Heavy Metal Pulp: Pleasure Model (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
Pleasure ModelBy Christopher RowleyPublisher: TorPublished In: New York, NY, USA Date: 2010Pgs: 238Summary:In a grim future world, murder seems to stalk everyday life. A cop in Hudson Valley catches a call out to a murder scene. Inside he finds General Manuel Sagacha, a man with blood on his hands from the Emergency. He has two witnesses, a pleasure model, an illegal gene grown human, and a missing dominatrix. All well and good, until his home is targeted by killer robots and a missile firing helicopter gunship. A rogue cop, a bio organic sex toy, and a dominatrix run for their lives and search for the clues that will save them. Welcome to the future.Genre:fiction, science fiction, future, tyrant america, genetics, cyberpunk, crime, conspiracy theory, paranoid dystopia, heavy metal pulpWhy this book:The book has a very Heavy Metal feel to it; apropos since it is one of the books in the Heavy Metal Pulp imprint. Also, the book would make an excellent fellow traveller with Blade Runner and its forefather; Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep.This Story is About:crime, the future, biology, cyberpunkCredibility:This has that “as real as tomorrow” feel to it.Favorite Character:Rook is your everyman hero, doing the job because it needs doing. Pammy Plesur, the pleasure mod, comes across as an innocent, yet full of ripe sexual tension. Mistress Julia, Angela when she doesn’t have the chip based dominatrix personality plugged in and active, may hold a piece of the enigma.Least Favorite Character: Lot of cannon fodder characters that get a brief moment where you think they may become a main character before getting iced.Character I Most Identified With:Dr. Jimmy feels like my kind of character. Hiding out from the world, yet still plugged in.The Feel:Gritty, noir in the future. Really does give a similar feel to some of the old Heavy Metal magazine stories. The gritty does begin to feel a bit unrelenting though. Dark world. Dark focus. Dark future. Grim. Nasty.Favorite Scene:Conspiracy theorist treehouse when the conspiracy flies overhead.Settings:Future Upstate New York is well represented. While Future New York City comes across as more just a place. Idyllic vs. the Grime.Pacing:The pace of this story is flashing. Short chapters without being choppy. Very well written.Plot Holes/Out of Character:N/ALast Page Sound:Dammit, to be continued. Dammit.Author Assessment:Definitely would read something else by this person.Editorial Assessment:The editing on this was tight and well done.Disposition of Book:Keep It, re-read it.Why isn’t there a screenplay?There should be.Casting call:Bruce Willis could be Rook. Maybe Ewan McGregor, Dwayne Johnson, or Joshua Jackson.Pammy Plesur is obviously a homage to Pamela Anderson. If this were done about fifteen years ago...and she could act, I’d say it was meant for her. But failing that. Maybe...hmmmpf...I don’t know who to cast as Pammy.Sandra Bullock as Anglea/Julia. Dr. Jimmy needs to be played by Jimmy Buffet or Bruce Campbell.Would recommend to:genre fans...probably everyone...with age restrictions. Lots of violence and sexual situations...and sex. Now, I'm conflicted. I have a hard time rating this book a three when I know I've rated actual literature with three stars, but let's be realistic: this book is what it is. I mean, this is clearly a book that one reads in an afternoon, in one's parents' basement. I mean, it's not going to change the way you view the world, it's not going to cure what ills the world, it's not going to prevent anyone from writing bad checks, but...as pulp paperbacks go...really...NOT bad! There's an actual plot and I found it (dare I say) sort of compelling.This was an Advanced Copy, and I appreciate it.SPOILER (kind of): A Dominatrix is showering and walks into the murder scene of her customer. The customer owns a Pleasure Model, which is a future version of a blow-up doll, except that she can interact - both with him and with the cops. She wasn't created for her brain (as you can imagine), so it becomes one detective's job to protect her...uh...honor? It also becomes his job to get the truth of what happened.Assuming that you are rating it against other pulp fiction and not against graphic novels, or classical literature, then it is as good as most pulp fiction and better than some.Many visual creatures will contend that it needs more drawings. It has drawings - about 2-3 per chapter. Those with imagination will not feel the need for more. (Those with delicate sensibilities should steer clear altogether, but I suppose that does not really need to be said.)
What do You think about Heavy Metal Pulp: Pleasure Model (2010)?
Worth the cash. Couldn't stop reading. Will be reading the rest of the series soon.
—sherry
I'm afraid I didn't care much for it. Very easy reading.
—Matthias
So glad to have won this! Can't wait to read it.
—sushka
