Slab City Blues

Slab City Blues #1

by Anthony Ryan

Welcome to the Slab. Where rats grow big and sweat falls in rain. There's a stranger in town, a stranger with claws and a penchant for killing assassins. Finding him is the job of Inspector Alex McLeod, detective, disfigured war veteran and reluctant widower. Some days are worse than others on the Slab but this one's going to be a gem.

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Mystery, Short Stories, Detective, Novella, Fiction

30 pages, ebook

First published April 1, 2011

About the author

Anthony Ryan was born in Scotland in 1970 but spent much of his adult life living and working in London. After a long career in the British Civil Service he took up writing full time after the success of his first novel Blood Song, Book One of the Raven’s Shadow trilogy. He has a degree in history, and his interests include art, science and the unending quest for the perfect pint of real ale.

For news and general wittering about stuff he likes, check out Anthony's blog at: http://anthonystuff.wordpress.com

Reviews

[Claudia]

A short detective cyberpunk story, first in a series of five, which is set on a small world-slum orbiting Earth. It's too short for the story thread to make an impact, but has a surprisingly solid worldbuilding.

A quick and enjoyable read.

[Melinda]

This Anthony Ryan - he gave me the same thrill that I got reading Neuromancer and The Young Ladies Illustrated Primer all those years ago. If Ryan can do with a novella what Gibson and Stephson did with full novels, then this gentleman is one to watch. I am definitely now a fan. In only 7494 words Ryan in his terse, almost abrupt style can not only build an orbiting world, describe people, describe all the layers of a murderer case and solving said case, but he also makes the whole thing credible in the process, while making it dark - not just paranormal fiction type dark, I mean pyschically dark, as in dark as the darkest soul. It's really quite amazing.

Our protagonist, Alex McLeod the war veteran, detective is a dark and gritty guy, in fact they don't call them police they call them Demons. That should give you something to think about. Alex works Homicide - he gets the 5% of cases the department can't automatically solve with forensics. First thing, there's an Asian hit, The next thing you know, some huge guy with fur and claws has stolen a championship fighting rat the size of a big dog. And the most famous pride fighter of all time has missed his title match and nobody has seen him. Are all these things connected? What does it mean - a hit, a missing rat, a missing fighter? There's a clock ticking on a timer on a bomb, so Alex has to do something ASAP otherwise the fighter's heart will give out after 14 hours. Tick' Tick! Tick! Goes the clock as he dodges and weaves through the Slab.

This is no ordinary novella, Ryan has created extraordinary characters and placed them in the Slab, a kind of luxury in space gone wrong. There are three of these Slab novellas: this one, Slab City Blues:A Song for Madame Choi and Slab City Blues: A Hymn to Gods Long Dead. Pick them all up, and read them in the order specified, if you want to give yourself a treat. Ryan also has a full length novel, which is the next one I'm jumping into, it's called, Raven's Shadow - Book 1, Blood Song. So, off I go, back into the world of Anthony Ryan with my sights set high, because any guy who can do what he does with less than 8000 words, may be able to wonders with 100,000 or more.

I would recommend this novella to sci-fi lover's as well as people who love murderer mysteries and police procedurals. You get all three wrapped up nicely with a little bow. My bet is Ryan is going to be the next Neal Stephenson or, dare I say it, William Gibson. It won't take long until he gets the right exposure, then the lucrative contracts, then he'll be touring the country making predictions about life in the future. So before that happens, go to Smashwords and download all his stuff - two are free and the other two are cheap - Go! Go Now!

[Jason]

4 Stars

What is not to love in this action packed science fiction novella.

. Amazing author
. Cool space location, a space station called the Slab
. Hybrids of every type thanks to DNA manipulating
. ROUS's that are also Intelligent. Rats of unusual size
. Dark noir like feel to this police story
. Fun

This was a good read.

[Daniel]

Klasična detektivska priča. Ima interesantnih likova pošto je budućnost sa likovima koje su mešali DNK sa živuljkama. Sem toga ništa interesantno.

I suviše kratko da bi i napravio nešto od interesantne postavke. Može se zaobići.

[Riju Ganguly]

Superb world-building in such a short span. A dystopian future with a very capable knight standing by our side. And the story was riveting.
Highly recommended.
Now for the next one.

[Lady*M]

3.5 stars

A short story set on the orbital station - Slab - and one of the Autonomous Orbital States after war with the Downside (Earth). The protagonist is a war veteran Inspector Alex McLeod. His wife, another war veteran, is hooked on a life support system. Trapped in a virtual perfect world and hating his new perfect face, she wants Alex to pull the plug on her.

While there is a case in the story, it was the world building that makes the story great. The intelligent rats, DNA splicing that makes every mythical being (including vampires) and human hybrids possible, the omnipotent splice - Freak - that can control anything on the Slab and helped the winning side in the war, corporations, etc. and decidedly noir atmosphere make the story worth reading.

