Steve Aylett - Page 1
British Pbk Original - Gollancz (2004) |
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Karloff's Circus
Damnation - it takes as long as it takes
As an episode of Accomplice history comes to a close, the Circus of the Heart’s Shell transforms the town square into a venue for hellish clowning. Sweeney’s forces are closing in upon Barny from several directions ...
But is Dietrich right that humanity is more routinely evil than any mythical fright?
Will Fang be re-united with his zombie family?
What does doomed Eddie Gallo find outside Accomplice?
Will Gregor survive a boxing match with a slob demon?
Violaine’s prophecy comes to pass. The troops do something useful. Two living Steinway Spiders attack. Rudloe confronts the Conglomerate with his cowardice.
This may well be the Rosetta Stone of the four Accomplice books.
Reviews for the Accomplice novels:
‘A hugely impressive example of outrageous literary wit and uncommon good sense demonstrating that Aylett is the coolest writer alive today’ Starburst
‘A non-stop assault of gags, outright sick moments and sharp observations on human foibles. Bizarre and brilliant’ Dreamwatch
‘Endlessly entertaining bizarre pulp’ The Scotsman
| British Pbk Original - Gollancz (2002) |
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Dummyland
Accomplice Book 2
Accomplice: A casual fairy tale.
In Accomplice paranoia is an investment.
In the doll forge Maquette has woken to the flavour of wooden teeth plugs and decided to make a run for it, her clicking motions like surgery.
Gregor is gloomily considering his lifestyle. Five glad bugs on a bedspread, one disconsolate whimper and a head which has no particular shape.
Barny is still with Chloe Low and still hasn’t realised that because he annoyed the demon Sweeney he has become the motivating force for every recent atrocity in town.
And all the time Rakeman, a tumbleweed skeleton if ever there was one, is approaching Accomplice in search of a horizontal mirror to exit shrieking.
| Paperback - Gollancz (2003) |
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First British Edition Gollancz (2002) |
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The Velocity Gospel
Accomplice Book 2
Accomplice: A casual fairy tale.
A tropic of slack jawed nutters where Justice is as rare as a jelly fossil. Where angel refineries stand like gravestones and rotten hearts are piled in the sabotage yard. A home for the socket faced masses.
And Barny Juno. A man so desperate to get rid of Magenta Blaze, so that he can be with Chloe Low, that he’s willing to go to the shaman Beltane Carom for advice.
Obsessed by Chloe, Juno doesn’t realise that the demonic insect king Sweeney is after him again - sending the demon Skittermite to `aggravate him unto death’.
Using Mayor Rudloe’s latest drive towards a state of constant readiness, his root and branch review and clamour of ear-grinding excuses Skittermite plans to understand the way of things, blend in and imitate. Then the horror . . .
Accomplice: the literary equivalent of digging a shallow hole, doing a headstand in it and claiming you’re wearing the world as a hat.
`Comic-book imagery - like Jim Steranko on steroids - mingles with a noiriste’s worst nightmare . . . Distressingly brilliant’ Guardian
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First British Edition Gollancz (2002) |
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| Paperback - Gollancz (2002) |
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Only An Alligator
Accomplice Book 1
This is Accomplice. And you’re welcome to it.
A town which makes even you seem normal, Accomplice is a languid semi-tropical republic which roofs a world of conspiring demons.
The simple Barny, friend to chimps and lions, becomes the nemesis of a king demon and must tirelessly ignore the hordes of hell with the help of his friends and mortal enemies.
Is Barny actually any threat to anyone? Will the chefs turn everything to pasta? Where does all the blood go? What happened to Dumbar’s head? Is the moral fibre fake? What’s the secret of the Church of Automata? Who is Prancer Diego? What’s in Hunt’s chest? Who will clear away the floor lobsters?
A polychrome soap, a holographic puzzle, a philosophical trip, corrosive relief from the blandness of the times, the Accomplice books are above all an excuse to just hang around there.
