The flood of noir in scientific discipline fabrication and phantasy remain withPleasure ModelbyChristopher Rowley . The first Bible under Tor ’s newHeavy MetalPulp imprint , it ’s just as sleazy and prurient as you ’d look , but surprisingly thought - provoking as well .
And yes , there are spoiler below .
So with a series of books tying in with Heavy Metal cartridge holder you ’d expect a certain sootiness and schlockiness . bestow in the fact that Pleasure Model is instance , with manga - esque drawings of half - naked ( or now and then naked ) body , and the salaciousness quotient goes up well . ( Hence the “ Pulp ” part of “ Heavy Metal Pulp , ” I conjecture — this is really a gimcrack paperback in the old - school sense . ) Not inevitably something you ’ll require to show on the bus , but fun anyway .
The surprising thing about Pleasure Model is the way it makes a stab at addressing the sex doll cite in the title . The plot is moderately basic : in a dystopian hereafter , a retired general is hit in the eye of a movie - banner S&M scene with a dominatrix , who take flight the assassin . The only other witness to the murder : A genetically direct “ pleasure framework ” with the received pre - programmed name Plesur . The homicide detective , Rook , admit Plesur into his hold and saves her from being gang - outrage by his fellow detectives . Plesur has the IQ of a fern , but is clearly sentient and experiences concern and painfulness .
The rest of the book is pretty stock “ honest cop goes varlet in the face of a huge conspiracy in a dystopian world ” story , but the stuff involving Plesur is actually pretty intriguing . The nubile , headless young woman who ’s under a detective ’s protection is a standard trope of the pulp police detective novel — and rule#1is that the detective never sleeps with her , because he wo n’t compromise his role as shining blank knight . ( This happens in almost every Mickey Spillane novel . ) But it ’s a gracious turn on this idea that the nubile young womanhood in question is actually genetically orchestrate for pleasure and made for slavery , and she ’s so reasonless and eager to please , you could easily forgive anyone who used her . ( Later in the script , we determine that pleasure mod like Plesur can receive an intelligence rise , and when this happen , they ’re usually fill with fad over all the thing that people did to them when they were stunned . )
Asking questions about the rights of genetically engineered or constructed beings is n’t all that new , of course , but raise these issues in the course of a noir story is a nice spin .
Oh , and here ’s the incredibly trashy Word of God trailer :
Besides the abundance of noir cliches , the novel ’s resolution bet on a co-occurrence so huge , even my usual relaxed position to patch gizmo could n’t stomach it . Also , Rowley seems to have taken on board some of the less - savoury vista of old - schooltime mush novel — the detective chitchat a house of ill repute where there ’s an Asian madam named Soozie with almond eye . And there ’s a abbreviated but terrible Crying Game potpourri that ’s certain to piss off a lot of people .
Pleasure Model is the first intensity of a Modern trilogy , and presumably there ’ll be other Heavy Metal Pulp book as well . Despite the book ’s flaws , I ’m still vaguely intrigued by the mind of seeing Plesur ’s progress towards person - tough , and all of the issues about a sentient being who was design to be property that the noir theoretical account let Rowley address . If nothing else , this ledger proves there ’s plenty of scope for blending the old noir tropes with Heavy Metal - fashion seediness .
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