The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse

The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse

The truth has always depended on your point of view. By 2024, the great American melting pot has become the great media buffet. Step right up and take what you want! Are you a gay man? Great, you'll want to be sure and catch all the fun on the five channels of the Lambda network, now featuring the hit comedy My Three Dads, and The New Erotic Adventures of Superman. Oh, I'm sorry, you meant to say that you're a fundamentalist Baptist? No problem. Just tune in to the Baptist News Network for all your information needs, and don't miss a minute of our family-friendly sitcoms—programming with a moral and spiritual message! And don't forget; now there's BNN for the classroom, proudly beaming in to Baptist Schools across the country! A Wiccan? No problem, our news agency puts out a show that caters just to your interests -- environmental issues, psychic phenomena, and the secrets to casting love spells that really work! And I'm sure your children watch every episode of Xarena the Cheerleader Witch! Nation of Islam? Great! I know you don't miss a single… Yes, we live in a media and information utopia, where every subculture can have the news told from their point of view, entertainment that speaks to their beliefs, and a private education system that teaches their way of thinking. Of course, this does lead to some minor communications problems between people from different subcultures. Like on the police force. There's that nice Baptist officer who was raised to believe that the witches are all devil worshipers. I wonder what will happen when he's finally sent out on a case with that Wiccan crime scene technician. You know, the one who thinks that all Baptists are patriarchal rapers of the environment. The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse: It's Sunday the 8th of September, 2024. A wiccan journalist investigates the disappearance of a member of her coven, while a black police detective races to solve a series of occult crimes, and a gay PI searches for his missing psychic partner. A Baptist teenager wonders about girls, video games, and why the CIA seems to be cloning him. A televangelist plans a run for the presidency, while a Christian Rock Star engages in Byzantine political maneuvering to block him, and a Cherokee Shaman tries to juggle the demands of the spirit fathers with the demands of the American legal system. And then there's the Artist, with his intricate, baroque plans for revenge. Eleven points of view. Eight interwoven plot lines. Six days. One mystery. The truth has always depended on your point of view. "A Fabulous romp with some sharp edges." -- Nicola Griffith "Hartman weaves an intriguing web with numerous well-defined characters. The background world is both funny and scarily possible." -- The Denver Post, June 27, 1999 "There's a great SF premise here the writing is tight, the drama tense." -- Locus The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse , by Keith Hartman is a first novel that combines a number of different elements in a world where differences are approaching a flash point of conflict.... Hartman weaves an intriguing web with numerous well-defined characters. The background world is both funny and scarily possible. -- Fred Cleaver, The Denver Post, June 27, 1999 First-time novelist Hartman does a surprisingly good job of juggling viewpoints as the delightfully twisted plot unwinds. -- Locus, April 1999 If you can get past the unwieldy (and rather too cutesy) title, there's a fine debut novel by Keith Hartman. What kind of novel I'm at a little of a loss to say. Equal arguments can be made that it's a police procedural, a contemporary Wiccan fantasy, a gay PI novel, a near future sf thriller, a novel of social commentary, and even, in the sections from the point of view of one character, a YA coming of age story. In the end, it's a bit of them all, I suppose, which is part of what made me enjoy it so much. I love a book that breaks down the walls between genres, that just tells a story, the author trusting himself and the story enough to let it go wherever it leads him. The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse is, like it's title, a somewhat busy book, but there's enough payoff in characterization, story, and ideas to make the trip through its pages a real pleasure. -- Charles de Lint, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1999 This is wonderful first novel by an exciting new author. I look forward to seeing more of his work." -- Lee Killough Welcome to 21st century Atlanta. During your stay, depending on your tastes, you can cruise gay midtown (I hear that the Inquisition Health Club has introduced manacles and chains to the aerobics class) or check out the Reverend-Senator Stonewall's headquarters at Freedom Plaza (watch out for the Christian Militia guarding it, though) or attend a sky-clad Wiccan sabbat (by invitation only). Avoid the courthouse, where the Cherokee have turned out in full war-paint to renegotiate a nineteenth