From Russia, with love:

The hardbound Russian translation of my 1996 classic of cybercrit, Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century, randomly illustrated with blurry, migraine-inducing black-and-white photos.

I can’t vouch for the translation, since I don’t read Russian. And I’m frankly a little nonplussed at the smoking hole in my front lawn left by the arrival, out of a cloudless sky, of this spaceborne time capsule from 1996.

But much of this book stands the test of time, by my lights, since it’s cultural critique, rather than the geeked-out cheerleading that characterizes so many titles from that era, the Pre-Cambrian Explosion of Cyberhype.

Of course, Russian readers who’ve dreamed of taping their eyes into their sockets, strapping themselves into a Foucauldian centrifuge, and reading this thing in their own language will rejoice in the mere fact of its publication.

Stills from the Russian SF movie Planeta Bur (The Planet of Storms, 1959). Found on RETROFUTURE.

I have five (5) copies of this, the new Russian-language edition. I’m going to mail this slab of retro-futurist history FREE (except for shipping and handling charges, of course) to the first five readers who mail me at markdery AT verizon DOT net. ACT NOW, before the Crab Boys of Betelgeuse have their depraved way with your intake valves.