Product Description
The sweet death of Coyote, master taxi driver, was only the first. Soon people are sneezing and dying all over Manchester. Telekinetic cop Sybil Jones knows that, like Coyote, they died happy - but even a happy death can be a murder. As exotic blooms begin to flower all over the city, the pollen count is racing towards 2000 and Sybil is running out of time. 'As weird as it is wonderful ...surprising in its subtlety and deftness of characterisation'. - "The Times". 'Great fun. Read it.' - "Mail on Sunday". 'A genuinely new flavour ...the first of the psychedelic cyberfantasists'. - Charles Shaar Murray, "Time Out". 'Jeff Noon's books are so good they should come with a government warning'. -Jockeyslut.Amazon.com Review
If you like challenging science fiction, then Jeff Noon is theauthor for you.

Pollen is the sequel to Vurt(winner of the 1994 Arthur C. Clarke award), and bothare concerned with a world in which dreams, drug-inducedhallucination, and reality become completely intermingled. In thisvolume, the dream world unleashes a pollen that threatens to causepeople in the real world to sneeze to death.

But no review can do Noon's writing justice: it's a phantasmagoriccombination of the more imaginative science fiction masters, such asPhillip K. Dick, genres such as cyberpunk and pulp fiction, and drug culture.

If you would like a more accessible approach to Jeff Noon's richlyimagined world, Irecommend AutomatedAlice, a modern recasting of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Silly to stupid to absurd... to trash bin
Pollen simply gets an extra star for originality, which may be the only redeeming quality in this steaming fantasy heap of half-dog, half-corpse, half-something and another half-of-whatever-the-hell-Jeff-Noon-wants. The cover of the book said NOTHING of being a sequel to any of Noon's other work. I, the consumer and reader, was misled by thinking that this was a stand-alone novel. Upon reading the first few chapters I was inundated by proper nouns which I had no reference to. I tried to understand but I was obviously not on the 'same page' as the author's thinking. I tried to swallow the sill ideas when they appeared on the second page... I tried to laugh it off hoping it'd be metaphorical. Then the heap of strangeness morphed into a pile of stupid and finally burst from its crap cocoon into an absurd butterfly... which left me confused and shaking my head in disbelief that I thought this was a SF novel. I should have known that the ideas were crackpot before I opened the book since Noon is compared to Philip K. Dick, who I think is a juvenile author or some pretty crappy SF. He's not my cuppa tea nor is Noon my cup of tea. Serious SF fans should stay away from Noon, who should never be compared to authors like William Gibson. Noon's Vurt is a s**tty comparison to the virtual reality presented in most of Gibson's novels. Most importantly, Gibson's novels don't have pedophilia or necrophilia or any other activity which Noon finds so entertaining that he must include it in his stupidity-heap.

A True Cyberpunk Novel
This is the first book by Jeff Noon I've read; I now consider myself a fan.

This is a book that I would classify as one of the 'truer' cyberpunk books out there. What I mean by that is the setting in Noon's book plays a central role in the story itself. Make no mistake this isn't some romance, western or sleuth story thrown in a cyberpunk setting. This story could not be told in any other world but the one Noon created. What I like so much about this story is that Noon explores the implications of his hybrid technological/drugged-up setting through the viewpoints of not only his characters but the society in which they reside and through the story itself. Indeed all three of these elements are symbiotically linked to the weird and unique world Noon has created. It's great to read a cyberpunk book where the cyberpunk elements actually ENHANCE the story being told.

Another wonderful thing that Noon considers in his story is the concept of balance. In particular, characters with unhuman strengths also have great frailties. Genuine fragilities. Noon puts his characters into situations where their 'strengths' become completely benign or detrimental, while their 'weaknesses' become strengths. Noon understands when you merge a dream world with reality, rules and balance are needed to maintain the literary strength of your story. Without rules, powers go unchecked and the characters have no real conflicts. Noon does an excellent job of making his setting TRULY interesting because he respects the rules he lays out for his story and thus maintains an idea of consistency in his plot and characters.

