Sewer, Gas & Electric
Matt Ruff
560 pages
published in 1997
Imagine if you will, a mid-nineties update of the Illuminantus Trilogy in which the hippie-free-sex-and-drugs crap is taken out and replaced with cyberpunk-sex-drugs-and-ayn-rand, add in a mix of Clinto-era political obsessions (p.cness and all that) and you begin to get a little hint of what Sewer, Gas & Electric is about. It’s a gonzo science fiction novel written by someone you suspect isn’t in the least bit gonzo. It’s partially a parody, partially serious, but not hitting you over the head with how funny, serious or absurd it is supposed to be. It’s a big novel, as it should be, but you can read it in an afternoon or two.
If I’m not mistaken Sewer, Gas & Electric was one of the first ever books I ordered from Amazon, after Matt Ruff had turned up in rec.arts.sf.written and shown himself to be a decent bloke and interesting poster, with several others recommending his books. I read it for the first time sometine in 1998, liked it quite a lot, then forgot about it until I was once again in the mood to read something gonzo-ish and the Illuminantus Trilogy didn’t appeal.