Serge Brussolo

I was lucky enough to receive an advance reader's copy of The Deep Sea Diver's Syndrome. It's Brussolo's first book translated into English, so I'm hopeful that more will follow. Much like how the character David created a tangible world in his dreams, so Brussolo created such a world in this book. A world in which works of art literally come from the minds of dreamers, with rules and hazards all its own. From the very first page, I was drawn into the world of the story by the author's juicy language, so full of substance. The words he chose made the world of dreams come to life. There's more to this novel than the dream world, however. The world of reality had its own set of laws, wonderfully laid out throughout the story. It's definitely a sci-fi novel, but it has qualities of crime noir as well. And Brussolo does a fantastic job fusing the two, especially in the scope of David's internal conflicts. I also have to commend the translator, Edward Gauvin, who so skillfully brought this novel (originally published in 1992) to a new audience of readers.… (mer)