"Vivid, dense, powerful imagery ... hard to put down " -- Washington Post
"A complex, bizarre, and unique vision of the near future with a kaleidoscopic mix of politics, pop, and paranoia." -- Bruce Sterling
"John Shirley was cyberpunk's patient zero, first locus of the virus, certifiably virulent. A carrier." -- William Gibson
With Eclipse Penumbra, the second volume in John Shirley's cyberpunk trilogy, "A Song Called Youth" returns to the World War III era, in which a nuclear strike has decimated Europe. The survivors are dominated by the Christian Fascist Second Alliance, a fundamentalist international security organization attempting to impose apartheid across Europe. Their master plan for a new world order, Project Total Eclipse, involves seizing control of FirStep, an orbiting space colony with the potential to extend their domination throughout the world. All that stands in their way are the rebels of the New Resistance, a gang of technologically adept guerilla fighters with a passion for sex and drugs and rock and roll.
The Eclipse Trilogy has proved prescient in its anticipation of 21st century issues, from drone surveillance to the rise of neo-Soviet Russia and the spread of radical right-wing movements. Back in print in the definitive edition, this volume offers a chilling and mesmerizing tale of the battle between a government dominated by military and corporate overlords and a spirited band of freedom fighters.