Only forward
tark lives in Colour, a neighbourhood whose inhabitants like to be co-ordinated with their surroundings – a neighbourhood where spangly purple trousers are admired by the walls of buildings as you pass them. Close by is Sound, where you mustn’t make any, apart from one designated hour a day when you can scream your lungs raw. Then there’s Red – get off at Fuck Station Zero if you want to see a tactical nuclear battle recreated as a sales demonstration. Stark has friends in Red, which is just as well because Something is about to happen. And when a Something happens it’s no good chanting ‘Duck and cover’ while cowering in a corner, because a Something is always from the past, Stark’s past, and it won’t go away until you face it full on.
Stats for nerds
5recommend
5mentions
5people
2016–2022years
100% recommend
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- A few favourites, in no particular order: - Iain M. Bank's Culture series, particularly Player of Games - Vernor Vinge's Rainbow's End - Michael Marshall Smith's Only Forward
- I’ve read Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith. It stuck in my mind the same way that Vurt did. I still think about the man with no head sometimes, and the idea of a road being different when you’re going the other way on it.
- "Only Forward" by Michael Marshall Smith. Unexpected.
- I've read Neuromancer and Snow Crash about once a year for nearly 20 years.
Michael Marshall Smith's early sci-fi books, Only Forward and Spares, have also had many re-reads.
- You should read "Only Forward" by Michael Marshall Smith. He seems to be fairly unknown, but I love his work. Based on your descriptions I think you would too.
