PRAISE FOR 'ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF VICISSITUDE' (2012)
A FLAWED MIND
"Dreamlike and bewitchingly evocative, One Hundred Years of Vicissitude reads like an eye-witness account of one man’s personal Hereafter, and in the telling the novel gives a human face to Japan’s fraught progress through the Twentieth Century. Bergen deftly intertwines the lives of an unlikely pair beyond the finitude of death - one a seemingly irredeemable oligarch, the other a centenarian former Geisha - and in doing so immerses the reader in a rich cultural and personal milieu." (Marcus Baumgart)
BARE*BONES E-ZINE
"A terrific book! Bergen takes the reader on a purgatorial tour through twentieth-century Japanese history, with a ghostly geisha who has seen it all as a guide and a corrupt millionaire as her reluctant companion. I couldn't put it down! I put everything else aside and read the whole book. I loved it! I really liked Bergen's first book, but I liked this one so much more." (Jack Seabrook)
BOOK REVIEWS BY ELIZABETH A. WHITE
"When Andrez Bergen burst onto the scene in 2011 with Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat, one of the most wonderfully creative and unique books I’ve had the pleasure to read, I wondered how he could ever possibly top it. Well hold on, ladies and gentlemen, because with One Hundred Years of Vicissitude Bergen is once again taking readers on a wildly enchanting journey down the rabbit hole to an ethereal world rich with Japanese and pop culture, one which seamlessly melds history and the hereafter. Prepare to have your mind opened... then blown." (Elizabeth A. White)
PULP INK
"What an unusual read. 'One Hundred Years of Vicissitude' is a hedonistic, delightfully drunken tour through purgatory and World War II-era Japan. A funny, erudite, and surreal exploration of Japanese culture, the life and afterlife of an ex-pat, and about a million other subjects. Bergen has constructed a dark and magical world you won't soon want to leave." (Chris Rhatigan)
FORCES OF GEEK
"A tale that combines the rich history of Japan with pop culture sensibilities into a unique, memorable story, One Hundred Years of Vicissitude both entertains and illuminates. Andrez Bergen's sophomore novel is another indescribable, exhilarating book that belongs in the library of any fan of contemporary post-modern literature." (Stefan Blitz, editor-in-chief)
DRYING INK
"Eclectic, compelling, and engaging from the first page—the most original novel I've read all year. If you took A Christmas Carol, introduce it to a cheerfully amoral protagonist and set it in the afterlife, you'd still be far away... but closer than most. Loved Deaps' narration—his rather cheerfully disinterested facade as well—and you kept me up all night, in fact. It's quirky, poignant, and utterly brilliant." (Jacob Topp-Mugglestone)
BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY
"Add into the mix some multi-layered writing, numerous pop culture references, the odd history lesson and a cracking great story and you just about start to scratch the surface of this highly original book." (Katy O'Dowd)
ZOUCH MAGAZINE
"One Hundred Years of Vicissitude is like that interesting and imaginative conversation you always hoped you'd have with your best friend. Bergen has written it down for you — hard-boiled and entertaining." (Charles Pitter)
INSOMNIA PRESS
"Crime, geisha, time travel; this book masterfully balances these things and turns its nose up at pretentious literature, making the novel raw, emotional, and above all — honest." (Dakota Taylor)
NERDY BOOK REVIEWS
"A fantastic addition to the fiction genre, like nothing I have ever read before." (Olivia Wakey)
CHESTER PANE
"Oh my goodness graciousness. Mate, your novel is so far exquisite, but the linguistic depth and eclectic mish-mash is exciting. Finally, someone with language skills and a grasp of polyglot dynamic inter-fused brilliantly into the voice of Mr. Deaps. I am loving this."
CRAIG WALLWORK
"Reading One Hundred Years of Vicissitude by Andrez Bergen is like running headlong into a bar brawl between Flann O’Brien and James Joyce: you know you're going to get hurt and bloody, but you'll end up richer for the experience."
