Velocity Blues a near-future novel by Clifford Royal Johns
Velocity Blues is high-speed parkour noir. -from a spot-on review
Speculative fiction poses a what-if you can chew on. Clifford Royal Johns tosses this one out: what if, in tinkering with genetics to encourage genius, a side-effect created a flawed superhuman sub-species? Good, near-future fiction explores plausible exaggerations and extensions of the world we’re in, postulating what might go wrong. The conditions these superhumans endure are just the backdrop.
In the foreground is the lifestyle they are forced to lead. They are a bit like meth-heads, for their lives are accelerated, their thinking scattered, their metabolism off the charts. They can't slow down to think, and as a result, they are pawns of the underworld. Readers are thrust into that gritty existence from page one.
The grit and hardship feel fresh, as does the hard and fast detective story that wells up from it, especially because of the first person voice of our narrator, Zip. I don't write in first person, and I seldom enjoy reading it, but trust me, this character's voice is deftly handled by Cliff Johns. To me, Zip is a peppy Holden Caulfield, commenting on his world and story in an infectious, witty way!
The book was published in 2021. The publishing house has since flopped. The author hasn't published another novel since then. Regardless, this book's worth tracking down. I found my copy at the Newton, Ks, public library.
