Jeff Noon

Jeff Noon (born in 1957 in Droylsden, Manchester, England) is a novelist, short story writer and playwright whose works make extensive use of wordplay and fantasy. Noon's speculative fiction books have ties to the works of writers such as Lewis Carroll and Jorge Luis Borges. Prior to his recent relocation (around the year 2000) to Brighton, Noon set most of his stories in some version of his native city of Manchester. Image File history File links A photograph of the author Jeff Noon taken by John Alexander in 2002. ... Image File history File links A photograph of the author Jeff Noon taken by John Alexander in 2002. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Location within the British Isles Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of around 25,000 people. ... The City of Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough in the North of England, historically notable for its central role in the Industrial Revolution. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Template:Unsourced A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is someone who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... Word play is a literary technique in which the nature of the words used themselves become part of the subject of the work. ... haha For other meanings see Fantasy (disambiguation) Fantasy is a genre of art that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. ... ... Lewis Carroll. ... Jorge Luis Borges (August 24, 1899 - June 14, 1986), was an Argentine writer who is considered one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. ... Brighton is located on the south coast of England and together with its immediate neighbour Hove forms the city of Brighton & Hove. ... The City of Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough in the North of England, historically notable for its central role in the Industrial Revolution. ...

Novels

Noon's first 4 novels are part of a series sharing ongoing characters and background, commonly referred to after the first novel as the 'Vurt' series. In terms of publishing history the Vurt sequence runs: Vurt (1993); Pollen (1995); Automated Alice (1996) (itself simultaneously a 'trequel'[sic] to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass), and Nymphomation (1997) - however, in terms of fictional chronology of characters and settings the Vurt sequence runs: Automated Alice; Nymphomation; Vurt then finally Pollen. Nymphomation is a novel by British author Jeff Noon, first published in 1997. ... Nymphomation is a novel by British author Jeff Noon, first published in 1997. ...

Vurt (1993)

Vurt tells the story of Scribble and his "gang" the Stash Riders as they search for his missing sister Desdemona. Vurt refers to a drug/shared alternate reality that is accessed by sucking on color-coded feathers. Through some (never explained) mechanism, the dreams, mythology, and imaginings of humanity achieved objective reality in the Vurt and became "real". The book won the 1994 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Evidently there is a Vurt film in the works, but as of the date of this writing, Jeff Noon has stated on his public website that "Of the Vurt film, all has gone silent at the moment. Don’t hold your breath." The Arthur C. Clarke award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. ...

Pollen (1995)

Pollen is the sequel to Vurt and concerns the ongoing struggle between the real world and the vurtual world. When concerning the vurtual world, some references to Greek mythology are noticeable, including Persephone and Demeter, the river Styx and Charon, and Hades (portrayed by the character John Barleycorn). Greek mythology consists in part of a large collection of narratives that explain the origins of the world and detail the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines. ... Persephone, the Maiden: the late Archaic Kore of Antenor from the Acropolis, Athens In Greek mythology, Persephone (Greek Περσεφόνη, Persephónē) was the queen of the Underworld, the Kore or young maiden, and the daughter of Demeter and Zeus. ... Ceres (Demeter), allegory of August: detail of a fresco by Cosimo Tura, Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, 1469-70 Dêmêtêr (or Demetra) (Greek: , mother-earth or perhaps distribution-mother, perhaps from the noun of the Indo-European mother-earth *mater) is the Greek goddess of agriculture, the pure nourisher... In Greek mythology, Styx (Στυξ) is the name of a river which formed the boundary between earth and the underworld, Hades. ... In Greek mythology, Charon (Greek Χάρων, fierce brightness) was the ferryman of Hades. ... Hades, Greek god of the underworld, enthroned, with his bird-headed staff, on a red-figure Apulian vase made in the 4th century BC. For other uses, see Hades (disambiguation). ...

Automated Alice (1996)

Noon describes Automated Alice as a "trequel" - it is a companion piece of sorts to the famous Lewis Carroll books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. The novella follows Alice's journey to a future Manchester populated by Newmonians, Civil Serpents and a vanishing cat named Quark. John Tenniels illustration for A Mad Tea-Party, 1865 Illustration by Arthur Rackham Facsimile page from Alices Adventures Under Ground Alices Adventures in Wonderland is a work of childrens literature by the British mathematician and author, Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, written under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. ... Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) is a work of childrens literature by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). ...

Nymphomation (1997)

Nymphomation is the prequel to Vurt. Nymphomation primarily tells the story of a lottery in Manchester involving dominos and a group attempting to crack the secrets of that lottery, but it also sets the background for much of the mythology found in the previous three books. Nymphomation is a novel by British author Jeff Noon, first published in 1997. ...

Needle in the Groove (2000)

Needle in the Groove follows Elliot Hill, a bass player and ex-junkie trudging the pub-rock circuit, who is invited to join a new band: fusing DJ artistry, voice and rhythm section, the group's hypnotic groove creation is augmented by a startling new recording technology. The band seems bound for success - until one of them vanishes. Elliot's subsequent search draws him into a secret history of music that stretches back 40 years and into his own past.

Falling out of Cars (2002)

Falling out of Cars is a road novel set in a near-future world where information-based civilization is falling apart. It follows the journey of Marlene, Henderson, and Peacock as they drive around England on a mission to gather fragments of a mirror that may be at the heart of the world's affliction. Falling out of Cars is the record Marlene keeps - or tries to keep - of her quest to flee from her past. Despite her daily dose of Lucidity, Marlene is gradually succumbing to the malady, and it gets harder and harder to distinguish dream from reality, hallucinations from events.

Bibliography

Novels and novellas

• Vurt (1993), ISBN 1-898051-03-8
• Pollen (1995), ISBN 1-898051-11-9
• Automated Alice (1996), ISBN 0-385-40808-0
• Nymphomation (1997), ISBN 0-385-40812-9
• Needle in the Groove (2000), ISBN 1-86230-091-7 – Jeff Noon and David Toop also released a CD, Needle in the Groove: if music were a drug, where would it take you, on Sulphur Records in the same year
• Falling Out of Cars (2002), ISBN 0-385-60296-0

Nymphomation is a novel by British author Jeff Noon, first published in 1997. ... David Toop (born 1949) is a musician, author, and as of 2001 was visiting Research Fellow at the London Media School. ...

Short fiction collections

• Pixel Juice (1998), ISBN 0-385-40859-5
• Cobralingus (2001), ISBN 1-899598-16-2
• Mappalujo (2002) – co-written with Steve Beard, currently only available online

Steve Beard (b. ...

Plays

• Woundings (1986), ISBN 1-870259-00-9
• Vurt - The Theatre Remix (1998)
• The Modernists (2003)

Radio work

• Dead Code - Ghosts of the Digital Age (BBC Radio 3, 2005)

External links

• Official website
• The Modern Word: Jeff Noon – An introduction to Jeff Noon and his works
• Mappalujo – A writing game devised by Steve Beard and Jeff Noon
• 'Vurt: The Comic Remix' – A comic adaptation of a passage of Vurt
• Language is a Virus - Cobralingus Engine - Metamorphiction Process by Jeff Noon
• Origins of a Dub Fiction - by Jeff Noon