Modernmoonman. Science Fiction book reviews.

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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Roller Coaster World

Roller Coaster World was written by Kenneth Bulmer and published in 1972.  It's a space romance with a heavy Aldous Huxley/Brave New World vibe, and the story of how sinner Douglas Marsden turns into a very reluctant Jesus-figure in a pleasure city on Parsloe's Planet, a nearby earth colony. Robots do all of the manual labor, so the population has unlimited free time to pursue things like sports, astrology, affairs, Exisensi ( interactive movies that play in your mind) and the 24-7 party.  They are also totally addicted to a speed-like stimulant called Parsloe's radiation, and are swiftly destroying the planet as they consume this limited resource.  Their cities on wheels score this radiation drug, leaving destruction in their wake.  The whole population is wired: they talk and do everything at incredible speeds, only sleeping two hours a day, and even then, they don't have to have their own dreams as a computer dreams for them.  It is through Marsden's struggle that Bulmer breathes life into his standard theme of transformation from drug-induced, artificial-exisensi, happy-slavery to a new frontier of drug-free, natural-reality, unhappy-freedom.   The women in here are pnumatic man eaters, so no happy hollywood ending is even remotely possible, only the "poor bastard" kind.  Regardless, this space romance is another good one from Bulmer.

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