Sunday 17 June 2012

Did anyone read 'Glimmering' last time round?

A copy of Elizabeth Hand's 'Glimmering' arrived the other day courtesy of Underland Press; not something that I'd normally devote a whole post to (apart from the occasional 'book haul' posts) but the fact that it had already been published, back in 1997, caught my eye. Apparently, this edition has been newly revised by the author but I've still got to ask... Did anyone read 'Glimmering' last time round? What did you think?

For those of you who haven't here's the cover art and blurb...


It’s 1999 and the world is falling apart at the seams. The sky is afire, the oceans are rising—and mankind is to blame. While the spoils of the 20th Century dwindle, Jack Finnegan lives on the fringes in his decaying mansion, struggling to keep his life afloat and his loved ones safe while battling that most modern of diseases—AIDS.

As the New Millennium approaches, Jack’s former lover, a famous photographer reveling in the world's decay, gifts him with a mysterious elixir called
Fusax, a medicine rumored to cure the incurable AIDS. But soon, the "side effects" of Fusax become more apparent, and Jack gets mixed up with a bizarre entourage of rock stars, Japanese scientists, corporate executives, AIDS victims, and religious terrorists. While these larger players compete to control mankind's fate in the 21st Century, Jack is forced to choose his own role in the World's End, and how to live with it.

Same kind of question then. If you haven't already read 'Glimmering' would you read it based on the blurb? Underland Press hasn't let me down yet so I'll be reading 'Glimmering' at some point soon.

3 comments:

ediFanoB said...

I haven't read 'Glimmering' and the blurb does not convince me. This is not my cup of tea.

RobB said...

I read it when it first published in MMPB here in the US almost 15 years ago. I liked it a lot at the time

Divers and Sundry said...

I read it in February of this year. My impression: not much happened, and then it was over. I keep meaning to read something else by her but haven't gotten around to it.