Jeff Noon writes books set in manchester loosely based around the same near future time period. His style is loose with language and very inventive, thick with thought provoking neologisms and nomenclature.
Manchester is inhabited by people, ghosts (smoke), dogs, and combinations of all of those (the Fecundity Incident). People put 'feathers' in their mouth for shared dreamspace experience (vurt). Coloured feathers are all different, Pink for Porno, Blue for friendly, Red for Aggressive, Black for snuff and watch out for curious yellow, the meta feather. Feathers are like drugs and a similar subculture arises around them. Their origin is a mystery and they turn grey and spent after you have used them only once.
Game Cat is the pirate DJ who advises on feathers and tells the game kittens what's what. He knows the secrets of Curious Yellow and Miss Alice (yes, that alice) Hobart. The powers that be want him silenced.
Vurt, Pollen and Nymphomation are his most accessible novels to date. Automated Alice is a masterpiece, but unless you like the prose of The Late Great Rev. Dodson (Lewis Carroll) you won't like it much - also set in Manchester.
Needle in the groove is a fabulous book written as song lyrics. Story seems to be autobiographical, and revolves around a new liquid recording medium, which gives a whole new meaning to Mixing Down a Track. The story becomes interesting when they start injecting their mixes.
Of them all Pollen is my runaway favourite, the Tale of Boda the X-Cabber who falls in love with a Dog-Boy maverick taxi driver. Vurt is good too (I want nano-sham! and Vaz) and is his first - the tale of scribble who has lost his sister to the vurt and in exchange is now the de facto guardian of some strange vurt beast. A story full of robo-weilers, dog gangs, fractal bullets and inpho rays.
Nymphomation is all about what happens when numbers have sex. If you think that sounds bizarre you should read the book. Maths meets Sex meets Gambling in Manchester. You discover the origin of Vurt and Alice and why Dominos are more important than you think. Also showcases the invention of Vaz, by Jaz.
These are the most original SF to be published in the UK by a homegrown writer for some time. I can't recommend them highly enough.