Lastly, I love the prose and punctuation Noon uses in this book. It is rare that an author can pull off a first-person perspective that actually enhances the story. I believe Noon did this very well indeed. Even though the perspective bounces around a bit--and some of the transitions are a bit rough--Noon does a noteworthy job of handling his first-person perspectives. Noon's artistically rhythmic use of punctuation fits in perfectly with the tone of the book; and his use of simple but VERY effective vocabulary make even the most stream-of-conscience sequences easily readable. Despite the extreme setting and ideas present in this book, Noon's mastery of the English language makes this work much more timeless than less-risque works in science fiction.

Normally, I am a very harsh critic of science fiction; but Noon's work I believe to be truly exceptional. Not only are his ideas really unique and interesting, he fully explores the implications of his ideas. Also, Noon is a wordsmith. No, he doesn't rip out the fifteen letter words for even the most benign conversations. Noon is a master of simple and effective language that is riddled with subtlety. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I can't wait to get my hands on Noon's other works.

excellent futuristic book
Pollen is the sequel to Noon's most known book Vurt.The madness of the Vurt drug is spreading and our dreams and becoming alive and are ready to take over the world.
Noon's book oozes sex, heroism and psychedelia and won't disappoint.I really love Noon's work.

novel
i gave this book as a gift to my teenage brother and he really enjoyed it!

Not my favorite book by Jeff Noon
This is the third Jeff Noon book I've read, the others Vurt and Nymphomation both taking place before this one. While I enjoyed the vivid writing style of the book and the expansion on the shadow theme from Vurt I was let down by the characters which didn't feel as fleshed out as in the prior books.The character of Boda, in particular, which is an enigmatic ball of love and hate, really showing the most emotion of any character in the book, never has the reasons behind her emotions revealed.The mystery behind her character was the main thread that grabbed my interest through the beginning of the book and the lack of resolution of that mystery left me dissatisfied. This isn't meant to discourage any potential readers as overall the story is well paced and immensely imaginative.I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Vurt but urge anyone who hasn't read any of Jeff Noon's work to start with Vurt or Nymphomation first as a good deal of the background as well as some minor characters draw from these books and benefit from some prior exposure. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (20)

excellent book
Noon's Vurt is one of my all time favorite books.Nymphomation is a prequel of sorts to Vurt, which explains what led to the dreamdrug-world obsessed universe of Vurt.

PLAY TO WIN!
After reading Vurt I wanted to know more about the world of dystopian Manchester. Many things are not explicitily explained in Vurt such as Vaz, and the origin of the Vurt feathers.Nymphomation steps in and answers these mysteries (sort of). What I liked about Vurt and Nympho was that Jeff Noon explains the basic properties of some of these items while still leaving enough to the readers imagination and their own interpreation.

On to Nymphomation.While this book is not as good as Vurt (a hard act to follow) Nympho is good in its own right.Interesting characters, imaginitively written, you really can't go wrong with this book. I think Nympho actually borderlines Bizarro fiction rather than Cyberpunk/Sci-fi. But if you like hard cypberpunk and Sci-Fi you should still check this one out. If Amazon allowed half-star ratings this would be easily a 4 1/2 , with Vurt being a full 5. Read Vurt first though!

On a side note, I actually learned quite a bit about basic Chaos Theory from reading this book, while not explicitily spelled out as such. The ideas are there if you look for them (and sometimes when you don't).

Science (?) Fiction
Nymphomation takes place in a dystopic futureversion of Manchester, England, where the populace is in thrall to strange new lottery based on dominos. It's a bleak place where anything and everything is corporate-sponsored, including the schools and the cops, and the air is filled with bio-mechanical advert bugs called blurbflies. A group of renegade mathematicians and hackers thinks there's something fishy about the whole domino system and especially the so-called jealousy killings of lottery winners, so they decide to try to break the system. Sounds like a good idea, no? But...