Praise for Steve Aylett
`Wickedly funny futuristic pulp thriller: James Ellroy meets Terry Pratchett in cyberspace. The crime novel of the future, or a virtual reality instruction manual? As far away from Agatha Christie as you can go’ Daily Telegraph
`Steve Aylett knows gumshoe future-slang like Irvine Welsh knows swearwords. Initially his fast, culturally referential style leaves you gasping for air . . . but dive in and you’ll be dragged along . . . a terrific read, full of armoury-loving cops, dimension-travelling robbers and the pursuit of a precious totemic book. Like Dashiell Hammett scripting a story for 2000 AD space-girl Halo Jones, this is sci-fi for non-geeks’ The Face
| Paperback - Gollancz (2002) |
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First British Edition Gollancz (2001) |
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Toxicology
Here’s your chance to join Henry Blince as he cracks the waffle code, to party with Dogger and Hypnojerry, be honest with Terry Tantamount and crash with the rightfully angry Passenger.
Toxicology is a short story collection. Some of the stories are original to this collection, others are reprinted from magazines and anthologies. All are short (some very short). From the awe-inspiring imagery of Gigantic to the welcome irreverence of If Armstrong was Interesting these stories grandstand the talents that make Steve Aylett unique.
Featuring some stories set in Beerlight (including The Siri Gun which introduced a fearful world to Taffy Atom) and others set who only knows where, Toxicology is mostly satire with a few lighter pieces (including the Wodehouse satire Dread Honour) mixed in.
This edition includes some stories not included in the US edition.
`Toxicology is a potent, poisonous, post-cyberpunk cocktail of ultraviolence and outrage with a splash of Burroughs, a dash of Ballard, and a twist of Dick. The ideas are clever, the anger is justified, the prose is imaginative, and the dialogue is sharp’ Amazon.com
More Praise for Steve Aylett
'Aylett's prose is like poetry' Nicholas Royle, The Independent
`Steve Aylett is without doubt one of the most ambitious and talented new writers to emerge in England in recent years. While his work echoes the best of William Burroughs, it has the mark of real originality. It’s hip, cool and eloquent. It’s what Tom Wolfe would like to be. Aylett does effortlessly what others labour to achieve. He has a cold, accurate eye, a mocking wit and a black, playful angle of attack which has learned something from cyberpunk but has that smack of idiosyncrasy, that sense of exploring new territories, that laconic, confident humour which tells you that this is exactly the book you’ve been waiting for. Snap it up now. Before it snaps you’
Michael Moorcock
‘Riding the shirttails of Burroughs, with a touch of A Clockwork Orange and Irvine Welsh' Edge
'A five-way collaboration between Edward Lear, Ken Kesey, Philip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut and Damon Runyon. All human life is there ... and then some' Interzone
About The Author
Steve Aylett was born in Bromley in the late sixties. He left school at 17, worked in a book warehouse, and later in trade and law publishing - here he invented the concept of `fractal litigation’, whereby the flapping of a butterfly’s wings on one side of the world results in a massive compensation claim on the other.
His first book The Crime Studio, published in 1994, was generally regarded as a `cry for help’. This was followed by Bigot Hall, Slaughtermatic, The Inflatable Volunteer and Atom.
Steve Aylett has built up a massive cult following on both sides of the Atlantic and in 1998 was nominated for a Philip K Dick award.
His toured `Shroud’ show, during which he silently impersonated the Shroud of Turin, caused rage and impatience in clubland. His books and stories, including those appearing in the Disco Biscuits anthologies, have been translated into Spanish, Czech, Italian, French, Japanese, German, Russian and Greek.
Presently he lives in Brighton with his skeleton. If he were any more English he'd be dead.
Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.
Karloff's Circus
(Gollancz Pbk,
2004)
Pbk Feb 04
Dummyland
(Gollancz Pbk,
2002)
The Velocity Gospel
(Gollancz,
2002)
Gollancz Pbk Jan 03
Only An Alligator
(Gollancz,
2002)
Gollancz Pbk Jun 02
Toxicology
(Gollancz,
2001)
Gollancz Pbk Sep 02
Atom
(Phoenix House,
2000)
The Inflatable Volunteer
(Phoenix Pbk,
1999)
Slaughtermatic
(Phoenix House,
1998)
The Crime Studio
(Serif,
1994)
Indigo Pbk Jan 00
Bigot Hall
Karloff's Circus
WebPage: 
by Steve Aylett
