Tourniquet – Tales from the Renegade City by Kim Lakin-Smith
Published by Immanion Press, Stafford, England
This novel revolves around the interaction of a goth ex-drummer, Druid, in a band, Origin, that no longer exists. By some means, Origin and its followers has transformed part of Nottingham into something called Renegade City. And to it come different alternative types, who broadly fall under clans which specialize in different life pursuits. Most of them are gothic in nature.
The antagonists, introduced from the beginning, seem to be the Skinwalkers (skinheads) – biker types. Let me qualify: nasty biker types. This member, Druid – his name could not be more inappropriate - has been charged with looking into the cause of the death of another of the ex-band members, Roses, by the ex-band member's ex-wife. So he has to reintroduce himself into the culture that has evolved in Renegade City.
The band members have become a, perhaps unwilling, part of the power structure, to the point that they are idolized. To the point that they all live in separate accommodation, and by that I mean towers – perhaps office towers. The tower of the most powerful one of the clan was burned, in part, and the ex-member was killed. There was an official investigation by what could be called the police force, the Grallator – they are like no police force in their appearance – and the official conclusion was he had committed suicide. But the ex-wife doesn't accept that – she felt he was murdered. And for some reason she gets Druid to do the investigation, rather than herself.
Roses' murder is as much a symptom of the degeneration of Renegade City as an assassination, and Druid makes it his quest both to find out what really happened and who was the cause in an attempt to find out what has happened in Renegade City, why it was beginning to turn away from the cause of its arising, which is called the Belief.
The clan of Druid is called the Castclan, practicing a 'chaotic syncretism, drawing from Wicca, Druidism, Shamanism, Neopaganism, Buddhism, Kabbalah, Pantheism and other earth-based religions'. He is a Drathcor, and is in fact head of them, a high priest, but he does not class himself as a Castclan, more an 'admirer'.
He cannot reveal himself as he truly is, so his identity camouflage is to be a copy of himself – the equivalent of a permanent Elvis Presley impersonation. He quickly becomes involved with two other protagonists who are friends in his attempt to mix in by first going into a seedy bar (too awful for a pub). He doesn't ask them to participate in his quest, nor does he let on as to who he is, but these two finally can see through the camouflage during the length of the story.
The mother of the teenager – or young – IQ gets involved late in the story as a rescuer in an almost fatal moment with the Skinwalkers. Jezebel, the other protagonist, takes the camouflage of a Fae, a sort of prostitute, without actually being one, in order to find her brother, and return him to the fold; he has rejected her and become a Skinwalker, but has disappeared. She finally finds him in the main hospital for Renegade City, which is the one temple of normality in this futurist gothika. Her search becomes a sub plot in the story.
Druid is capable of extraordinary martial arts abilities, is sort of a sanguinist, and is attracted to Jezebel in a detached way. IQ hangs around, intercedes, and acts as a source of information – which is his natural role as an occupation. The story twists and turns between the different clans, so the reader's knowledge is built up of a society which is separate but has similar problems to normal society. The purpose for this perusal of the clan structures seems to become familiar with the ways things operate, but it can be seen also as a prerequisite for what could be a series of novels on Renegade City.
Kim Lakin-Smith has a very dense writing style – it is hard to just skim through this novel – every breath, feeling, thought and action are detailed. I found myself wanting to just get on with it without the detail at times while reading the novel. But that detail sets the background for what is a number of sub-plots, and a rich story line. The book isn't long – 237 pages, but it goes through much.
For those of you who like gothic novels set in the near future - but gothic not in the classic sense, I might add - with lots of detail and twists and turns, this is one for you. I wish the author success, and I hope Tourniquet becomes popular enough to see the continuance in a series.
