Take the deceptively-simple style and the sensibility (which includes making yourself a character in your own novel, under a different yet similar name) of a Charles Bukowski and mix it with the outraged truth-telling of a Harlan Ellison and you wind up with: I Hate the Internet by Jarett Kobek.
Jarett probably hated that opening sentence. But still.
There is more truth in this book than possibly any book I have ever read in my life to date.
Jarett Kobek had several novels out before this one. I never knew that. I knew him for his Derek Raymond tribute page. And that page never had any By The Way I’ve Got Some Books Too You Wanna Buy Them? mentions. And it still doesn’t.
…
It’s been hours and hours since I typed the above.
I’ve thumbed through the book again and again.
And it has defeated my attempts to do a post about it.
I was thinking about posting an excerpt about how we’re all getting screwed like Jack Kirby. (Hell, I even did two posts once about that: Jack Kirby Heirs Fight For Copyright Reversion and Never Forget The Invisible Bastards, plus a general post too: Quote: Matt Fraction.)
But — shakes fist at Kobek! — since reading the book, I’ve begun to feel like Jack Kirby once he realized he was being screwed. Even worse: I feel like the book is judging me for even being on the Net!
None of you will understand what the hell I even mean unless you read the book.
So let me just bail on anything resembling a post and write this: Read this book! It will open your eyes. Jarett is a great writer. And I’m in awe of how much is stuffed inside his head. Come on, who the hell else knows the origin of the term “polyamorous”? I never even wondered about it!
Additional:
Wikipedia: I Hate the Internet
Mike Cane's Atomic Supermen 