RAYMOND EMBRACK
"A witty voyage of ideas, history, pop culture, style, characters and scenes that are unforgettable, told by a writer of prodigiously creative originality. Ultimately this is an otherworldly love story—except it’s too unique to be anything like a love story. This fascinating novel is one of a kind."
DARK WOLF'S FANTASY REVIEWS
"Witty, intelligent and delightful dialogue, showing a mastering of language and an assured writing technique from Andrez Bergen... combined with a warm and wonderful sensibility."
"Dreamlike and bewitchingly evocative, One Hundred Years of Vicissitude reads like an eye-witness account of one man’s personal Hereafter, and in the telling the novel gives a human face to Japan’s fraught progress through the Twentieth Century. Bergen deftly intertwines the lives of an unlikely pair beyond the finitude of death - one a seemingly irredeemable oligarch, the other a centenarian former Geisha - and in doing so immerses the reader in a rich cultural and personal milieu." (Marcus Baumgart)
BARE*BONES E-ZINE
"A terrific book! Bergen takes the reader on a purgatorial tour through twentieth-century Japanese history, with a ghostly geisha who has seen it all as a guide and a corrupt millionaire as her reluctant companion. I couldn't put it down! I put everything else aside and read the whole book. I loved it! I really liked Bergen's first book, but I liked this one so much more." (Jack Seabrook)
BOOK REVIEWS BY ELIZABETH A. WHITE
"When Andrez Bergen burst onto the scene in 2011 with Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat, one of the most wonderfully creative and unique books I’ve had the pleasure to read, I wondered how he could ever possibly top it. Well hold on, ladies and gentlemen, because with One Hundred Years of Vicissitude Bergen is once again taking readers on a wildly enchanting journey down the rabbit hole to an ethereal world rich with Japanese and pop culture, one which seamlessly melds history and the hereafter. Prepare to have your mind opened... then blown." (Elizabeth A. White)
PULP INK
"What an unusual read. 'One Hundred Years of Vicissitude' is a hedonistic, delightfully drunken tour through purgatory and World War II-era Japan. A funny, erudite, and surreal exploration of Japanese culture, the life and afterlife of an ex-pat, and about a million other subjects. Bergen has constructed a dark and magical world you won't soon want to leave." (Chris Rhatigan)
FORCES OF GEEK
"A tale that combines the rich history of Japan with pop culture sensibilities into a unique, memorable story, One Hundred Years of Vicissitude both entertains and illuminates. Andrez Bergen's sophomore novel is another indescribable, exhilarating book that belongs in the library of any fan of contemporary post-modern literature." (Stefan Blitz, editor-in-chief)
DRYING INK
"Eclectic, compelling, and engaging from the first page—the most original novel I've read all year. If you took A Christmas Carol, introduce it to a cheerfully amoral protagonist and set it in the afterlife, you'd still be far away... but closer than most. Loved Deaps' narration—his rather cheerfully disinterested facade as well—and you kept me up all night, in fact. It's quirky, poignant, and utterly brilliant." (Jacob Topp-Mugglestone)
BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY
"Add into the mix some multi-layered writing, numerous pop culture references, the odd history lesson and a cracking great story and you just about start to scratch the surface of this highly original book." (Katy O'Dowd)
ZOUCH MAGAZINE
"One Hundred Years of Vicissitude is like that interesting and imaginative conversation you always hoped you'd have with your best friend. Bergen has written it down for you — hard-boiled and entertaining." (Charles Pitter)
INSOMNIA PRESS
"Crime, geisha, time travel; this book masterfully balances these things and turns its nose up at pretentious literature, making the novel raw, emotional, and above all — honest." (Dakota Taylor)
NERDY BOOK REVIEWS
"A fantastic addition to the fiction genre, like nothing I have ever read before." (Olivia Wakey)
CHESTER PANE
"Oh my goodness graciousness. Mate, your novel is so far exquisite, but the linguistic depth and eclectic mish-mash is exciting. Finally, someone with language skills and a grasp of polyglot dynamic inter-fused brilliantly into the voice of Mr. Deaps. I am loving this."
