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Scenebux
Paperback
Series: Ben Etxina, Book 1
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Sep 6 2025
Pages: 192
Weight: 0.43
Height: 0.44 Width: 5.00 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
Part noir, part counterculture fever dream, all Cairo Smith. Neo-Luddite Ben Etxina travels the globe in a drug-addled delirium, tracing the threads at the heart of a growing vibe shift.
In this rapid-fire tech-weird picaresque, Cairo Smith paints a searing and wry portrait of the mid-2020s, an era careening at high speed toward an uncertain future.
Ben Etxina is a software engineer who can't bear to look at a screen. When he crosses a shady German motorcycle club in downtown San Francisco, he ends up thrown into a mess of underground parties and venture funds rumored to connect to a certain neoreactionary billionaire. A mysterious Pacific island, Vietnamese Catholic femme fatale, and anti-AI terrorist sect all spell deeper trouble for the jet-setting sensitive young man.
Undeniably at the head of the New Wave, Smith has penned his punchiest and most incisive novel yet.
The writing is certainly accomplished, brilliant even, in its casual utilization of funny idioms without breaking the pace or feel of the prose. -Toxic Brodude
A breezy, twisty turny /lit/ novel. -Phil Rot
Great dialogue, voice, cleverness and inventiveness abound. He's honing his already-formidable skills at storytelling. -Alexander Sorondo
All literate people (especially porn-brained, irony-addled internet autists) should applaud that something so timely and absurd is available for consumption. -Arbogast
Scenebux, like Neuromancer, is an exciting neo-noir thriller from start to finish. I read it on a Sunday bombed out on cancer meds, and I had a blast. -Paul Beauhart
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