>>Nostalgia For Infinity

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“DON’T TALK TO HIM ABOUT THE WAR!!!”

As the discerning reader might observe from the opening line of this book’s blurb, quoted verbatim above, this is not a novel trading in subtle and elegant prose. No, Major Karnage is a shameless throwback to the days of pulp SF adventure.

Gord Zajac is a fiction editor for the Chiaroscuro webzine and writes for TV, including numerous cartoons for Cartoon Network. These two roles feed into Major Karnage in a very obvious way: the novel benefits from its author’s obvious versed familiarity with genre fiction and it is informed by a cartoonish sensibility. To whit: after a war to end all wars, the multinational Dabney corporation seizes global control of Earth and locks away all its war heroes. Fast forward a few years and the planet is a very different place, with odd flora and fauna spreading and a secret alien invasion underway.

The eponymous Major Karnage is incarcerated in a mental institution alongside a squad of soldiers with whom he shares an intense loyalty. Karnage is a soldier driven by rage and instinct and part of his rehabilitation involves a ‘sanity patch’ at the base of his neck. This device is rigged to explode if Karnage’s temperament escalates too far. This is something that happens a great deal after Karnage’s soldiers are alien-napped and he sets out to defeat the ‘squiggly’ menace from beyond the stars.

Zajac obviously revels in his thoroughly pulpish, tongue-in-cheek narrative and there’s a playful attitude throughout. Unfortunately, whilst humour is a major aspect of the novel, Major Karnage suffers from the problem of not being that funny. Mileage will always vary when it comes to jokes but the novel rarely drew out more than the wry smile of a shared joke. There are also weak long-running jokes, such as the colour-coded ‘sanity levels’ of Karnage’s patch: the penultimate level before his head is blown off being “Strawberry Shortcake”.

Structurally the novel is predictable, clinging to Karnage’s viewpoint with a few brief asides to see minor characters being written off. Whilst Karnage’s motives drive him forward convincingly, he spends a lot of time being knocked out or captured in order to get to where he needs to be. Although the book is pacey I found the first half significantly less interesting than the second, with too much time devoted to getting the plot moving and dropping a few guns on Chekov’s mantlepiece. And one last criticism should surely be pointed at the global dominance of the Dabney corporation: Disney doesn’t reflect the modern zeitgeist of controlling corporate greed any more, surely? We’re past the idea of an entertainment multinational controlling every aspect of our lives; nowadays it’s the internet giants lead by the mighty Google.

I found Major Karnage a moderately enjoyable read and as a first novel it’s a competent enough outing. Unfortunately it’s not a novel I would have persisted with were I not reviewing it. Had it proven funnier, more satirical or more gonzo then my conclusions might be different.

[This review originally published in Vector #265, the critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association. This version of the review was edited by Martin Lewis.]

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Del.icio.us links for October 19th through January 3rd… sorry, I forgot to do these posts for AGES AND AGES. It’s a huge morass of links o’ interest; sorry for not sorting them.

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Yup, I reviewed a DVD collection of one of Adult Swim’s dumbest comedies. Because I love it. It is deeply silly and a great deal of fun, and it was very strange to write a review of the show that treated it seriously. Still, I managed it, and you can read my review here.

I totally intend to get back on the music reviewage bandwagon soon, and also – ALSO! – hope to write a few bits of flash fiction to post up here. I suppose my promises sound a bit empty at this point but my good intentions are there, paving the road to hell.

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