CRAIG WALLWORK
"Reading One Hundred Years of Vicissitude by Andrez Bergen is like running headlong into a bar brawl between Flann O’Brien and James Joyce: you know you're going to get hurt and bloody, but you'll end up richer for the experience."
RAYMOND EMBRACK
"A witty voyage of ideas, history, pop culture, style, characters and scenes that are unforgettable, told by a writer of prodigiously creative originality. Ultimately this is an otherworldly love story—except it’s too unique to be anything like a love story. This fascinating novel is one of a kind."
DARK WOLF'S FANTASY REVIEWS
"Witty, intelligent and delightful dialogue, showing a mastering of language and an assured writing technique from Andrez Bergen... combined with a warm and wonderful sensibility."
PRAISE FOR 'TOBACCO-STAINED MOUNTAIN GOAT' (2011)
THE THOUSANDS MAGAZINE
"Andrez Bergen put science fiction, noir, Australia and Japan into a literary hadron collider and Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat came out."
SF BOOK REVIEWS
"Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat is an incredible novel, completely unexpected and with such a wonderfully rich and unique style that is simply mesmerizing, unmissable."
LIP MAGAZINE
"Such an engrossing and visual read—gorgeous, subtle moments in there as well."
ELIZABETH A. WHITE (REVIEWER)
"I can say without qualification that not only is Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat one of my Top 5 reads of 2011, it is one of the most creative and engaging books I’ve ever read. Period... Between reading yours and Vincent Holland-Keen's The Office of Lost & Found back-to-back, my mind is completely blown."
JOSH STALLINGS (AUTHOR)
"A wonderful ambush of a novel. It leads you down a well-tread path and then jumps from the brush and drags you to uncharted lands. It has been a while since I had this childlike joy at turning the page. It's an insane, hard-boiled future shocker. Wow."
ZOUCH MAGAZINE
"In a modern age of conspiracies and corporate agglomerates, I think Raymond Chandler would be pleased as to where Bergen has taken his legacy…"
IMPACT MAGAZINE (UK)
“A jam-packed roller coaster that’s as affecting as it is exciting and gripping.”
SOLARCIDE
"It's a cigar-puffing, whiskey-sipping, piano playing bar lout, and the book will stir up a whole bunch of memories of black-and-white imagery."
CRIME FICTION LOVER
"In the world Andrez Bergen has created, Melbourne is the only city left and after the apocalypse it’s protected by a giant dome. Yes, this is noir meets science fiction as our main character Floyd Maquina presents the story in Chandleresque fashion."
BEAT MAGAZINE
"Innovative, quirky, at times hilarious... this is as challenging as it is a roller coaster ride."
GUY SALVIDGE (AUTHOR)
"A post-modern melange that is the most intriguing of novels... Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is a novel that manages to be hardboiled
and playful at the same time."
VERBICIDE MAGAZINE
"At the heart of Bergen’s novel is the love affair our author has with popular culture. This book is bursting with nods and homages to everything from Humphrey Bogart to Mobile Suit Gundam."
THE FLAWED MIND
"Andrez wears his pop-culture influences on his sleeve, and the result is a compote that mashes up a plethora of fictional frameworks into a believable, seamless whole. Floyd Maquina... is ruggedly handsome and generally ruined; witty, self destructive and self-effacing with his air of gracious defeat."
DRYING INK
"Floyd Maquina was a refreshing protagonist, I liked the noir influences, and... the ending tied it together fantastically."
HEATH LOWRANCE (AUTHOR)
"TSMG is one of the freshest, most original things I've read in a while. Terrific stuff. One of my favourite books of 2011."
