A
novella published in
stand-alone form,
Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone is a very strange book by
Ian McDonald. The
protagonist is a
graphic design geek; his
best friend is an
anime creator. Together they are on a traditional
pilgrimage across the
Japan of the
future, which is overrun by
akiras (
biker gangs) and autonomous
security corporations. His secret is a big one, and it involves the power of the
visual archetype. I'm not telling you any more than that! There's
Illuminati/
Kabbalah and
philosophy and
cybernetics and
memory immortality and all sorts of stuff going on. I enjoyed it; it's definitely a sort of
cyberpunk koan of a story. And it predates the
William Gibson-and-clones' affection for trendy
Japanese pop culture that they don't understand--McDonald clearly groks the
otaku mind. Recommended for fans of
Neal Stephenson, because of the combination of mystic
meta-communicative concepts with
sf.
"What I tell you three times is true."