I have really mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand it has a really great premise, some cool characters, a interesting and well developed backdrop and a writing style which is very modern, flashy, playful and fun to read, but (and this is a very big 'but') it's just not believable. Noon's trying to write science fiction, and he gets the fiction part really down pat, but he totally fumbles on the science, which makes it almost painful to read at times.

There are all kinds of things that are just inexplicable, (or maybe just badly explained), the main one being the blurbflies and their weird reproductive abilities, but all of the computer and hacking stuff seems like it was written by someone who doesn't have clue about computers and sounds almost magical rather than technological.

So I guess I'd have to give it a C. The writing really is quite fun, but the fakey-ness of all the science bits is just too much.

jeff noon is always worthwhile
Noon has the best writing style I've come across in this whole 'cyberpunk' genre (or whatever people are calling it these days).His plots and environments are always very imaginative and he breathes a good deal of culture and life into his novels.Instead of focusing on overly-wordy descriptions of computer hardware and jacking-into-the-virtual-cyber-realm-via-the-com-link type thing that too many other authors fall victim to; Noon instead comes up with very different and surreal means of involving future technology and culture.Nymphomation wasn't as good as Vurt in my opinon, but, it was still an excellent read.Noon's writing has frequently inspired me to get up and do something creative.

never read this
This is possibly the WORST book that I have ever read! This phenominally badly written book is packed with obviously out of touch attempts to key into areas of youth culture. Cliched and naive imagery and dialogue somehow detract from a simplistic and uninventive narrative. It is predictable, boring and entirely uninteresting. Never read this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

disappointing
"Falling out of cars" has all of Jeff Noon's usual surrealism, dislocation and sense of alienation.It's fast-moving and, to a degree, gripping.It's reminiscent of a David Lynch movie.As the back-cover blurb says, this is a novel that refuses to resolve itself, and you will find this either irritating or perfectly appropriate.I have to say that it didn't work for me as well as some of Noon's other novels: "Vurt" and "Pollen", in particular.The main character has too little hope, no connection to place and only the loosest sort of personal connections.All that is appropriate to the endemic sickness of the world described, but it makes it hard for the reader to connect to the story in a meaningful way.One of Jeff Noon's strengths as a SF writer is that he never over-explains, but instead leaves the reader to come to grips with his bizzare worlds by experiencing them through the story.In "Falling out of cars", though, that goes a little too far for my tastes.The reader is never offered so much as a moment of explanation for why all this (the schizophrenic disease plaguing England and, presumably, the world) is happening or what it means for the rest of the world. ... Read more

Product Description
Vurt is a feather--a drug, a dimension, a dream state, a virtual reality. It comes in many colors: legal Blues for lullaby dreams. Blacks, filled with tenderness and pain, just beyond the law. Pink Pornovurts, doorways to bliss. Silver feathers for techies who know how to remix colors and open new dimensions. And Yellows--the feathers from which there is no escape. The beautiful young Desdemona is trapped in Curious Yellow, the ultimate Metavurt, a feather few have ever seen and fewer still have dared ingest. Her brother Scribble will risk everything to rescue his beloved sister. Helped by his gang, the Stash Riders, hindered by shadowcops, robos, rock and roll dogmen, and his own dread, Scribble searches along the edges of civilization for a feather that, if it exists at all, must be bought with the one thing no sane person would willingly give.
Amazon.com Review
If you like challenging science fiction, then Jeff Noon is theauthor for you. Vurt, winner of the 1994 Arthur C. Clarkeaward, is a cyberpunk novel with a difference, a rollicking, dark, yethumorous examination of a future in which the boundaries betweenreality and virtual reality are as tenuous as the brush of a feather.

But no review can do Noon's writing justice: it's a phantasmagoriccombination of the more imaginative science fiction masters, such asPhillip K. Dick, genres such as cyberpunk and pulp fiction, and drug culture.

