DEAD BOYS

Sequel to last year's Dead Girls, Calder's cyberpunksplatterpunkish near-future novel about robot vampire females, or Lilim. Iggy Zwalch, a carrier of the virus that transforms girls into Lilim, is addicted to Lilim-sex; and though his lover, Primavera, is dead, he's hacked out her reproductive organs and keeps them preserved in a jar. When in need of sex, he takes the organs out and chews on them to get a jolt of Lilim- pheromones. Iggy hangs out in a Bangkok bar, hectoring his fellow- drinkers, reflecting upon his bizarre sexual appetites, and wondering whether he's actually turning into something else: one of the sexless, fanged angels known as Elohim. Meanwhile, in the future, Dagon, the Elohim into whom Iggy may be turning, rapes/interrogates/tortures to death a Lilim called Vanity, who may or may not be Iggy's daughter. Vanity somehow communicates her experiences to Iggy, the explanation being that the future is invading and corrupting the past. A thoroughly unpleasant piece of business—exhibitionistic, disgusting, misogynistic, and pointless: Standard splatterpunk (K.W. Jeter, for instance, or S.P. Somtow) looks quite jolly by comparison.