Nova Swing

Nova Swing is a science fiction novel by M. John Harrison published in 2006. It takes place in the same universe as Light. The novel won the Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick Awards in 2007.

Nova Swing takes place long after the events of Light, where we first discover the disturbance in the space-time continuum known as the Kefahuchi Tract. The novel's thematic focus is the Event Site in the city of Saudade, which is on an unnamed planet.

The Event Site was created when a piece of the Tract fell to the ground, transforming the appearance and even the physics of the port area and commercial buildings. The Site draws tourists from other planets, led by hardened guide Vic Serotonin, who specialises in dangerous and unpredictable tours of this chaotic zone.

One of the narrative's threads play out as a consequence of 'artefacts' being brought out of the Event Site by tourists. This, in the eyes of the police. is regarded as Site Crime. There is also evidence that the Site is transmitting other-worldly people to Saudade through a bar that sits on a beach close to the Site border.

The motif of the Site recalls the Zone in Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. However the novel incorporates many aspects of noir fiction into its narrative. The stories of Vic and his nemesis Detective Ascheman take on the classic noir of tortured police procedurals and hunted/haunted criminal tropes, while also subverting them.

Unlike the first book, Nova Swing stays in one future time. There are no visits to the 1999 period of Light.

Vic Serotonin: Vic is short for Vico. He is a Travel Agent and makes a living from taking clients into The Site. He bases himself at the bar Black Cat White Cat where he spends his leisure time 'caning it' most nights on Black Heart rum.

Liv Hula: An ex-pilot who has wandered the planets of The Beach, the area bordering the Tract, who owns the Black Cat White Cat bar and lives above the shop. She apparently flew with Ed Chianese, who we met in Light.