Hodder and Stoughton 1997
The sequel to Trainspotting is in the cinemas at the moment so let’s get
nostalgic and visit some short fiction from the 90s. Disco Biscuits is a
hefty nineteen stories published at the height of global rave fame in 1997.
Perhaps nothing here is going to blow your mind but there’s also nothing
here below par. I thought the best stories were little gems by obscure
authors.
One I like is "Electrovoodoo" (Michael River). A bunch
of kids eat their rave flyers and visit a scary post-human drain world
where electrical appliances are set to rule over a dying planet. Another
fun one is “Mile High Meltdown" (Dean Cavanagh). In this story a
crack-addled pilot on a passenger flight forces a jungle crew to spin
records over the cabin PA.
The use of recreational drugs is the
common element in all of these stories. Mostly the descriptions feel
very authentic. There's one or two stories that try too hard with
extreme quantities, and in one story a boy dies slowly from bad drugs
while remaining quite lucid and calm (implausible and melodramatic). The
story which I felt said it best was "Heart of the Bass" (Kevin
Williamson). A young protagonist takes a modest quantity of drugs that
none-the-less are far stronger than expected. He then experiences a
bizarre hallucinatory series of events which are quite different from
the actual bizarre events of the night as experienced by his friends.
Insert some sexual anxiety and party relationships and this story just
felt right. It was probably my favourite and it even had a happy ending.
In summary - a nourishing slab of creative fiction about the rave scene.
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