One of the best brain doctors of his time, Nathi lost his own brain five centuries ago when he became a posthuman.
He is called upon to save a comatose girl. The damage is extensive, so he decides to map his own mind into her brain in order to replace the badly damaged part.
But something unexpected waits for him within the Girl’s brain. She is a carrier of a Wish Fairy, an enigmatic sentient cyber being whose only purpose is to kill the Wish, a virus used by the ruling cyber Wizard Orders to enslave all posthuman minds—including Nathi’s.
Liberated, Nathi forms a symbiotic union—the Dancer—with the Girl, discovers the true cause of her brain injury, and finds a way to break out of the Castle, their high-tech prison, and into the Martian polar night.
But once outside, the real chase begins.
They must resist the cyber wizards who are trying to remotely regain control of their minds while also sending a force in pursuit. This battle must be fought both in the physical world and that of the mind.
Pink Noise is daring in all the ways that science fiction is supposed to be daring. Not only is it great fun to read and filled with moments of touching grace and emotional power, but Pink Noise is also the most thorough-going exploration of the posthuman condition that I have read. Korogodski succeeds in giving us a very human story of loneliness and loves lost that’s also a mind-bending exploration of all the ways that technology could change what it means to be human. He’s raised the bar for the rest of us.
Karl Schroeder
…a superdense rush of technical explanations for the atomic structure of the human—and posthuman—mind, written with the kind of passion that a pornographer might reserve for a detailed description of someone’s reproductive organs, and the kind of lyricism that a poet might use to describe the same parts (albeit by allegory). This, for the most part, really works—Pink Noise manages to be a story that sucks you in and spits you out again some 120 pages later, having somehow convinced your mind to care about the trials and tribulations of people who can’t properly die and who are mostly made from computation.
Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing
Explosive in its approach to language and imaginative in its portrayal of a life lived in cyberspace as well as in the real world, this postcyberpunk adventure injects the genre with a long-awaited freshness. A good choice for both adult and YA fans of hard sf and postmodern fantasy.
Jackie Cassada, Library Journal
This book is one of the most impressive works of literature I have read in some time, both utterly original and technologically head-spinning. The pace is relentless and the prose almost poetic in places, with a real sense of grace and emotional power. Pink Noise is the explosive birth of a new star in science fiction.
Antony Jones, SFBook
Leonid Korogodski’s short book […] combines the force of a parable with a sense of what Wordsworth called “something more deeply interfused,” that strange, almost mystical effect of the whole being far more than the sum of its parts. It’s the sense that we get in The Great Gatsby and Heart of Darkness, like Pink Noise brief works in which a mocking critic could find much to sneer at, but filled with glimpses of worlds beyond the world of the story.
Seamus Sweeney, SFSite
Utterly mind-bending, Pink Noise is nothing if not imaginative. […] Korogodski skillfully utilizes deeply persuasive language in describing a thoroughly fantastical concept, the full scope of which requires you to stretch the bounds of your imagination to never-before-seen extremes. As a result, you are sure to finish his spiritually-winding tale emotionally exhausted—yet strangely intrigued by the nascent enlightenment you somehow now possess.
Chelsey Perry, Apex Reviews
This book was a whirlwind adventure. There was something fluid and hypnotic about the phrasing in this story, making me feel very much like a futuristic Alice who had just fallen down the rabbit hole into a whole new world.
Grace Krispy, MotherLode
Pink Noise grabs you with the opening paragraph and doesn’t let go until you’ve finished your roller-coaster ride through its fascinating world. Leonid Korogodski has crafted a riveting story in a fully-realized future that is as alien as any you’re likely to find.
Mike Resnick
An exciting, terrifying rush of words, deftly combining hard science and poetic imagery. I don’t know whether “magnetorheological” is a word. If not, it should be!
Joe Haldeman
A fascinating, thought-provoking, action-filled ride through a richly detailed universe such as you never imagined by a writer who is sure to make his mark on the genre.
James Stevens-Arce
A vividly imagined adventure exploring the possibilities and the dark side of a post-Singularity world.
Kij Johnson
Leo Korogodski has written a suspenseful, imaginative thrill-ride that ranks with the best of New Wave science fiction… vivid prose, an intricate, intelligent plot and original, compelling characters make Pink Noise a genuine page-turner. He is a writer to watch.
Mark Ellis, aka JAMES AXLER
Pink Noise is a work of breath-taking scope and creativity… a must-read for every science fiction fan who wants to be challenged, entertained, frightened, and enlightened.
Melissa Martin Ellis