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Kathe Koja
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Dark Factory Paperback – May 10, 2022

by Kathe Koja (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
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Welcome to Dark Factory! You may experience strobe effects, Y reality, DJ beats, love, sex, betrayal, triple shot espresso, broken bones, broken dreams, ecstasy, self-knowledge, and the void. Dark Factory is a dance club: three floors of DJs, drinks, and customizable reality, everything you see and hear and feel. Ari Regon is the club's wild card floor manager, Max Caspar is a stubborn DIY artist, both chasing a vision of true reality. And rogue journalist Marfa Carpenter is there to write it all down. Then a rooftop rave sets in motion a fathomless energy that may drive Ari and Max to the edge of the ultimate experience. Dark Factory is Kathe Koja’s wholly original new novel from Meerkat Press, that combines her award-winning writing and her skill directing immersive events, to create a story that unfolds on the page, online, and in the reader's creative mind. www.Darkfactory.club
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  1. Print length
    300 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Meerkat Press
  4. Publication date
    May 10, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    194615475X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1946154750
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“This is a daring work of multisensory and multimedia immersion, an exemplar of Koja’s career-long commitment to dissolving boundaries—between genres and delivery systems, between body and mind, between story and reader, between virtual and real. This is a propulsive, wickedly funny literary party; enter the Factory, lose yourself, and dance.”  —Mike Thorn, author of Shelter for the Damned, Darkest Hours, and Peel Back and See

"With Dark Factory Kathe Koja spins a nighttime world fully realized and revelatory, all while reaching new linguistic highs. And how many books have you read that made you want to dance?"  —Tom Cardamone, author of The Lurid Sea, Green Thumb, and Night Sweats: Tales of Homosexual Wonder and Woe

"Koja has redefined the possibilities and limits of literature with Dark Factory--a thunderous, all-consuming tour de force executed by one of our finest and most skilled creators. This is not a book. This is an unforgettable and transformative experience."  —Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

"You don’t read Dark Factory so much as slam dance your way through its glittering labyrinth of art, tech, danger, and lust. Meticulously envisioned and impeccably performed, this book lives and breathes far beyond its pages, providing an experience more akin to experimental theater than traditional literature; once again, Koja drags fiction kicking and screaming into the future, where it belongs."  —Maryse Meijer, author of The Seventh Mansion and Heartbreaker

“Dark Factory is a wickedly original and wild book—a steadily evolving mystery, an ecstatic search for beauty and reality, a confrontation with our need to tell and be told stories—all borne of Koja's endless curiosity and dexterity."  — Lindsay Lerman, author of I’m From Nowhere and What Are You

"Koja writes like she's an entire collective of artists, senses in overdrive, voracious for the next hit of art that will push them--and us--over the edge. This is pure energy, a glow-in-the-dark vision of a new kind of writing."  — Daniel Kraus, NYT bestselling author of Bent Heavens and The Living Dead

“Visionary. Stunning. A near-future vision of clubbing culture that takes us beyond virtual reality but, at the same time, presents an intimate look at the life of artists. Koja proves once again that she is a master of her craft."  —Alma Katsu, author of The Fervor and The Deep

"There isn't anywhere I wouldn't go with Kathe Koja, and the seams of reality are no exception."  —Sarah Miller, author of Caroline and The Borden Murders

"In breathless, careening prose, Koja captures minds that see a thousand worlds at once, lives lived at 150 beats per minute, and the complicated, messy reality that lies beneath the endless search for the perfect night out. This is sure to delight fans of Jeff Noon and mind-bending speculative fiction."  —Publishers Weekly

"Some writers are born to spin tales from the shadows. Kathe Koja is one such author. Dark Factory is a unique and esoteric experience. A journey into the throbbing heart of creativity itself. Where we find kisses and cuts. A fantastic story."  —S.A. Cosby, NYT bestselling author of Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland

About the Author

Kathe Koja writes novels and short fiction, and creates and produces immersive fiction performances, both solo and with a rotating ensemble of artists. Her work crosses and combines genres, and her books have won awards, been multiply translated, and optioned for film and performance. She is based in Detroit and thinks globally.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Meerkat Press (May 10, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 300 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 194615475X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1946154750
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

About the author

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Kathe Koja

Kathe Koja

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I’m a writer, director and independent producer of immersive events. DARK FACTORY is my newest book, joining THE CIPHER, VELOCITIES, SKIN, BUDDHA BOY, the UNDER THE POPPY trilogy, and others. My work crosses and combine genres, from historical to contemporary to YA to horror, and has won awards, been multiply translated, and optioned for film and performance. I drink a lot of coffee, I love cats, I'm globally-minded and based in Detroit, USA.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
13 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jankanz
5.0 out of 5 stars Alternate Reality that Hits Close to Home
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2022
Verified Purchase
A trip into a near-future enhanced-reality clubbing world that parallels some aspects of the Epic of Gilgamesh. One of the main characters is a king at the epicenter of the hottest club in the city and it's his presence, his persona, that holds it all together like a spell. The other, an unintentional ascetic, struggles for a shared and authentic artistic experience with nature as the canvas. They revolve in opposition to each other but eventually gravity brings their orbits together sparking a primal and pure alchemy that is greater than everyone involved.

