Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat
Encyclopedia
Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is a science fiction
/noir
novel by Australia
n author Andrez Bergen. It is set in a post-apocalyptic, near-future Melbourne
, Australia. It features cover art and some illustrations by America
n artist Scott Campbell
, and was first published through Another Sky Press in the U.S. in April 2011.
's The Big Sleep
on Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat. "I adore The Big Sleep," he said in an interview in January 2011. "Everything about the way it’s written, the descriptions, the wry quips... Chandler, that novel and the film version by Howard Hawks
were a huge influence on T.S.M.G."
In an interview in May 2011 he again mentioned this story, along with other genre-related inspiration. "In relation to the novel, there are a few particular noir films that stand-out. Taking pole position in that context would be the Howard Hawks’ version of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, John Huston
’s take on Dashiell Hammett
’s The Maltese Falcon
, and two films by British director Carol Reed
: Odd Man Out
and The Third Man
- for which Graham Greene
did the script."
The city of Melbourne
, where the novel is set, is another principle influence according to Bergen. "I was born there and even now, a decade after leaving, I still feel a huge affinity for the place," he told Lip Magazine
. "And Melbourne is somehow appropriate to be the last city in the world... it plays the same role in Nevil Shute
’s On the Beach."
Current global events taint proceedings. "Things are not going terribly well in terms of civil liberties, the political climate or the environment... the portrait painted is of an overcrowded, polluted metropolis groaning under the control of a government vested in corporate interests and busy herding non-conformists and misfits into extramural death camps styled as ‘hospitals’."
Tokyo
, where the writer has lived since 2001, also figures highly as he told Upstart magazine. "While writing and making music, Bergen also developed what he describes as "an unhealthy obsession" with Japanese cinema directors such as Akira Kurosawa
, Mamoru Oshii
, and Satoshi Kon
... mashed with his love for manga, Japanese techno, cuisine and anime."
He further refers to a mix-media influence in the development of the novel, in particular cinema and electronic music. "The novel has been sitting somewhere within my head space for the better part of 20 years, taking precedence on and off... but over the past four years it’s been at the forefront – and this has coincided with my resurgent interest in making electronic music. So some of the themes and ideas have obviously cross-pollinated: the movie sample/references/allusions; the underlying focus on a futurist take on the hard-boiled/noir detective concept."
The Future Fire
magazine wrote that "The dim and gritty atmosphere is expertly set, using a massive amount of references to film noir and pop culture."
Bergen also believes that humor is essential to the novel. "I was brought up on British humour and I think there’s a lot of baggage from that in there. I loved the way Joseph Heller
undercut the drama in Catch-22
, and the manner in which Terry Gilliam
and Tom Stoppard
did it in Brazil
. I think a cheeky bit of mirth is the great leveller," he said to Solarcide in an interview in July 2011.
future with a dash of post 9/11 paranoia for good measure."
Jody Bingeman wrote that "Bergen does a terrific job of showing the stark difference between the glistening plastic world of the elites and dripping, crumbling world that everyone else is left to try to survive in. Although it’s extreme, the parallels to ‘the real world’ are obvious."
"The author’s self-deprecation helps ground his writing, preventing him from self-indulgence and losing himself in intellectual pretension," noted Zoe Kingsley in a review in Farrago
magazine. "Bergen’s experience in journalism, photography, music and art amongst other things, easily translates into this expat Australian’s homage to Melbourne and its culture."
In its review of the book the Me, My Shelf & I website remarked that "Inside this movie-referenced story of a man down on his luck also comes a heart-wrenching love story with more twists and turns then a roller coaster... all set in a forever rainy, remarkably built dystopian/futuristic society." Writing for Australian publication Lip Magazine Freya Tomren put it that, "Bergen writes with clarity, wit and ease... The imagery is evoking, characters fascinating and certain themes perturbing.” The novel has "a highly developed grasp of the English language, defying conventional story telling methods and creating a unique voice to the narrative that almost feels non-linear," wrote SF Book Reviews. "[It's] an incredible novel, completely unexpected and with such a wonderfully rich and unique style that is simply mesmerizing."
Beat Magazine reviewed the novel as "Innovative, quirky, at times hilarious... this is as challenging as it is a roller coaster ride."