CHAD ROHRBACHER (AUTHOR)
"Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is like dropping acid with William Gibson and Hunter S. Thompson."
THE BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY
"Witty and literate, the book skips along at a lively pace and then makes a mad dash for the finishing line... it is the ride rather than the finishing line that makes this a fun read."
BARE*BONES E-ZINE
"The prose is solidly tough-guy style, more noir than sci-fi, with technical terms kept to a minimum... This novel has enough twists and turns to keep a Raymond Chandler fan happy."
PATRICIA MAUNDER @ THE AGE / ABC RADIO
“A Third Man/Matrix/Blade Runner/Dashiell Hammett melange that is engrossing, intriguing and surprising!”
DOC O'DONNELL (AUTHOR/BLOGGER)
"Like a dystopian film noir and totally badass."
BETHANY SMALL @ INPRESS MAGAZINE
"Things get fairly meta what with the characters talking about how they’re acting out/being cast as certain types throughout the book... a great take on the laconic narration/voiceover you get in a lot of noir."
VICE MAGAZINE
“Flows effortlessly; smart, mesmerizingly dark and difficult to put down.”
INVURT
"We do like our unusual fare, and this one is really up there... Some of you may have heard of a new book that’s been making waves through the webosphere lately – Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat. Weird name, cool premise – and as sci-fi and noir fans, we’re pretty excited about it."
THE KINDLE BOOK REVIEW
"What's scary, though, is that aside from just a little bit of futuristic cosmetic surgery and a few other things, you could look around at the current global climate and see this mess be a real possibility."
FARRAGO MAGAZINE
"Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat is a great read; a well-rounded book from a well-rounded individual."
RMIT CATALYST MAGAZINE
"Quirky, fresh, riddled with references to noir classics, but written with a self-deprecation that douses any cries of pretension and a black humour that sees you in wry smirks when reading."
SONS OF SPADE
“Quite the offbeat P.I. novel.”
ALLTHOSESHAPES.COM
"Nice work, Andrez—so creative."
GAIJINPOT.COM
“Fresh, unusually intelligent, with canny, rapid-fire dialogue.”
THE FUTURE FIRE
"Does a fabulous job of highlighting the complexities and dangers of current world social, economic and political climates."
GEEK GIRLS
"An original, dark work of dystopian fiction that I’ve had a hard time putting down."
SCIFICTION.COM
"Really cool new sci-fi/noir."
ME, MY SHELF & I
"Bergen is a word-smith, there is no doubt about that. His writing style kept me interested and entertained to no end."
FORCES OF GEEK
“Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is a love letter to the detective genre densely packed with obscure pop culture references that had me grinning.”
FILMINK MAGAZINE
“Original and intriguing.”
JENNIFER WU, BOOK THINGO
"Thank you for writing such a great pastiche/homage/love letter."
M L SAWYER (AUTHOR)
The most unique story I have read for some time... well done for being different."
DARK ROASTED BLEND
“Some mischievous dark candy, with gritty/nutty/licorice tones.”
PAUL JACKSON (JOURNALIST)
"Enjoyed feasting on the goat. Started to think I was taking a test myself... Certainly enjoyed the blurring of one reality and another. You had the momentum flowing for another 50 pages at least!"
COLIN HARVEY (AUTHOR)
"Floyd Maquina has a distinctive voice, and a likeable character, and I’m a sucker for both... Andrez Bergen’s debut novel is a book drenched in film imagery."
READ IN A SINGLE SITTING
"Just up my alley. Award for (arguably) best title ever goes to Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat."
TIM COLMAN (JOURNALIST)
"Just finished your novel and I loved it. Great read with some punchy dialogue - reminds me of chatting over drinks with you. It's good to know the hard boiled detective lives on too."
J.F. JENKINS (AUTHOR)
"I gotta say it's an awesome indie book read."
DANGEROUS ROMANCE.COM
"Intriguing and just quirky enough."
OLLIE OLSEN (MUSICIAN)
"Lovin' what I read so far."
