Sure, he only wrote it for the money, but it’s vintage Farren nonetheless. In fact, this book does to America what The Texts Of Festival did to England right at the outset of Mick’s career; except with far better technology. 
    It’s 2041 AD, and America is just staggering back to its feet after a period of bloody anarchy in which all but the major city-states such as LA and Las Vegas were overrun by the violent rule of outlaw gangs.  Now on the wane, the outlaws hole up in desert towns to lick their wounds and engage in internecine strife, while the burger-brained masses inside the walled compounds are reintroduced to the joys of civilization by the new televisual bloodsport: Autoduel, motorised jousting with live ammo and no mercy shown.  
    Except that Autoduel is getting too easy: the New York Times critic is outraged that, in the interests of preserving the lives of major Autoduel stars such as Val Paladin, the networks have toned down the violence and even started introducing sub-lethal munitions into the arena. Not bloody enough, deem the executives of Skynet, who seek to achieve the ultimate ratings coup by covertly arming to the hilt one of the few remaining outlaw gangs and inviting them to a showdown with the cossetted stars of Autoduel, to be televised live. 
    A done-while-the-author was-broke tie-in with the successful Car Wars role-playing game, it’s no surprise that Back From Hell sometimes reads like a cross between Mad Max and Rollerball. Neither, however, should it be a surprise that this book contains plenty of dark satire on the media industry, a generalized if tacit discourse on the real versus the fake in art/life/entertainment, and a cast-list lifted from CBGB’s circa 1977.  
    Mick Farren couldn’t write a straight cash-in if you put a gun to his head.  This book is great fun.

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