Review
MOM
2017, revised edition
Common Deer Press
Review by Peter Young in The Thai Literary Supplement #12 (April 2018).
Canadian author Collin Piprell (also known locally as ‘Collin with two Ls’) has at last been swallowed up by his long-standing love of science fiction and given us something firmly within the genre’s boundaries, so much so that it bears little resemblance to anything he has previously written – other than its being set ostensibly in Bangkok, with the author’s trademark sardonic humour firmly intact. So, let that reassure you, we’re very much off to a good start…
…Except that in MOM, this being a science fiction novel, Piprell has had to craft quite a bit of worldbuilding for his readers while at the same time setting the scene. We, on the other hand, might be asked for some patience and close attention as he does so, but we are more than adequately rewarded. The premise seems simple enough at first: the software used to run a Bangkok shopping mall in the near future has become sentient, and not to be trusted. Meanwhile the outside world has descended into a nanotechnological hell, and the flesh-and-blood few who actually live/work inside this mall are suddenly at risk when the barriers to the outside world start to crumble. Our protagonists seem constantly disorientated… just what – or who – actually is the Mall Operations Manager? A once-benevolent cyber-presence, or a psychopathic, misanthropic Canadian? Read on…
Piprell clearly intends MOM to be a bit of a mind-fuck, and it is. He draws on several recognisable influences, Alice in Wonderland clearly being one minus any cuteness, Neuromancer perhaps being another. But the end result is unique: even within the wider cyberpunk movement, you will probably never find anything quite as singular as MOM. Unless, that is, you seek out the sequels…