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—Paul Di Filippo
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Curiosities
Return to the Future, by Diamandis Florakis
(1973)
31,450,670. No, that's not a mistranslated title to Alfred Bester's
famous story, "5,271,009." It's the actual name of the protagonist
of the debut novel by a talented Greek sf author who is, sadly, little-known
in Anglophone territories. Diamandis Florakis, still with us today, produced
ten novels in his "Decalogy of Eschatological Utopia," or, to
employ his other series designation, "Ten Romances of Existential
Anarchy." (My thanks to friend and editor Angelos
Mastorakis for help with this research.) If
subsequent volumes rival the first, it's a monumental accomplishment.
Our numerically named hero (colonized planets, days of the week, and
regions of the globe are all designated with equal blandness) lives in
"computer generation 2,354," an era thousands of years removed from
ours. Thanks to the discovery of the nexus of evil in the human brain in
generation 1,355 and the perfection of an operation for its removal, a
"utopia of ethical and material paradise" now reigns—at least so
believes the High Quotient, the leader of the human race. But if so, why are
suicides exponentially increasing, as the populace's "feeling 1"
ratings plummet?
When 31,450,670 discovers that his operation was faulty and that he
possesses all the old vices—including murderousness—a battle ensues for the
soul of humanity.
With a definite Age of Aquarius vibe, the novel still remains timely,
pondering such eternal conundrums as this: "Murdering, they spoke of
peace; in envisioning peace, they warred." Stylistically reminiscent of
Zamiatin, Lem, Bunch, and van Vogt, the book reads like the libretto for the
next great rock opera by the Flaming Lips.
—Paul Di Filippo
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