If this tickles your fancy, you should definitely consider the sequelto Vurt, Pollen, orNoon's lighter and more accessible AutomatedAlice, a modern recasting of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (103)

Sorry.Just not for me.
I can't say you won't like it.I CAN say I didn't.

I won't go into a long summary of the plot or anything.I thought I did my research (I love reading Amazon reviews), but apparently I didn't read enough reviews to know that this book has characters who are genetically "dogmen".Now, I'm ok with werewolves, but this was just corny.Cheeseball.Dorked out.You get the idea.

One other thing I didn't like...Some authors really take the time to introduce you to new concepts.They slowly paint the world for you.Let you get familiar with it.Not Noon.You are thrown into this world.Wham!Sorry if you don't know what the Vurt is, you'll figure it out around page 50.I give every book 100 pages to make or break it.By page 100, I was enough into this one to finish it out.But the first 40 or 50 pages are tough -- at least they were for me.Those of you who like to jump right in, this might be for you.

Otherwise, it is what you would expect from Matrix, Total Recall, yada yada.Just a little bit trashier, cornier, blah, blah.

Hate to sound so negative.I really wish I could recommend this.I will say, I got a few compliments on the cover art.

Ciao.

Wake Up!(or at least create your own Vurt)
Break your head open.You know you want to.Noon's staccato, simplistic writing style lends to the frenetic pace of this modern metaphysical classic.A delightfully unique take on the potentials (and pitfalls) of traveling along other planes of consciousness...and a hoot to read!

Derivative, uninteresting, and annoyingly nonsensical
What cyberpunk looks like when it's jumped the shark. So stupid and bad that whenever I picked it up it put me in an irritable mood.

I'm not likely to waste more time on any other books by Noon.

Not Free SF Reader
Vurt is just not very good. When you look at what William Gibson, Pat Cadigan, Walter Jon Williams and others have done with this sort of thing, or even going back further, this is very disappointing.

Alternate reality via drugs and all is perhaps missing the point at little, at this point. Plenty of other cyberpunk tales to read before you need to waste your time with this one.

Vurtual feathers
Vurt is an odd beast. I found it hard to start with, but soon the world had sucked me in. In futuristic Manchester those looking for hallucinogenic experiences suck on feathers to enter virtual worlds, Vurts. Stash Riders, a bunch of miscellaneous losers, hunt for interesting feathers and try to find Desdemona, who got stuck in a bad Vurt.

Noon has cooked up a futuristic and surrealistic world. The language is colourful and takes some getting used to. The world isn't explained thoroughly; some readers will certainly find Vurt too strange a feather to swallow. However, if you can accept that the world doesn't always make sense, the story moves on with a good pace and the plot is interesting.

Vurt isn't the easiest and most accessible book, but it's worth the effort. If you like it, there's more: Noon has written several books set in the same vurtual world. ... Read more

Product Description
From the breakdown zones of the mediasphere and the margins of dance culture comes a selection of fifty stories, each one strange, telling, disturbing, or sometimes just plain weird: urban fairytales, instructions for lost machines, true confessions, word-dizzy roller-coasters, product recalls, adverts for mad gadgets, dub cut prose remixes. Throughout them all, Jeff Noon delights in the magical possibilities of language, creating a wholly new kind of storytelling. Ideas-per-page rating, dangerously close to the legal limit ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Probably the best.... *thing* Noon has ever written
Pixel Juice is a collection of 50 short stories, all pulled screaming from the swirling psychadelicatessen that is Jeff Noon's brain. Actually, "stories" isn't right; certainly, some of them are straight narrative tales, but then there's the instruction booklet to "PIMP! - The Boardgame", (social satire disguised as a family game) or the memo titled "Product Recall: Marylin Monroe" (which combines futuristic sex toys with strange viruses). Noon uses just about every narrative construct under the sun: stream-of-conciousness, first-second-and-third person perspectives; poetry, prose, letters, journals - all are used by Noon to transcribe the apparently endless flood of ideas which collect in his brain.

