similar premise to “Repo Men,” and if it didn’t predate the Repo Men book and film, it at least tackled the same theme in a really interesting and somewhat disturbing (i.e. it was directed by the guy who did “Saw”) way. I’d highly recommend it to anyone on a Repo kick.