Tea from an Empty Cup [Paperback]

"Take it to the next level! Tea from an Empty Cup is hot, fast, and savagely in control, a voyage to a realm where everything's possible and anything goes, by an author who knows the difference between what's real and what matters. Crank it up, and play it loud." --Michael Swanwick
"Cadigan's first novel in five years exhibits the author's high-impact prose style, eminently suitable for a voyage into the world of high-tech SF." --"Library Journal"
"A tightly plotted, crisply written novel that fits the classic noir mystery template set down by the likes of Raymond Chandler more comfortably than anything William Gibson has ever written." --Andrew Leonard, "Salon "Magazine
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From ‘the queen of cyberpunk’ (Guardian), a vision of post-apocalyptic AR chic, mayhem and murder featuring the luckless Lieutenant Konstantin.

No matter the blood spilt in AR, surely a body is safe in the real world, you would think, while the game goes on. But Lieutenant Konstantin is looking for the RL killer/s of those sad AR junkies who end up dead in their suits.

In aesthetic pain, up against the latest thing in nervous systems, Konstantin will discover there’s no percentage in getting mad at a subroutine and no point substituting her real self for an avatar. She finally makes it into the heart of the deadly game but will she make it out again?

Junkies meanwhile are looking for another out door, the egress… to online immortality, the chance to be barbarian, vampire, wild-child, homunculus, evolved dragon – anonymity assured whatever the choice – for ever. If all they want is theme parks, no one can make them want anything more, but some players do indeed want more.

They want their world back: Japan. It crumbled beneath the sea in a series of earthquakes, leaving behind poignant memories in exile. With a unique grasp of ritual and the technology concerned, godlike full-Japanese surfers of NETsuke will stop at nothing to create New Japan.

While westerners think using garbage for culture is recycling, the Japanese are using Bunraku puppets to magical effect. Konstantin is in to something much deeper than she ever imagined. And so is the reader.

These are short quotes from reviews of the novel.
"...a damn good trip through a dangerous landscape to a satisfying conclusion ...An enviable accomplishment." -- Mark W Tiedemann in New York Review of Science Fiction

"...tight, ingenious, and very sharply written ... terrific texture and weight ... Cadigan proves to be as tricky as ever" - Gary K Wolfe in Locus

"...a sure winner" -- Science Fiction Chronicle

"Fast-paced and exciting, it's a wittily written cyberpunk thriller...Recommended." - Matrix (British SF Assocation Newsletter)

"...well constructed and often absorbing" - Kirkus Review

"What begins as a routine cyberspace mystery has, by the final chapters, become something altogether trickier." - Sunday Express

"Lucid, intelligent and eminently readable; Empty Cup would suggest that Cadigan's return is going to be a triumphant one." - Ariel, writing in Flux (Manchester)

"...pyrotechnic style and intensely detailed descriptions of cyberspace...This well-done example of cyberpunk noir detective fiction should especially appeal to fans of William Gibson." - Publishers Weekly

"a sharp reminder of why [Pat Cadigan] became one of the leading cyberpunk writers ... truly mythic resonances ... in the dream landscapes of her artificial worlds." -- Andrew Wilson, The Scotsman

"...high-impact prose style ... A good purchase for most sf collections." -- Library Journal

Luckless Lieutenant Konstantin is looking for the RL killers of some sad AR junkies who end up dead in their suits while on-line. She finds herself up against the latest thing in nervous systems and into something much deeper than she ever imagined – as deep as the ruins of Japan beneath the sea.

Japan was recently destroyed in a series of earthquakes. Now dispossessed Japanese surfers of the NETsuke, with a unique grasp of ritual and the technology concerned, will stop at nothing to create New Japan.

Konstantin finally makes it into the heart of the deadly game, but will she ever make it out again? Find out. Fast and funny, just reading this book generates a van der Graaf hairdo…

"Cadigan's vision of the future is both familiar and horrifying, and spellbinding as well."
NEW YORK REVIEW of 'Science Fiction'

"Cadigan has a talent for cutting right to the disturbing heart of her chosen subject, always from an unexpected angle."
TIME OUT

Born in Kansas, Pat Cadigan has for many years been a visitor lecturing on creative writing and the genre at British universities. She has been twice the winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award. She is married with one son.