SEMIOPUNK (26)

By: Joshua Glenn
October 3, 2024

An irregular, ongoing series of posts dedicated to surfacing examples (and predecessors) of the sf subgenre that HILOBROW was the first to name “semiopunk.”

FEERSUM ENDJINN

Feersum Endjinn is sometimes referred to as Iain M. Banks’ “second science fiction novel not set within the Culture universe,” the first being Against a Dark Background.

Too many fans who’ve devoured every other sf novel by Banks balk at Feersum Endjinn. One hears complaints about the Riddley Walker-esque patois in which one character speaks. But the patois isn’t actually very difficult to parse, if you ask me; and Banks’ take on cyberpunk technology and political-philosophical themes, here, is not to be missed.

The story — set on Earth in the far future, at some point after most humans have traveled to the stars in the “Diaspora,” and at a moment when the “Encroachment,” a menacing interstellar cloud, is approaching our solar system (or vice versa, I don’t understand how outer space works) — is narrated from the perspective of four characters.

Bascule, the patois-speaking young man, acts as a go-between for the dead in the “Crypt.” Here, I should explain that in this future scenario one’s consciousness can be uploaded to the Crypt (a digital afterlife) for up to seven reincarnations — in the sex/gender/ethnicity of one’s choice (mostly); thanks to implants, one can share self-data between one’s flesh-and-blood avatar and one’s Crypt avatars.

In the dark recesses of the Crypt lurk monstrous chimeric beings, artificial intelligences, and the digitally migrated dead of the corporeal world. To complicate this already complex scenario, an entropy-causing virus is damaging the Crypt’s contents.

Bascule is the character from this novel whom I’d encourage my fellow semioticians to study. Like us, he acts as a kind of medium between realms — one concrete and embodied, one abstract and full of wonders that are difficult to comprehend, much less describe. Bascule is a voyager in a semiosphere, seeking to surface and dimensionalize knowledge useful in the real world.

Another engaging character is Asura, who wakes up freshly reincarnated from the Crypt — but she has amnesia. She’s a Leeloo-like figure, we’ll discover. (SPOILER ALERT) She’s been tasked with activating the titular “fearsome engine” that will save our solar system. However, there are those who seek to impede her efforts. Captured, Asura is subjected to a series of virtual-environment storytelling efforts designed to winkle out her secret. These efforts are tremendously inventive and fun; and — because they’re about the demands of narrative — also of tremendous interest to semioticians.

Bascule, Asura, and all other descendants of the humans who’ve stayed behind on Earth are, somehow, tiny in comparison with the “Fastness,” the huge castle in which their aristocracy dwells. The king’s throne room, for example, is housed within the castle’s chandelier. Like the castle in the Gormenghast books, this castle’s furthest reaches are shrouded in mystery. For example, the Fastness’s highest tower extends into space — and nobody seems to know exactly what goes on at the tower’s pinnacle. This mise en scène is really engaging and fun. In an interview, Banks would explain why: “I used to have these model soldiers, and I wondered what it would be like to be one of those tiny soldiers in a giant house. I used to have these epic journeys for them. I thought if you had a giant structure, basing it on furniture would be easy.”

Our third character is Gadfium, Earth’s Chief Scientist. An elderly woman approaching the end of her second life, she is part of a conspiracy (against the king and the ruling elite) that has been trying to discover the concealed solution to the problem of the Encroachment. The conspirators question the real motive of the ruling elite’s ongoing war with the rival clan of Engineers. Gadfium learns of a message apparently sent from the castle’s high tower, which tells of an attempt by the crypt to activate a long forgotten subsystem which may prevent the Encroachment disaster.

Count Sessine, our fourth character, is murdered in the book’s first pages… and pursued by his killers even in the Crypt. A loyal agent of the king’s, he was killed while on his way to investigate potential sabotage by the Engineers. Before he runs out of resurrections, the Count must figure who’s doing this and why.

Sympathetic characters, moving back and forth as needed between the Castle and the Crypt, and eventually figuring out ways to help one another succeed in their mission impossible. As Asura escapes her virtual prison, she is physically freed by Gadfium, who was guided to Asura’s location by a copy of Count Sessine. Asura broadcasts to the world the truth regarding the Encroachment and the attempts of the monarchy to prevent the activation of the Crypt sub-systems. Asura and Gadfium head to the castle’s tower — assisted by Bascule.

The final chase scene — involving a vacuum balloon ascending a space elevator — is boffo. Will Asura be able to activate the Fearsome Engine? What’s not to enjoy about this book?

In a perfect world, I’d be able to spend a long, cozy winter re-reading this book and thinking about the semiosphere through the lens of Banks’s Crypt. Some day, I hope.

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SEMIOPUNK (26)

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