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KAMIKAZE L'AMOUR by Richard Kadrey

KAMIKAZE L'AMOUR

by Richard Kadrey

Pub Date: June 1st, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-13100-3
Publisher: St. Martin's

Near-future sex-drugs-rock-'n'-roll extravaganza and hardcover debut for the author of Metrophage (1987). Somehow, the Amazon jungle has spread rapidly northward and now occupies much of California. At the turn of the century, rock star Ryder, wearying of all that fame, money, and adulation, fakes his own death and heads for San Francisco, now a tiny oasis surrounded by steaming jungle. Living off his accumulated wealth, Ryderhe suffers from synesthesia: sounds appear as psychedelic visions; not that his condition makes much difference to anythinghires the unctuous Virilio as his gofer. When Ryder requests lithium, Virilio supplies psychoactives instead. And Ryder also meets Frida, a waitress and musician attempting to chart Songlines in the rampant jungle. Virilio, having recognized Ryder, urges him to go to Los Angeles, where Ryder's old agent, Nikki, hopes to sign him to a new contract. Ryder, however, is content to potter around with Frida's jungle recordingsuntil, after her apartment is robbed and trashed, Frida disappears. So Virilio and Ryder head for LA, where Ryder will be guided by a jungle shaman to rediscover Frida and get his head together. Vividly presented, with lots of flashy special effects and musicological blather, but of true substance there is none. Still, might impress the sf/rock-'n'-roll crowd.