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Photo by Rotislav Košt'ál
Praise • Reviews • Details • Order • Extras
Composed Partially by
Sampling, Splicing, Channeling
And Reverse Transcription
Paul Di Filippo's first published novel offers an entertaining mix of seemingly contradictory qualities. Fast-paced, yet recursively digressive. Hilarious, but poignant. Intellectually stimulating, and generously fleshed out by kinky sex. Ciphers turns paranoia inside out, rewriting history on a grand scale.
With Ciphers Di Filippo has undertaken a "thematic sequel" to Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. (No explicit continuation of characters or plot elements, but very much an homage in many respects.) Conspiracy theorists will find much to ponder between these covers, as will herpetologists and economists, religio-historians and pornstar wannabes. Over 500 pages of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll — and information theory!
"... the sort of novel where it turns out that a 3,000-year-old
Chinese hermaphrodite is ultimately responsible for everything from
AIDS to the death of Sid Vicious ... an impressive accomplishment."
—excerpted from a review in the Washington Post
BookWorld, December 28, 1997
"At the conclusion of this 500-page novel ... you may well feel as
I did: Wired, the pulse racing, like I'd done laps, like I wanna do
more. Hock my pearls for a Harley, ditch my laptop and run with the
wolves on wheels."
—excerpted from Carol
Ann Sima's review in Rain Taxi Vol 3, #1, Spring 1998
"Paul Di Filippo presents a wonderful successor to [Pynchon's
Gravity's Rainbow] ... Di Filippo fans know already his flair
for absurd alternate history. ... Di Filippo will remain sans
pareil."
—excerpted from
a
review in Nova Express #16, March 1998
"Ciphers is an exuberant meganarrative tour de force
... reading Ciphers is more like reading the humongous,
hyper, freewheeling, encyclopedic-minded and hep-voiced
first-and-favorite-phase Pynchon of V., The Crying of Lot
49, and Gravity's Rainbow than any other writer I know
...
"
—excerpted from Lance Olsen's
review
in the American Book Review
"Like many of his short stories, Paul Di Filippo's first novel,
Ciphers, brilliantly evokes the USA's counter-culture, where
the wild fringes of sf and other pulp genres, rock 'n' roll, comix
and conspiracy theory promiscuously miscegenate."
—excerpted from Paul J. McAuley's
review
in Interzone (#128)
"If you're into Di Filippo, rejoice, because they just don't come
any more Di Filippoian than this baby."
—Bruce Sterling
"With Ciphers, Paul Di Filippo has deconstructed three
riotous decades with momentous self-referentiality and wit. He's a
remarkable writer."
—Barry Malzberg
"Tilt-a-whirl, splice 'n' dice briomanic ... in the twisting
mirror we see our own true gaze. Take a look, but hang on."
—Kathe Koja
By Lance Olsen, American
Book Review
By Fiona Kelleghan,
Nova Express
By Paul J. McAuley,
Interzone
Ciphers was originally published in two acid-free-paper editions:
[OUT OF PRINT] a signed-&-numbered collector's hardcover, limited to 100 copies, Smythe-sewn, full-cloth, with full-color dustjacket and two cloth ribbon bookmarks (one for the novel, the other for the appendix);
[STILL AVAILABLE] a trade paperback, same cover art as the hardcover.
Both editions feature cover photography by Rostislav Košt'ál, and interior photographs by Andy Watson.
While supplies last, all direct orders for the above will include a
limited-edition temporary tattoo of the Ciphers "Dying Dragon" logo
(as described in the novel, one buttock of each member of an elite
crack team of carefully- selected, specially- equipped Wu Labs
employees carries this proud emblem).
You may order this book from Mark V. Ziesing.
Character genealogy chart
Regarding Gravity's
Rainbow
Feedback from readers