"Bergen’s style doesn’t coddle the reader," Evan Pearson wrote in Verbicide Magazine
. "His sometimes informal voice and penchant for showing and not telling require a little extra participation on the reader’s part. The result, though, is a quick but memorable excursion to a unique place that rewards the reader with invigorating style and a very satisfying ending."
"A post-modern melange that is the most intriguing of novels," further assessed Australian author and book reviewer Guy Salvidge. "Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is a novel that manages to be hardboiled and playful at the same time."
The novel has also received praise from The Age
newspaper and ABC Radio National
in Australia.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
/noir
Hardboiled
Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...
novel by Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n author Andrez Bergen. It is set in a post-apocalyptic, near-future Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia. It features cover art and some illustrations by America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n artist Scott Campbell
Scott Campbell (artist)
Scott Campbell is an Production Designer for Double Fine Productions and illustrator living in New York, New York.-Biography:...
, and was first published through Another Sky Press in the U.S. in April 2011.
Plot
The narrator, Floyd Maquina - a loner and a film aficionado - "has a sick wife named Veronica who is hospitalized and may soon die. He has a job seeking out deviants, and for this he has The Guide to Deviant Apprehension & Containment, with its mantra of ‘Seek, Locate, Apprehend, Contain, Terminate [if necessary]'." Along the way he encounters all manner of obstruction, from an oppressive corporation that funds sinister public works, to the loss of friends and close colleagues, and even a fascist security apparatus called the Cricketing Police.Influences
Bergen has cited the influence of Raymond ChandlerRaymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
's The Big Sleep
The Big Sleep
The Big Sleep is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first in his acclaimed series about detective Philip Marlowe. The work has been adapted twice into film, once in 1946 and again in 1978...
on Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat. "I adore The Big Sleep," he said in an interview in January 2011. "Everything about the way it’s written, the descriptions, the wry quips... Chandler, that novel and the film version by Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
were a huge influence on T.S.M.G."
In an interview in May 2011 he again mentioned this story, along with other genre-related inspiration. "In relation to the novel, there are a few particular noir films that stand-out. Taking pole position in that context would be the Howard Hawks’ version of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
’s take on Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
’s The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...
, and two films by British director Carol Reed
Carol Reed
Sir Carol Reed was an English film director best known for Odd Man Out , The Fallen Idol , The Third Man and Oliver!...
: Odd Man Out
Odd Man Out
Odd Man Out is a 1947 Anglo-Irish film noir directed by Carol Reed, starring James Mason, and is based on a novel of the same name by F. L. Green.-Plot:The film's opening intertitle reads:...
and The Third Man
The Third Man
The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score...
- for which Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
did the script."
The city of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, where the novel is set, is another principle influence according to Bergen. "I was born there and even now, a decade after leaving, I still feel a huge affinity for the place," he told Lip Magazine
Lip Magazine
lip magazine is an advertisement-free, quarterly magazine targeted at young women aged 14–26. The first issue of lip magazine was launched in 2002 by founding editor Rachel Funari. The publication recently relaunched itself as a print-on-demand product.The current editor-in-chief of the magazine is...
. "And Melbourne is somehow appropriate to be the last city in the world... it plays the same role in Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute Norway was a popular British-Australian novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer. He used his full name in his engineering career, and 'Nevil Shute' as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.-...
’s On the Beach."
Current global events taint proceedings. "Things are not going terribly well in terms of civil liberties, the political climate or the environment... the portrait painted is of an overcrowded, polluted metropolis groaning under the control of a government vested in corporate interests and busy herding non-conformists and misfits into extramural death camps styled as ‘hospitals’."
Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, where the writer has lived since 2001, also figures highly as he told Upstart magazine. "While writing and making music, Bergen also developed what he describes as "an unhealthy obsession" with Japanese cinema directors such as Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
, Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2...
, and Satoshi Kon
Satoshi Kon
was a Japanese anime director and manga artist from Kushiro, Hokkaidō and a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association . He was a graduate of the Graphic Design department of the Musashino Art University. He is sometimes credited as in the credits of Paranoia Agent...
... mashed with his love for manga, Japanese techno, cuisine and anime."
