Review "Fantastic . . . A crackling, funny, and frightening horror story from a unique voice in genre lit." --Kirkus Reviews"Normal is abnormal, fascinating, and terrifying. Deceptively compact, it contains multitudes. Great stuff that still has me thinking." --Jeff VanderMeer"Normal is hectic and smart and brutal and funny, and queasy-making, too. Like William Gibson and Margaret Atwood, Warren Ellis is one of those writers who seem to have an all-access backstage pass to the total weirdness of the now." --Lauren Beukes"Warren Ellis has been conjuring futures for years, and now he asks the question: at what cost? Part futurist anthropology, part locked-room mystery, Normal is funny, creepy, perceptive, and surprisingly personal. If you, like me, are an avid consumer of what-ifs and what-nows, you probably have a responsibility to read this book." --Robin Sloan"A seriously good writer with a seriously wicked imagination." --Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review"Last summer, Warren Ellis serialized a novel, "Normal," as a series of four novellas; today, they're collected in a single, short book that mainlines a month's worth of terrifying futuristic fiction in one go. . .This is Warren Ellis at his most darkly hilarious and most ascerbic. If you loved Transmetropolitan, laughed at Gun Machine, this one will please and scare you." --Cory Doctrow, Boing Boing"[An] exceptional new thriller . . . This slim sci-fi mystery will puzzle, engage your senses and stick with you, maybe popping up days later when one of its passages resonates uncomfortably in the real world outside the book's pages. Normal chills not by overt action or gory effects, but by slyly transporting readers outside their comfort zone, offering a look into a future that seems increasingly plausible after all." --Barbara Clark, BookPage"Warren Ellis is a twisted genius." --Lauren Beukes, author of Broken Monsters"Warren Ellis's work shows a knack for mad hilarity, merciless action, dark cynicism, and incorruptible bravery." --Wired"A beacon of brilliant irony and sardonic satire." --Sir Patrick Stewart"Deliciously perverse." --Publishers Weekly About the Author Warren Ellis is the author of FSG's first digital original, Dead Pig Collector; the New York Times bestselling novel Gun Machine; and the underground classic Crooked Little Vein. He is also the award-winning creator of a number of iconic, bestselling original graphic novels, including Red, Ministry of Space, Planetary, andTransmetropolitan, and has been behind some of the most successful reimaginings of mainstream comic superheroes, including the Fantastic Four and Iron Man. He has written extensively for Vice, Wired, and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and is working on a nonfiction book about the future of cities for FSG Originals. He lives on the southeast coast of England.
P**H
Stick with it, it's well worth seeing through to the end...
I just love Warren Ellis. There, I said it. I was lucky enough to read Gun Machine first, since then I've devoured pretty much everything else he's written (in Kindle format) as soon as it appears. I even made my first highlighter quote a few pages in, despite never having used it in the five years or so I've had the option to do so.Mental instability. What's normal? If looking round the internet into highly specialised (and murky) areas is your day-to-day job, then things might start to get a little uncomfortable.As far as price and format go, I thought £1.50 for (let's call it what it is) a short-ish novella was a little over the top. 40 minutes later from buying Normal: Book 1, I had 2, 3 and 4 whispering down onto my kindle in double-quick time. £6 is not so bad for a book that makes you laugh at awful things, and you can stop at any time in £1.50 chunks. For my money, that's a steal.Go on, dip a toe... What's the worst that can happen?
C**H
Fortunately he is well enough respected by the corporation he ...
Adam Dearden is a futurist, he looks at what is happening and tries to work out what will happen in the near future. This is now a big part of the corporations planning, but has the unfortunate side effect of what they call the Abyss Gaze. A mental condition where you basically break down. Fortunately he is well enough respected by the corporation he works for to be sent to Normal Head, a clinic for recovering futurists. Unfortunately for him, while there he stumbles across an issue which will have ramifications both within and outside the clinic.Originally published in 4 pieces, you can tell, it doesn't quite stitch together at the joins. Saying that, it's an old concept that maybe is due to come back. The book does contain 4 afterwords, one written for every piece and all by different authors in conversation with Ellis.This is typical Ellis, dark, yet believable, with little touches and flourishes that make you glad he's still writing. My Advice would be to get the full book, once you've read the first part, you're going to want the others.
G**S
Interesting look at the state of the world
A fascinating murder mystery techno-thriller, where part of the mystery is whether there was a murder. It put me in mind a bit of Agatha Christie early on, with the isolated venue, and an oddball array of suspects - although the actual culprit is easy to overlook. But any hopes of the crime's resolution offering a return to normality is undercut by the gleeful nihilism permeating the story.One element that could have been intrusive is the lectures on the state of the world and technology, primarily the things that caused the patients to be committed to the Normal Head facility. But these elements are the story, and even when a paragraph goes on for a few (kindle) pages it retains the personality of the speaker and the voice of the story (and Ellis).Darkly humourous, and fast paced, Normal is definitely worth reading.
T**Y
sufficiently intriguing
Burnt out futurists end up in a remote sanatorium in the woods. But perhaps things are not quite what they seem.it is interesting to see something new in digital publishing, and Ellis repeats the trick of Elektrograd, publishing another short affordable story. Here he adds a fresh spin by making it the first in a series of four.The opener is dark and intriguing, and piques the interest sufficiently for me to pre-order #2, but at £1.49 it does feel a little pricy for something you can read in half an hour.
B**N
Lovely weirdness from the mind of mr ellis.
Anyone who has read his work before will recognise the familiar themes and character traits.Loved this first chapter, clough is already a standout for me, and can't wait to crack on with the rest.
S**Y
It begins
Welcome to Normal Head where geniuses go after they have a breakdown. Told with Warren Ellis' usual fetish for technology and mordant wit, this is the first part of a story and I'm not wholly sure where is going but it is a lot of fun.
R**N
Short but really good
This book is slight, which drags it down from what would be a five star review. I really enjoy Warren Ellis' writing but this is more of a taster than full meal.However if you like Warren's other work I would recommend it, because even a short Warren Ellis book is better than most other books.
P**L
Thirsty for more
Intriguing setup. Just the pace I'd expected from the first entry in a series of shorts. Some lovely snippets of description of the world and the self. Looking forward to the next instalment.