Pixel Juice also rewards those who re-read the book; there are word games which ring a big smug smile to the face when they're figured out (see how quickly you decipher "Metaphorazine" or "Alphabox"). There are references between stories; the young lad in "Junior Pimp" mentions that pimping is just like a game - tying in to "PIMP! - The Boardgame". That story makes reference to "Fetish Booth #7" and the lead character of FB #7 is mentioned in several of the other tales. Things like this keep the reader darting back through the book and smiling every time they spot a connection. Heck, there's even a poem towards the end of the book which sums up the stories so far and takes the mick out of the author! Everywhere you turn, there's a surprise an a twist, from the almost conventional horror story to the dreamlike beginning and end tales.

And contrary to what some have said, prior knowledge of Noon's other work isn't entirely neccessary. Although there are some stories which are set firmly in the Vurt universe, it's pretty easy for the reader to catch up with what's happening.

more if i could
This book just blew me away. I think it is the most astounding piece of writing it has ever been my privilege to read. To be honest, I think that it probably benefits from reading a bit of Noon's stuff previously, as itgives you some background information on characters that you have metalready, which is always nice. But it does so much more than that. The waythat at the end of a story, he might tell the whole thing again, but inhaiku, is just an example of his wordplay, with a word used as much forit's rhythm and feel as for it's actual definition.

I hate short stories.Can't abide them, even by my favourite authors. They are normally souninvolving, only trying to shock you, because it's the easiest emotion toinspire. Not so with this. I can't extol the virtues of this book enough.Read this book or die.

wide.

Always interesting - probably best for Noon fans
I love what Noon does with words - dub haiku remixes and all that. This book is an really interesting view into his world - you can see the ideas germinating on every page.

If you haven't read any of Noon's work try his novel's first to see if you like his style - it's brilliantly unique.

Spaceache and heartships!
The first half of the book contains some very short stories. So short that they are almost experiments with words - notto everyones taste but fans of Vurt and Pollen will get a idea of where Jeff Noons amazing prose comesfrom.

The second half of the book couldn't be more different. Storyfollows story set in the Vurt universe that gradually draw you in. We get aglimpse of Celia Hobart starting out on her great journey, Shadow cops andShadows mix and jeff Noons fantastic writing grips you to the end.

Ienjoyed the humour and inventiveness of this book and would recommend itfans and non-fans alike.

Read Me Said The Label
Anyone familiar with vurt, pollen etc. won't be diappointed by pixel juice. Not really a selection of short stories, more a set of fragmented, interleaved novels, this book is is a real treat. Noon is managing tocreate a world that hangs together on its own internal logic, and not a lotelse. If some other fiction writers had a tenth of his ideas then we mightbe spared the next creaking 7 book sci-fi epic serial. ... Read more

Product Description
A stunningly skewed reworking of Lewis Carroll's classic from award-winning cyberpunk novelist Jeff Noon.Amazon.com Review
Jeff Noon's previous novels, Vurt andPollen, have attracted a cultfollowing with their psychedelic science fiction creation of the realm of"Vurt"--a region defined by illusion, dream and drug-inducedfantasy. Noon has now decided to link up with an imaginative precursor byintroducing LewisCarroll's Alice as the protagonist in a new adventure that draws onCarroll's through-the-looking-glass inversions of reality, and adds a JeffNoon menace and edginess absent from Carroll's Wonderland. Alice findsherself in 1998 Manchester when she enters an old grandfather clock, and soonbecomes the prime suspect in the puzzling "Jigsaw Murders." Noonemulates Carroll's crazy wordplay throughout, and even adds his ownillustrations inspired by those of John Tenniel, thefamous interpreter of Alice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (29)

Good Idea but Poor Delivery
Alice, of Wonderland fame, is visiting her Great Aunt Ermintrude and very unwisely lets her parrot, Whippoorwill, out of his cage. Whippoorwill flies into the grandfather clock, and Alice (dragging her doll Celia with her) climbs in after him but ends up in the future--1998 to be exact. The future is populated by people that are mixed breeds of animal and human, and is ruled by the frightening Civil Serpents. To return to her own time, Alice (and her now automated doll, Celia), must find Whippoorwill, her missing jigsaw puzzle pieces, solve the Jigsaw Murder of which she's been falsely accused and hopefully, discover the proper usage of the ellipses.