Really loved this novel, but it's also difficult to describe what's going on here. It's not so much the plot or the characters, but how it's written that let me inhabit the characters and find parts of myself in many of them. Just like these new technologies of VR, AR, MR, etc., it's something you have to experience for yourself to fully understand.
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booknerdsbraindump
4.0 out of 5 stars The book is the experience is the book is the experience…
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2022
(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Good Morning, my beloved nerdlings! Today I’m bringing you something a little - well, actually a lot - different than my usual goose bumpery fare, but first, I have to take you all back in time for a quick minute…

Picture it: West Virginia, 1991. I was a horror-freak nerdling about to graduate with high school, when with a limited budget and even more limited options I bought a paperback copy of The Cipher. Before that, I had only been able to find King & Koontz, and although they did scary well enough, they both were always optimistic, with mostly-happy endings and precocious dogs and charming small towns.

Ms. Koja’s little black paperback (is that a song? It should be a song, right?) was something altogether different - bleak, nihilistic, taking place in a grimy city whose inhabitants are short on hope and happiness, and nothing ever gets better. Duckies, my developing mind was BLOWN.

So when I was offered an ARC of Dark Factory, I went in ready to feel the pain, you know? But this was something entirely different.

The eponymous Dark Factory is a nightclub, where Ari, the club’s “creator” mixes cutting-edge virtual reality tech known as “Y” with carefully curated sounds, sights, and even smells to allow guests to experience a world unlike any before.

Meanwhile, Ari’s sometimes-friend Max is of the “go outside and touch some grass” mindset - he has devoted all of his resources to creating Bitter Lake, a sort of woods tour where customers can don bear masks and wander the trails, finding stashes of apples and honey.

But when Max and Ari both realize the limitations of their creations, and decide to work on a little project together… well, I won’t spoil it here. Besides, it’s not even really the point of the book.

You see, in Dark Factory, there’s not a lot of action. No gore, no fights, no crazy supernatural evil entities from beyond the world. Instead, what Ms. Koja has given us is something stranger and more subtle.

This book is told through the eyes of both Max and Ari, but in both cases, the style is EXTREMELY stream-of-consciousness. Sentences can run on for a page or two, almost every character is only known by a first name (and so many of them seem to flit in and out of scenes) and every sight, sound, smell, and store sign is noted. It can be challenging to stay immersed, to find the actual events within the mountains of minutiae, and I’ll admit, I was struggling a few times to stay with it.

But then it hit me - the reason I am so simultaneously captivated and irritated by this style is because it is exactly like the inside of my own head, which is a constant high-speed monologue of everything I’m seeing, hearing, smelling, thinking, overthinking, stressing, imagining, and whichever stupid earworm has taken up residence.

Ostensibly, Dark Factory is a treatise on creating, what makes an idea a good one, and how to get others to most fully experience the thing the way the artist intended. But what it really is, in my opinion, is the author doing exactly that: she puts us deeply into the minds of her characters, creating an immersive, sumptuous, lyrical experience with no headset required.

There are also hints of something mystical going on, an absolutely marvelous love story, a heartbreaking loss, and some shady legal wrangling, but at times the story almost feels beside the point. It’s all about the experience.

The Nerd’s Rating: FOUR HAPPY NEURONS (and some soba noodles, duh)
4 people found this helpful
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X Y & Z artist
5.0 out of 5 stars Top 5 favorite writers
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2022
Verified Purchase
Buy this book. Period. It’s fun, it’s funny, and best of all, masterfully written with language and prose that feels like it pleasuring your brain. If you’ve never read Koja before, do yourself a favor. If you have, then you know she’s a gifted writer with a taste for the sarcastic-macabre. I can’t wait for her next book. Hint: do follow the QR codes in the book. They lead to some very cool interactive web content. And if you were lucky enough to get the swag, you’ll be even more involved with the Factory. Just… amazing.
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Jessica Belmont
4.0 out of 5 stars Dark Factory
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2022
Dark Factory is my first read by Kathe Koja and it will most certainly not be my last. Her writing is so unique. I’m not sure I’ve read anything like Dark Factory before. It was absolutely mind-bending and honestly, one of the most challenging (in a great way) reads I’ve read in a while.

Dark Factory is one of those books that require your absolute focus. There is no skimming or letting your mind wander. Each word is placed purposefully and if you’re not paying attention, you could get lost.

If my above paragraph worried you, let me reassure you, reading Dark Factory is very rewarding. You’ll be taken on a journey of a mind-bending plot line with fantastic characters and very unique writing. Immersive and addicting. In the end, I very much enjoyed this and was happy I read it.

This is one of those stories that going in blind is best, so I’m keeping this review brief and not deep-diving into the plot. If this is a journey that sounds interesting to you, I don’t think you’ll regret taking it! Don’t miss out.

Thank you to Meerkat Press for the free review copy. All opinions are my own and unbiased
2 people found this helpful
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lisaleo (Lisa Yount)
1.0 out of 5 stars WARNING TO KINDLE USERS
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2022
DON’T BUY THIS BOOK ON KINDLE, unless you have some form of Kindle that supports audio (if such a thing exists). It’s supposed to have some sort of audio and video features, which the Kindle tells you it doesn’t support. that would have been OK—they were add-ons I could have lived without--but it then doesn’t show you any printed text either, so you essentially get NOTHING for your $10. The book may be good, but you’ll have to buy a physical copy to find out.
2 people found this helpful
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