By Daryl Gregory
It's a international like our personal in each recognize . . . retailer one. within the Fifties, random acts of ownership start to ensue. traditional males, girls, and kids are the ambitions of entities that appear to spring from the depths of the collective subconscious, pop-cultural avatars a few name demons. There’s the reality, implacable avenger of falsehood. The Captain, courageous and self-sacrificing soldier. The Little Angel, whose kiss brings dying, no matter if wanted or no longer. And a string of others, starting from the unusual to the benign to the horrific.
As a boy, Del Pierce is possessed by way of the Hellion, an entity whose mischief-making may be lethal. With the aid of Del’s relatives and a worrying psychiatrist, the demon is exorcised . . . or is it? Years later, following a motor vehicle twist of fate, the Hellion is again, trapped within Del’s head and clamoring to get out.
Del’s quest for support leads him to Valis, an entity owning the technological know-how fiction author previously often called Philip ok. Dick; to mom Mariette, a nun who conjures up decidedly unchaste emotions; and to the Human League, a mystery society dedicated to the extermination of demons. All think that Del holds the main to the plague of possession–and its answer. yet for Del, the remedy will be worse than the disease.
“Look out, Lethem! Daryl Gregory mixes popular culture and pathos, flavoring it with Philip ok. Dick. Pandemonium possesses each caliber you will want in an excellent novel, and the excellent news is it’s merely his debut.”
–Charles Coleman Finlay, Hugo and Nebula Award-nominated writer of The Prodigal Troll
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Extra info for Pandemonium
Oh yeah. He was once confident that my possession—well, the entire showy possessions, just like the Captain? —were for the leisure of the opposite slans, kinda like theater for superhumans. The slans got here to energy within the forties, and they’re long-lived, and that’s why such a lot of of the demons are so outdated. they prefer their outdated radio indicates and comedian books—the Shadow, Captain the US. ” Lew snorted. “Sure, that is sensible. they retain it a mystery that they’re working the realm, then they blow their conceal through enjoying dress-up like Trekkers? ” “Only Trekkies say Trekkers,” I acknowledged. “There has to be different types of slans—the dependable, world-dominating style, and the role-playing, geek slans. ” “White-boy racist geeks, judging from how my black buddies reacted to the O. J. killing. ” I snorted. “Like you've black associates. ” “So did you inform Bert your concept that you’d trapped a demon? ” “We had loads of time to speak. ” Lou sighed. “Well no ask yourself. ” “No ask yourself what? And it’s now not a conception. ” “Say the slans are in charge,” he acknowledged. “These telepaths can invade any brain they need, bouncing round people’s heads like packets on a community. They pass anywhere they wish, losing into your own like an outbreak. yet you, you’re particular. ” “I’m antiviral? ” “Not precisely. You didn’t kill the demon, you simply quarantined it, like a sandbox that retains malicious program courses from dialing out. ” “You fairly gotta paintings in your metaphors,” I stated. “How’s a sandbox imagined to cease a malicious program? ” “Shut up,” he defined. “The very important factor is that you’ve trapped one. It can’t get out and infect other folks. when you may train humans find out how to do that—” “I don’t are looking to train humans tips on how to seize one. It’s lousy. whether I knew what the trick was once, which I don’t, no one would wish this factor of their head. ” “It can’t be worse than being possessed,” he stated. “You don’t get to have an opinion. ” “Okay, ok. positive. yet say that when you get this factor out of you, you may use an identical trick that stored it in to maintain it out. You’d personal the world’s purely demonic firewall. ” I rolled my eyes. He pointed at me. “You, my good friend, could be the final weapon within the conflict opposed to the slans. ” “Oh my God,” I stated, my voice going spooky with awe. “That may make me…” “The selected One! ” we acknowledged concurrently. We rode in silence for your time. Then Lew acknowledged, “But heavily. Bertram can’t come to the home, now not whereas Amra’s there on my own. You gotta name him and inform him to chop that shit out. ” “I advised you, I’ll name him. ” “Okay,” Lew acknowledged. “Okay. ” We made nice time crossing Ohio and Pennsylvania. My options saved leaping from Dr. Ram to Valis to mom Mariette. Lew distracted me through studying from a number of the extra tangential websites we’d simply skimmed the evening sooner than after we have been having a look up the priestess. Then he began streaming song from his desktop to the auto radio. “You obtained to listen to this one,” Lew acknowledged. It all started with a U2 guitar blast from “Vertigo” overdubbed with their spoken intro to “Helter Skelter,” which without notice turned Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My lady.