While Automated Alice promises much in it's early chapters, Noon is unable to deliver more than the occasional clever wordplay. The plot is unfulfilling, almost contrived at points. He tries hard to create the same bizarre feel that Carroll's books have, but is unsuccessful; instead Automated Alice feels frantic and unintelligible. The idea was great, but the delivery was poor.

good idea, poorly executed
Automated Alice as a sequel to the Lewis Carroll Alice books is an excellent idea, but unfortunately a poorly executed one.The plot is overly simplistic and the alternate world Noon describes is flat and never truly came to life.Noon does conceive of many strange creatures and landscapes, yet his descriptions are facile and never succeed in drawing the reader in to the world he is striving to create.

Noon tries very hard to make the his descriptions incongruous and intriguing, very hard to make Alice and her dialogue quirky and funny - so hard in fact that the reader can spot the joke (so called) from a mile away and is left trudging through page after page of obvious and uninteresting tedium.The word play, while somewhat clever, is excessively used, and really comes across as repetitive self indulgence on the part of the author as though he were saying "Ho ho, look at me, I'm so clever" to a group of 6 year olds.An author shouldn't have to tell us he is clever - show us!

I wanted to like this book.I loved the concepts.That's the problem - Noon's ideas are good in theory, but as the execution plays out it is extremely disappointing.

What an amusing book!
Jeff Noon has done a decent job of writing what could easily be consided a third "Alice" book.

Instead of having Alice travel to Wonderland, Noon places her in a very bizarre "modern day" Manchester. Now, having never been to Manchester, I can't say for sure that it is not like what Alice encounters, but let's just say that I'm pretty sure it's not.

Regardless, the whole book was oodles of fun, and I was quite sorry to see it end.

The Trequel
Jeff Noon wrote this amazingly entertaining and imaginative book as a trequel to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Alice suddenly finds herself transported to 1998 Manchester and becomes the prime suspect in the Jigsaw Murders, as she tries to gather the pieces and find her way back home to her own time and reality. As she is escorted on her journey by Celia, an automated version of herself, she makes the acquaintance of many strange creatures, all suffering from Newmonia (not to be mistaken for pneumonia). In true Carroll fashion, Noon uses crazy wordplay throughout often confusing not only the fictitious characters, but the unsuspecting reader as well. I found this book very delightful!

A Sweet Treacle...I Mean...Trequel...erm
If you've read any other Jeff Noon, you'll realise there are a ton of 'Alice' references in his writing.Being a BIG fan of Carroll's stories I enjoy picking up on these, and when I saw Noon had written a follow-up to Carroll's Alice stories, I was admittedly wary, but intrigued.
Clearly the reviewer who wrote a wonderfully detailed review three sentences long has no idea who Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson was, or any concept of use of nonsensical verse, and probably not much appreciation for any sort of wordplay.Honey, you're missing out.
'Automated Alice' is a lovely tied-in sidetrack to the worlds of 'Vurt' and Noon's other novels.If you like either Noon or Carroll (or even better and highly probable - BOTH), chances are you'll like this.It's playful, very funny, and means only well.Don't overanalyze it, or take it too seriously - it's a fun read, and particularly good if you want to kill an hour but not with anything heavy-hitting that requires a high degree of cranial chewing.That's not to say there's nothing to analyze, but you don't have to to enjoy it.After all, that's what fiction's for.
I'm sure if Carroll was alive, he'd have a chuckle at this one. ... Read more

Product Description
After years of playing in two-bit bands, Elliot gets his big chance - he meets a singer, a DJ and a drummer who seem to have everything. But just as their first dance record is climbing the charts, one of the band disappears. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Food for the brain: Creative systems poetry
First of all, I hope this gets back into print soon. Also, there are at least two different covers, the one not shown above being a nice illustration.

