Michael Marshall Smith’s surreal groundbreaking and award-winning debut which resonates with wild humour interlaced with dark recollections of an emotional minefield. Stark lives in Colour a neighbourhood whose inhabitants like to be co-ordinated with their surroundings – a neighbourhood where spangly purple trousers are admired by the walls of buildings as you pass them. Close by is Sound where you mustn’t make any apart from one designated hour a day when you can scream your lungs raw. Then there’s Red – get off at Fuck Station Zero if you want to see a tactical nuclear battle recreated as a sales demonstration. Stark has friends in Red which is just as well because Something is about to happen. And when a Something happens it’s no good chanting ‘Duck and cover’ while cowering in a corner because a Something is always from the past Stark’s past and it won’t go away until you face it full on.
