Part noir, part counterculture fever dream, all Cairo Smith. Neo-Luddite Ben Etxina travels the globe in a drug-addled delirium, tracing the threads at the heart of a growing vibe shift.
In this rapid-fire tech-weird picaresque, Cairo Smith paints a searing and wry portrait of the mid-2020s, an era careening at high speed toward an uncertain future.
Ben Etxina is a software engineer who can't bear to look at a screen. When he crosses a shady German motorcycle club in downtown San Francisco, he ends up thrown into a mess of underground parties and venture funds rumored to connect to a certain neoreactionary billionaire. A mysterious Pacific island, Vietnamese Catholic femme fatale, and anti-AI terrorist sect all spell deeper trouble for the jet-setting sensitive young man.
Undeniably at the head of the New Wave, Smith has penned his punchiest and most incisive novel yet.
Review :
"The writing is certainly accomplished, brilliant even, in its casual utilization of funny idioms without breaking the pace or feel of the prose." -Toxic Brodude
"A breezy, twisty turny /lit/ novel." -Phil Rot
"Great dialogue, voice, cleverness and inventiveness abound. He's honing his already-formidable skills at storytelling." -Alexander Sorondo
"All literate people (especially porn-brained, irony-addled internet autists) should applaud that something so timely and absurd is available for consumption." -Arbogast
"Scenebux, like Neuromancer, is an exciting neo-noir thriller from start to finish. I read it on a Sunday bombed out on cancer meds, and I had a blast." -Paul Beauhart