This is a book that has grown on me over time, and today I'm very glad I kept it around. It's the kind I often return to to read a short section, a single "poem", which leaves me sitting lost in thought for a while.

These are unusual poems that can be seen in their various stages of life, each equally presented as a final piece. Like a computer program or a DJ processing a sample of sound, a text snippet is passed through various filters and processes that re-arrange, sometimes wildly, the content to create various stages of the poems evolution. These are not just the output of some computer randomizer however, the processes are to my mind much more creative and human than could be achieved by software. Some do things like mix up all the words which is fairly easy, but others do things like "Find A Story" from a jumble of words, which obviously involves a lot more decision making and creativity from the author.

Just as in modern music samples, the source material covers a huge range, from serious literature such as Shakespeare, to pedestrain things like "things that happened to Jeff Noon today". The results are always amazing and inspiring, both for the actual content, creativity and beauty in the text, as well as the concepts used for types of manipulation.

This is one of the most creatively inspiring books i own, from someone very interested in poetry, systems processing, modern art, modern music, deconstruction, etc.

The process behind the products
Jeff Noon is a wonderful writer. Shades of Haruki Murakami by way of early Jonathan Lethem (and others), his sharply pointed science fiction-like stories and novels are deliciously active idea demons and concept farmers. In Cobralingus, Noon introduces those familiar with his work -- it is not the best introduction to Noon by any means -- to a game that writers can use to recombine disparate texts, apply a set of rules, and develop outlet texts that read like some of the most imaginative skiffy out there -- even if they're mutations of pre-existing texts.

After explaining the game's process and offering a key to the rules, what Noon terms "filter gates," the writer serves up 10 example stories, starting with the original, or inlet, text -- and stepping through the process until the resulting outlet text arrives. It's a fascinating, albeit occasionally confusing and mind-bending process, but the end results are wonderful. At the end, Noon divulges his source texts, which range from a 1591 madrigal to a BBC shipping forecast transmitted in 1999.

This is a book for readers, but it is also a book for writers. The text -- and the game -- made me want to write. And should I develop writers block, I now have a new game-like process I can use to get back on the horse and ride.

Words Like Music
This is an experiment...Cobralingus shows you behind the secret door where Noon recreates the modern novel. It is an instruction manual, a poetry book, an art book, a short story collection, and more all in one sleek designer package.

Remember, reading Jeff Noon makes you happy.

remixing for text
"Cobralingus" was my introduction to Noon's work...the processes he used to remix/process text are a bit "fuzzy" compared to the well documented algorithms used by the Oulipo writers...but his techniques yield some very nice pieces and have enticed me to check out his other work...

Words like music
Best for fans on Noon's who like him not only for Vurt, but for the way he likes to play with language and music.A bit pretentious at first, it may take a while to appreciate it's beauty.He challenges conventional notions of literture, but who hasn't?Luckily, he starts with an idea that is still original which seems to be based on his own desire to explore the bounds of language. ... Read more

Product Description
From the breakdown zones of the mediasphere and the margins of dance culture comes a selection of 50 stories. These stories range from urban fairytales, instructions for lost machines, true confessions, product recalls, adverts for mad gadgets and dub cut prose remixes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Fantastic
This book is a collection of fifty short stories.And what stories.Never has such an unstoppable flow of imagine been unleashed within in a simgle book.Every story is a gem to be slowly relished.

The bookreminded me of the Roald Dahl, "Kiss", etc. books from mychildhood.Quirky, memorable stories.

Please, please, please can we havesome more.

more if I could
This book just blew me away.I think it is the most astounding piece of writing it has ever been my privilege to read.

