Red Spider White Web, Misha, Wordcraft of Oregon, 1999
The sealed city of Mickey-san is a reasonably nice place to live. Crime and pollution are unknown. The sky is still blue. The major industry is entertainment. The grim underside of the city, literally and figuratively, is in subterranean tunnels collectively called Dogton. It's a dirty, garish sort of place. Surrounding it all is a grim and violent area called Ded-Tek. The major occupation of its inhabitants is staying alive.
In Ded-Tek are Tommy Uchida, thought of by some as a god, who is too smart for his artificially enhanced body, and Kumo, an artist living by her wits.
It is a place of fifteen-minute viruses, a blistering sun requiring that everyone be masked, police "wire-dogs", off beat cult groups, and there is also a murderer on the loose.
This is a very stark novel, at times maybe too stark. There is a strong feeling of disease and garbage everywhere. Perhaps a way to think of this story is having the feeling of a cyberpunk novel, but light on the 'cyber' part. It may not be an easy read, but for something very different, this one is well worth reading.
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