Does Reynolds get a lot of inspiration from films? Chasm City's Mulch is reminiscent of Blade Runner. John Brannigan's Nostalgia for Infinity ends up looking like the Alien queen did the decor. Eraserheads delete back-ups (of your mind). Reynolds openly admits that much of the inspiration for his finest work, Diamond Dogs, comes from gorno movies.

Some writers slowly develop into good novelists over a span of several, even a dozen, books. Others burst into print with a debut novel that shows a full grasp of the technicalities of writing. Reynolds is one of the latter, his only mistake in this debut novel being that none of the main protagonists is sympathetic. In fact, most of them are completely nutso in one way or another and some of them are dangerous psychos - and there are 40 Really Big Guns and a Swarm of Genocidal Machines in the vicinity, too...