[Ron]

An interesting short story which is as much mystery as science fiction. Raises moral issues of death and dying in a unique way.

A good read.

[Liviu]

well written short story (as of now it is free on the author's website) in keeping with what I came to expect from the author of the awesome Blood Song, but otherwise fairly standard stuff I've seen million times and moreover stuff I am not that excited about so would not have even looked at but for being written by Anthony Ryan

[Austin Poulsen]

Very rough. Could have used a few more revisions. Pretty hard to follow.

[James]

Could use a wee bit of editing for grammar and typos in places but a good story. I will read more of the Slab City series.

[Paul]

This was a really short and quick read being just under 30 pages. I had a lot of fun reading and found myself somehow invested in this weird world immediately. The main character Alex was awesome and can’t forget about Freak s/he was perfect too.

Honestly, for being as short as it is I didn’t think I would feel all the emotions I felt when reading this. It really makes me look forward to the other Slab City Blues stories and more of Anthony Ryans books.

[Cheruv]

SS Mr Ryan shines in shorter more focused stories.
This was my first taste of his writing outside of fantasy, and although I prefer his fantasy, he is definitely not a one trick pony!
A sci-fi story with enough to keep it grounded and enough to pique my interest into this crazy world he dreamt up!
Looking forward to the other stories in this setting.

[Reader]

Welcome to the Slab. A vast orbiting slum where rats grow big and sweat falls in rain. There's a stranger in town, a stranger with claws and a penchant for killing assassins. Finding him is the job of Inspector Alex McLeod, detective, disfigured war veteran and reluctant widower. Some days are worse than others on the Slab but today is going to be a gem.

[Joe Lynn]

I don’t know how I missed this book when going through a list of AR’s books but I really enjoyed it. Fantastic entertainment great characters and as always the fight scenes are amazing. Good break from the normal fantasy I read.

[Reader73]

Promising start of the series

[Swords & Scribbles]

So much plot, world building and so many characters in such a nice little package! I want to get to know them all a lot better. So I'll definitely be picking up the next novellas of the series!

[Jenny Wüsthoff]

[Audiobook]

This could not hold my attention, no matter how much I wanted to like it. Might have been better to read it rather than listen to it.

[Bill Beatty]

Not my genre, so I didn't finish.

[James]

3.5

[L.K. Evans]

What can I say? I'd be surprised if Mr. Ryan ever wrote a book I didn't like. Why, you might ask? Well, it's because of his characters. If a writer can deliver me an in-depth, inner turmoil, haunted type person, then I'm sold. And McLeod is just that character. After the first page, I was submersed in a different world and didn't leave it for the next 75 pages. The world is crazy with tons of references to stuff that Mr. Ryan explains without the dreaded info dump. It just worked itself into my reading effortlessly.

Also, this is my first sci-fi book and I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't overwhelmed with techy stuff (which is why I've avoided the genre).

I could go on and on but I won't. I'll just leave you with this: BUY THE BOOKS, all of them!

[K]

More mystery than sci fi (which is fine, just different from Blood Song, which is a masterpiece). The world was so complex, it was as if it was a real place, I found myself wishing I could see the places and people he described. This would play out well as a TV series. The main character reminded me of an old fashioned private eye, but there was nothing old about this story.

[Andi]

Free for a limited time on Amazon's Kindle

This was an interesting short story set on a planet in a futuristic society. I liked Alex (the detective), and the other cast, including Father Bob and Freak. This was completely different from Anthony Ryan's fantasy series, but it was well written and engaging. I'll likely keep going with these!

[Valerie]

This was a really good story for a short. Alas, a short story does not really allow for the depth of intrigue or world building that I would prefer from a tale such as this. Having said that, there is something here, a spark within this world. I would love to see Ryan do a longer novella or full length book set in this world.

[Karen]

A short story prequel to Slab City Blues: A Hymn to Gods Long Dead. Setting reminds me of Katherine Kerr's Polar City Blues with the roughness of 1930's Chicago. Main character is a cop but he has more in common with a 1930's private dective.

[Aaron Advani]

a good short story that just gets going then ends which is why I gave it 4 stars could have done with being abit longer, will read the next one to see if it keeps the quality level but adds more depth.

[Sara]

The world building of the short story was amazing. Set in the far distant future after many wars and new cohabitants centered around a Vet detective. While I love the world, I'm not sure of my take on the main character, wasn't enough time for development for me to be sure if I like him or not.

[Kristoffer Jarvis sr.]

Great short book. Loved it

[Lisa]

Very noir. A real good read.

[Danny]

Neat little read. Awaiting my copy of Blood Song(curse my local bookstore's order speed!), decided to try Slab city and gad I did. Downloaded Slab City Blues immediately after. Four Stars!

[Al Britten]

Really fun sci-fi short... The setting reminded me of The Ballad Of Halo Jones and has definitely whetted my appetite for the others in the series.