Jordan A. Rothacker’s The Shrieking of Nothing is a compelling sequel to his novel The Death of the Cyborg Oracle and a testament to his skill in worldbuilding.
Paula Bomer wrote of the book:
“In The Shrieking of Nothing, set in the year 2220, the detective Edwina Casaubon narrates her journey to find Momo, a missing young man who leads her and her partner through a world that is gorgeously fantastical and futuristic, yet grounded in real human emotions, familiar belief systems, and the forever mysteries of this universe we inhabit. A straightforward detective novel wrapped up in a spiritual quest, The Shrieking of Nothing is a gripping, moving account of the hopes and limitations of our desire for transformation and salvation, both of our spiritual and physical worlds. Simply beautiful.”
In his own words, here is Jordan A. Rothacker’s Book Notes music playlist for his novel The Shrieking of Nothing:
This novel is the sequel to 2020’s The Death of the Cyborg Oracle. This is the first sequel I’ve ever written, and it was fun to return to the world of 2220, post-climate catastrophe and subsequent fall of capitalism, but fun admittedly is a strange word in reference to an uninhabitable Earth outside of the Dome. These books are set in a domed-Atlanta, and within the Dome things aren’t so bad, greed makes us nauseated—it’s an inherited epigenetic trait, we all have it—but with unlimited solar energy collected through the Dome, there is no need or want. Without the abstraction of Capitalism, everyone worships their own goddess/god/deity, and the limited crime is divided into Sacred and Profane. These stories follow a rookie Sacred detective, newly transferred from Profane, and her apprenticeship with Sacred Detective Rabbi Jakob “Thinkowitz” Rabbinowitz. I promise, it all comes together. The playlist I provided for the first book of this series still holds for this volume, but here are some more specific songs for The Shrieking of Nothing.
1. “Ashes to Ashes” by David Bowie off Scary Monsters
The title of this novel is a line from this song. It fits this story in many ways, the most outer-textual being that this novel is a sequel and “Ashes to Ashes” is a sequel to “Space Oddity” eleven years earlier. And “Ashes to Ashes” itself references another sequel in rock and roll, maybe the first: “Peggy Sue Got Married” by Buddy Holly. Just check out the first two verses of both songs. Carlos Alomar played on this song, and over the course of writing this book I interviewed him for SPIN magazine. His kindness and wisdom has added a deeper, personal understanding of Bowie’s music, and this song specifically.
2. “African Night Flight” by David Bowie off Lodger
The Berlin Trilogy of Bowie albums (Low, “Heroes,” and Lodger) were a huge thematic and aesthetic influence on these books, especially his nods back to early 20th century futurism. Lodger is the most eclectic album, stylistically, and this song really captures the multi-cultural awareness that Bowie was playing with. It’s also some of his most amazing vocal stylings.
3. “Can’t Get Enough of Myself” by Santigold off of 99c
The Shrieking of Nothing, like the proceeding book, is narrated by Assistant Sacred Detective Edwina Casaubon. In this one she is more comfortably in the new world of her Sacred position of service for her community. She is learning a lot and also really feeling herself. This song is one of my favorite anthems of self-care and self-love, and I can imagine if Casaubon heard it, she’d feel that too.
4. “You’ll Find a Way” by Santigold off of Santogold
The energy, the drive, and the allusions and references that this song captures is motivating to me and gives all the feels I get in NYC and other cosmopolitan, urban areas. The chorus of this song reminds me of DEVO’s “Freedom of Choice,” which is another message within The Shrieking of Nothing. My hopeful future world is one in which freedom of choice is systemically respected.
5. “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)”/“Moon, Turn the Tides… Gently Gently Away” by Jimi Hendrix off of Electric Ladyland
This double track from Hendrix’s final finished studio album filled rooms and the inner walls of my skull while writing and dreaming about this future world. While Hendrix’s apocalyptic scenario is quite different from mine, his hope and dreams were infective.
6. “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” by Neutral Milk Hotel off of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Inexplicably this album follows Electric Ladyland for my “writing with music on” process. I hear an innocent, childlike hope in the song, and the playfully surreal lyrics fit the mood of Casaubon’s outlook often.
7. “Powerful Throat Singing” by Gyuto Monks off of Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir
There is a mournful scene set at a Tibetan dinner in which the Sacred detectives hear throat singing and chanting. This is an album I enjoyed to set the scene in my own head, with this song specifically getting me into “character.”
8. “Exuma, the Obeah Man” by Exuma off of Exuma (1970)
I’m forever grateful to Jordan Peele for turning me onto Exuma through the Nope soundtrack. Not only am I now working on a biography of Tony McKay, but this album and all the rest inspired this novel of mine. Like Hendrix, and Exuma captures the brilliant creativity and hope inherent in Afro-futurism by connecting indigenous cultural traditions and practices to space-age aesthetics and futurist technologies.
9. “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone off of I Put A Spell On You
This song connects to the development of the character, Edwina Casaubon, in the same way as “Can’t Get Enough of Myself” mentioned earlier. There is a moment in the novel where Casaubon listens to this song after a long day and is filled and charged by its power.
10. “Sinnerman” by Nina Simone off of Pastel Blues
This song is in the novel, soundtracking a fast-paced chase scene, as it is in Casaubon’s head as she is describing to the reader a fast-paced chase scene. Simone, like Bowie, is considered a “Profane Prophet” in the society of that future domed-Atlanta. Her voice and social-justice righteousness are cornerstone for that better world.
also at Largehearted Boy:
Jordan A. Rothacker’s playlist for his novel The Death of the Cyborg Oracle
Jordan A. Rothacker’s playlist for his story collection Gristle
Jordan A. Rothacker’s playlist for his novel And Wind Will Wash Away
Jordan A. Rothacker is a poet, novelist, and essayist living in Athens, Georgia where he earned a Masters in Religion and a PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia. Rothacker majored in Philosophy at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York and his life has been split between Georgia and New York (where he was born); he dreams of going west. His journalism has appeared in periodicals as diverse as Vegetarian Times and International Wristwatch, while his fiction, poetry, reviews, and essays can be found in such illustrious venues as Red River Review, Dark Matter, Dead Flowers, Stone Highway Review, May Day, As It Ought to Be, The Exquisite Corpse, The Believer, Bomb Magazine, and Guernica. For book length work check out Rothacker’s The Pit, and No Other Stories (Black Hill Press, 2015), and novella (or “micro-epic” as he calls it) and his first full-length novel, And Wind Will Wash Away (Deeds Publishing, 2016). He is the editor of Maawaam’s Shadow Book (Spaceboy Books, 2017). His fiction can also be found in The Cost of Paper: II (2015), The Cost of Paper: III (2016), and The Cost of Paper: IV (2017), anthologies from Black Hill Press edited by William M. Brandon III. He loves sandwiches (a category in which he classifies pizza and tacos) and debating taxonomy almost as much as he loves his wife, his son, his dogs, and his cat, Whiskey.