He further refers to a mix-media influence in the development of the novel, in particular cinema and electronic music. "The novel has been sitting somewhere within my head space for the better part of 20 years, taking precedence on and off... but over the past four years it’s been at the forefront – and this has coincided with my resurgent interest in making electronic music. So some of the themes and ideas have obviously cross-pollinated: the movie sample/references/allusions; the underlying focus on a futurist take on the hard-boiled/noir detective concept."
The Future Fire
The Future Fire
The Future Fire is a small press, online science fiction magazine , run by a joint British-US team of editors. The magazine was launched in January 2005 and releases issues four times a year, with stories, articles, and reviews in both HTML and PDF formats...
magazine wrote that "The dim and gritty atmosphere is expertly set, using a massive amount of references to film noir and pop culture."
Bergen also believes that humor is essential to the novel. "I was brought up on British humour and I think there’s a lot of baggage from that in there. I loved the way Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller was a US satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His best known work is Catch-22, a novel about US servicemen during World War II...
undercut the drama in Catch-22
Catch-22
Catch-22 is a satirical, historical novel by the American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953, and the novel was first published in 1961. It is set during World War II in 1943 and is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the twentieth century...
, and the manner in which Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
and Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
did it in Brazil
Brazil (film)
Brazil is a 1985 British science fiction fantasy/black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam. It was written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard and stars Jonathan Pryce. The film also features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm...
. I think a cheeky bit of mirth is the great leveller," he said to Solarcide in an interview in July 2011.
Reception
Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat has garnered mostly positive reviews, including a glowing one from online magazine Forces Of Geek that says it's "a delicious bit of Chinatown 1930s wrapped around a Blade RunnerBlade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
future with a dash of post 9/11 paranoia for good measure."
Jody Bingeman wrote that "Bergen does a terrific job of showing the stark difference between the glistening plastic world of the elites and dripping, crumbling world that everyone else is left to try to survive in. Although it’s extreme, the parallels to ‘the real world’ are obvious."
"The author’s self-deprecation helps ground his writing, preventing him from self-indulgence and losing himself in intellectual pretension," noted Zoe Kingsley in a review in Farrago
Farrago
First published on 3 April 1925, Farrago is Australia's oldest student newspaper. Farrago is published by the Melbourne University Student Union.- Name :...
magazine. "Bergen’s experience in journalism, photography, music and art amongst other things, easily translates into this expat Australian’s homage to Melbourne and its culture."
In its review of the book the Me, My Shelf & I website remarked that "Inside this movie-referenced story of a man down on his luck also comes a heart-wrenching love story with more twists and turns then a roller coaster... all set in a forever rainy, remarkably built dystopian/futuristic society." Writing for Australian publication Lip Magazine Freya Tomren put it that, "Bergen writes with clarity, wit and ease... The imagery is evoking, characters fascinating and certain themes perturbing.” The novel has "a highly developed grasp of the English language, defying conventional story telling methods and creating a unique voice to the narrative that almost feels non-linear," wrote SF Book Reviews. "[It's] an incredible novel, completely unexpected and with such a wonderfully rich and unique style that is simply mesmerizing."
Beat Magazine reviewed the novel as "Innovative, quirky, at times hilarious... this is as challenging as it is a roller coaster ride."
"Bergen’s style doesn’t coddle the reader," Evan Pearson wrote in Verbicide Magazine
Verbicide Magazine
Verbicide is an independent entertainment website based jointly out of Las Vegas, Nevada and Brooklyn, New York. It is co-published via Scissor Press by founding editor Jackson Ellis and creative director Nathaniel Pollard....
. "His sometimes informal voice and penchant for showing and not telling require a little extra participation on the reader’s part. The result, though, is a quick but memorable excursion to a unique place that rewards the reader with invigorating style and a very satisfying ending."
"A post-modern melange that is the most intriguing of novels," further assessed Australian author and book reviewer Guy Salvidge. "Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is a novel that manages to be hardboiled and playful at the same time."
The novel has also received praise from The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
newspaper and ABC Radio National
Radio National
ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
in Australia.
External links
- "Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat", The official website at Another Sky Press
- "Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat", Official Website