Eclipse Trilogy

The Eclipse Trilogy is a techno-thriller book series by John Shirley. Being written in The Eighties, it depicts a pretty dystopian future.


 * Ambiguous Gender: One famous Minimono star was born male, but had his private parts removed to be more androgynous.
 * Anti-Hero: The protagonists.
 * Badass Israeli: Steinfeld, an ex-Mossad agent
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: There's a guy with a colored mohawk, and it's stated that all the colors provide specific information for other people (who know) in-story.
 * Cowboy Cop: In-story. Since the series is made by right-wingers, he's always right, and his liberal boss is wrong.
 * Crapsack World / Dystopia: World War Three has happened, the Religious Right reigns the USA, and the fascists came back to power in Europe. Crappy enough?
 * Cyberpunk: Has elements of this, with the events involving the Grid and the developed technology (don't forget, the story's from The Eighties).
 * Cyberspace: The "grid". Some people treat it as if it was a conscious and possibly friendly entity.
 * The Fundamentalist: Rick Crandall and others, behind the right-wing US government
 * Future Music: This future has the new styles of Flare, Minimono (which sounds very boring - maybe it's just Rick's POV) and wiredancers
 * Future Slang
 * Good People Have Good Sex: At one point, there's a juxtaposition of good and bad characters' sex scenes to make the point. A Dominatrix included.
 * The Great Politics Mess-Up: The first book came out in 1985. You know what happened afterwards. Later editions clarify that a new Soviet Union has re-emerged.
 * The Last DJ: Fading rock star Rick Rickenharp
 * Make the Bear Angry Again: Yes, the Soviet Union comes back!
 * Monumental Damage: The Arc de Triomphe in Paris is destroyed by British fascists.
 * Newspeak: Public AntiViolence shows - where contestants vie for the right to conduct public executions.
 * Non-Human Sidekick: Smoke and his crow.
 * Nuclear Option: Doesn't mean The End of the World as We Know It, since the blocks only use tactical nukes. Amsterdam still is devastated.
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: Jack Brendan "Smoke", Dan "Hard-Eyes" Torrence
 * Private Military Contractors: Second Alliance Security Corporation (SA)
 * La Résistance: The New Resistance, of course.
 * Sinister Minister: Televangelist "Smiling" Rick Crandall
 * Space Station: The L5 colony FirStep
 * Strange Bedfellows:
 * Israeli Steinfeld has to make the rich oil sheiks help his cause. He points out that they'll be next if they don't help.
 * Also, the New Resistance unites all kinds of people, from Christian Democrats to Communists and Anarchists. And for some reason, many artists.
 * Subliminal Seduction: The bad guys use this to spread fascist propaganda.
 * Those Wacky Nazis: Fascism makes a big comeback in Europe. In France, the son of Le Pen becomes president.
 * Twenty Minutes Into the Future: Set in the early 21st century. The new edition specifies the year: 2029.
 * We Will Use Wiki Words in the Future: AntiViolence, FirStep
 * World War Three: The Soviet Union invades western Europe, but is kicked out later.