To be honest, I think that it probably benefits from reading a bit of Noon's stuff previously, as itgives you some background information on characters that you have metalready, which is always nice.But it does so much more than that.Theway that at the end of a story, he might tell the whole thing again, but inhaiku, is just an example of his wordplay, with a word used as much forit's rhythm and feel as for it's actual definition.

I hate short stories. Can't abide them, even by my favourite authors.They are normally souninvolving, only trying to shock you, because it's the easiest emotion toinspire.Not so with this. I can't extol the virtues of this book enough. Read this book or die.

wide. ... Read more

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Chapters: Jeff Noon, Eric Stewart, Harry Pollitt, Thomas Jollie, Allan Roberts, Howard Donald, Brian Green, Jack White, Phil Picken, Eric Evans, Cyril Lord. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 50. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Eric Stewart (born Eric Michael Stewart, 20 January 1945, Droylsden, near Manchester, England) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer most known for his tenure with The Mindbenders in the 1960s, and 10cc from 1972 to 1995. In 1968 he became a co-owner of Strawberry Studios in Stockport, England, where he developed skills as a recording engineer and record producer. His involvement in Strawberry was instrumental in the eventual formation of 10cc. He collaborated with Paul McCartney on three McCartney albums between 1982 and 1986, has recorded three solo albums and released Viva La Difference in 2009. Stewart was invited to join local band Jerry Lee and the Staggerlees, which after a year changed its name to the Emperors of Rhythm. Stewart remained with the band for two years and was at the Oasis club in Manchester in early 1963 on the evening that Wayne Fontana had an audition with a record company representative. Wayne Fontana's drummer and guitarist did not turn up for the audition and Wayne asked Eric and drummer Ric Rothwell if they would 'sit in' for the audition. After a few minutes rehearsal, the quartet played three well known songs of the time. Wayne Fontana was offered a record deal on condition that the musicians who played at the audition formed the band. Wayne Fontana's band was called The Jets, but due an existing band using the name, an alternative name had to be sought - it was decided that the band would take the name "The Mindbenders", which was the name of a film on release at the time - Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders the...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2476298 ... Read more

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This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Vurt, Nymphomation, Needle in the Groove, Automated Alice, Pollen. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Nymphomation is a novel by British author Jeff Noon, first published in 1997. In terms of publishing history Nymphomation is the 4th novel in Noon's 'Vurt' series, following publication of Vurt (1993), Pollen (1995) and Automated Alice (1996) (itself simultaneously a 'trequel' to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass), though being set predominantly in 1999 it can be considered properly as a prequel to Vurt: in terms of fictional chronology of characters and settings the Vurt sequence runs Automated Alice, Nymphomation, Vurt then finally Pollen. Nymphomation tells the story of a lottery in Manchester and a group attempting to crack the secrets of that lottery, but it also sets the background for much of the mythology found in Noon's previous novels. The AnnoDomino Company has been granted a 12-month trial period to run a lottery in Manchester, before rolling it out across the rest of the country should it prove successful. The head of the company is the mysterious character known only as Mr Million. Adult players are able to purchase dominoes displaying two constantly changing numbers for one puny each. Once a week these numbers will solidify, at the same time as that weeks winning numbers are displayed on television by Lady Cookie Luck and presenter Tommy Tumbler. The one person whose domino exactly matches wins 10 million; those holding half-matches wins 100 punies. Anyone who wins with a double-six becomes the new Mr Million; anyone who wins with a double-blank will win the 'Joker Bone'. The air of Manchester is alive with the sound of blurbflies: organic/mechanic creations of the AnnoDomin...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=6508429 ... Read more

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This digital document, covering the life and work of Jeff Noon, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 1022 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Product Description
This digital document is an article from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, published by Review of Contemporary Fiction on March 22, 2002. The length of the article is 952 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Jeff Noon. Cobralingus.(Brief Article)
Author: David Ian Paddy
Publication: The Review of Contemporary Fiction (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2002
Publisher: Review of Contemporary Fiction
Volume: 22Issue: 1Page: 146(1)

Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article

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