Redrobe (Earthlight) [Paperback]

Another high-energy cyberpunk romp set in the alternative future of Jon Courtenay Grimwood's previous novel reMix. Here he pushes gore and mutilation to almost farcical extremes, with medical nanotechnology meaning that ghastly injuries aren't for keeps--one character loses both eyes but is soon painfully seeing again, if only in black and white. The back-story: Pope Joan looted the Vatican's riches for good causes before her assassination, and now the powerful, corrupt Cardinal of Mexico hopes to claw back the money. A top-class though emotionally wrecked professional killer becomes his emissary, hunting Joan's legacy on Samsara, the vast space habitat and prayer wheel which the Dalai Lama and a Buddhist-pacifist AI have established as the UN dumping-ground for all the world's refugees. Other characters include Pope Joan's former lover, a chatty AI built into an advanced handgun, a Japanese child prostitute into whom some remnant of Joan has been downloaded, an illegal warrior clone, and a bunch of military "PaxForce" heavies whose sadistic female leaders defMoma and momaDef provide more tasty torture scenes and weird capitaLisation. Grimwood drives his story at unrelenting speed, with bursts of extreme violence disguising the less logical leaps, while literal background music plays in the wired-up assassin's head. Dizzying, gruesome and slightly tongue-in-cheek action. --David Langford

Ex-assassin Axl Borja has agreed to do one last hit - only he hasn't told his gun yet. Cardinal Santo Ducque faces political ruin if he can't regain the Vatican's missing billions. Mai's a Japanese kinderwhore held hostage on a space habitat. As they collide their actions could change the world.

Jon Courtenay Grimwood - a writer who gets better and better
I'd read Jon's early novels, neoAddix and LUCIFER'S DRAGON, before I took him on for Earthlight. When I read reMix I was blown away. He'd gone from being a good writer to something much more exciting. The same thing has happened again with redRobe - it is certainly one of the best SF novels I've read so far this year, and there have already been a number of contenders.

Jon's writing is far more subtle than he is often given credit for by people who can't see past the violence. Both as a reader and an editor, he is a joy to read, and I'm really looking forward to his next series - which is sort of the ALEXANDRIA QUARTET as SF, with a wonderful Middle Eastern city setting and uncertainty about the truth of events unfolding before you.

Look, just go and enjoy his books. And watch him continue to get better and better...

John Jarrold, Commissioning Editor, Earthlight Books

Only two things stand between our world
Only two things stand between our world and financial meltdown

a silver monkey...
...and a talking gun

Axl Borja has agreed to do one last hit. His Excellency Cardinal Santo Ducque is facing political ruin if he can’t regain the Vatican’s missing billions. And Mai is a Japanese whore kidnapped and held hostage in a UN refugee zone.

As these three people collide - with each other and themselves - their actions mean the world and all its institutions must be changed. One thing is for sure. While Axl, Mai and the Cardinal can’t all get what they want, they might just get what they need.

'Mixing echoes of Gibson, Tarantino and dance music into a jump cut, fast-forward remix, redRobe says more about the dangers facing our culture than most other contemporary novels...'