The Jazz

by Melissa Scott

Book Overview

Melissa Scott, winner of the John W. Campbell Award, twice winner of the Lambda Award for best novel, and author of the cyberpunk classic, Trouble and Her Friends, returns with a hip novel of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312875428
• ISBN13: 9780312875428
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 316 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Best yet from Melissa Scott

I first started reading Melissa Scott when a friend gave me Burning Bright and from then on i was hooked. The Jazz is her best yet. Lots of inventive virtual reality and some really nice bits for gamers like the boy that everyone is chasing is a gamer who just happened to stumble on something he shouldnt have. This book would make a great game!!

Melissa Scott Has Another Hit with "Jazz"

Melissa Scott consistently turns out the best visualizations of our cyber future, and has done so again with "The Jazz." From the effects of Internet postings to the future of gated communities, Ms. Scott has them all in "The Jazz." I always look forward to Ms. Scott's latest books, which fluently integrate believable techno worlds into plots that keep you reading.

Playing 'The Jazz' has its delights

Anyone who follows Melissa Scott's work will know that she seems to write in several 'veins'. This book is very much in the style of 'Trouble and Her Friends', but improves in several key areas. Set in a near-future world with cyberpunk atmosphere but without the usual 'cyber' accoutrements, this book is about people living on the grey side of the law. Keyz is a teenage hacker who has stolen a program from a major studio without realising how important it is. Pursued by the studio, he turns to Tin Lizzy, the women who put up a piece of his satirical writing ('The Jazz' of the title). Unfortunately, Tin Lizzy has her own problems, not least a colourful history that comes back to haunt her.As always, Scott's conviction in the worlds she builds and her skill at conveying it mean the book immerses you effortlessly. Tin Lizzy is a well-realised character, someone you think you would like to meet, but that you would probably hate if you did. Her motivations are clear and understandable, but she is by no means a saint. Keyz never really develops as a character, but as he is the initiation of the story rather than its impetus it doesn't really matter. (In addition, it works quite well to convey an 'innocent' caught up in events that he doesn't really understand).The negative on this book surrounds the plot. It's not a bad plot, and it is sustained the length of the book quite nicely. The problem is that the plot does not require the milieu. It fails the SF test of being unable to be told outside of the world in which it has been set. In fact, it faintly reminded me of the film 'The Parallax View', though I haven't entirely figured out why. Scott is capable of writing top-notch SF ('Dreamships', 'The Kindly Ones', 'Burning Bright', 'Shadow Man'), but this is not quite up to that caliber. What it is, however, is an undeniably enjoyable read and a decent way to spend a few quid. It doesn't, to me, reveal or question any fundamentals, the way the other books listed do.

Fascinating view of the future of the Internet

Melissa Scott's "The Jazz" is a smart, hip look at the future of the Internet and the future of entertainment media in our culture, and where the two shall meet. The term "jazz" refers to the placement of false or hoax information on the net, which among the elite is considered to be an artform. Keyz, a 16 year old hoping to become a jazz "player", hacks something he shouldn't and ends up on the run. Lucky for him, he's helped by Tin Lizzy, an experienced player who knows the streets, both cyber and real.My only minor quibbles are that Keyz is underdevloped as a character, and the ending is a little too quick to be satisfying. Tin Lizzy is well-rendered, however, and the descriptions of surfing the net are truly interesting. It's not hard to believe that the future Scott describes may be the way we're headed. For another, different version of the future Internet, I also recommend Shariann Lewitt's "Interface Masque".

WOW!

This book was fantastic.Melissa Scott puts so much detail in this book.Out of all the books that that she has wrote I think this ones the best.I do hope that Melissa Scott writes a sequal to The jazz.