GORDON HIGHLAND (AUTHOR/DIRECTOR)
"Blade Runner meets The Third Man is an apt description."
BOOKS & THINGS
"Welcome to the claustrophobic, bleak Melbourne of the future... I can’t remember when my cinema knowledge was so tested in a book."
ALAN HERRICK (MUSICIAN/AURICULAR RECORDS)
"Started reading TSMG finally - was tempted to call in sick to work and finish it in one sitting - love it!"
FIENDISHLY BOOKISH
"I am intrigued (my eyebrows are definitely raised in interest) over your book. I like unusual."
BARRY GOODE (MATE)
"I can honestly say that as I was reading it I was thinking of Melbourne High School days and those incredibly graphic fight scenes you could create in no time at all."
ANZ LITLOVERS
"A bit like David Mitchell’s Ghostwritten (from his Japanese phase)."
GRIFFITH REVIEW
"The digital version looks great!"
"Andrez Bergen put science fiction, noir, Australia and Japan into a literary hadron collider and Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat came out."
SF BOOK REVIEWS
"Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat is an incredible novel, completely unexpected and with such a wonderfully rich and unique style that is simply mesmerizing, unmissable."
LIP MAGAZINE
"Such an engrossing and visual read—gorgeous, subtle moments in there as well."
ELIZABETH A. WHITE (REVIEWER)
"I can say without qualification that not only is Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat one of my Top 5 reads of 2011, it is one of the most creative and engaging books I’ve ever read. Period... Between reading yours and Vincent Holland-Keen's The Office of Lost & Found back-to-back, my mind is completely blown."
JOSH STALLINGS (AUTHOR)
"A wonderful ambush of a novel. It leads you down a well-tread path and then jumps from the brush and drags you to uncharted lands. It has been a while since I had this childlike joy at turning the page. It's an insane, hard-boiled future shocker. Wow."
ZOUCH MAGAZINE
"In a modern age of conspiracies and corporate agglomerates, I think Raymond Chandler would be pleased as to where Bergen has taken his legacy…"
IMPACT MAGAZINE (UK)
“A jam-packed roller coaster that’s as affecting as it is exciting and gripping.”
SOLARCIDE
"It's a cigar-puffing, whiskey-sipping, piano playing bar lout, and the book will stir up a whole bunch of memories of black-and-white imagery."
CRIME FICTION LOVER
"In the world Andrez Bergen has created, Melbourne is the only city left and after the apocalypse it’s protected by a giant dome. Yes, this is noir meets science fiction as our main character Floyd Maquina presents the story in Chandleresque fashion."
BEAT MAGAZINE
"Innovative, quirky, at times hilarious... this is as challenging as it is a roller coaster ride."
GUY SALVIDGE (AUTHOR)
"A post-modern melange that is the most intriguing of novels... Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is a novel that manages to be hardboiled
and playful at the same time."
VERBICIDE MAGAZINE
"At the heart of Bergen’s novel is the love affair our author has with popular culture. This book is bursting with nods and homages to everything from Humphrey Bogart to Mobile Suit Gundam."
THE FLAWED MIND
"Andrez wears his pop-culture influences on his sleeve, and the result is a compote that mashes up a plethora of fictional frameworks into a believable, seamless whole. Floyd Maquina... is ruggedly handsome and generally ruined; witty, self destructive and self-effacing with his air of gracious defeat."
DRYING INK
"Floyd Maquina was a refreshing protagonist, I liked the noir influences, and... the ending tied it together fantastically."
HEATH LOWRANCE (AUTHOR)
"TSMG is one of the freshest, most original things I've read in a while. Terrific stuff. One of my favourite books of 2011."
CHAD ROHRBACHER (AUTHOR)
"Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is like dropping acid with William Gibson and Hunter S. Thompson."
THE BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY
"Witty and literate, the book skips along at a lively pace and then makes a mad dash for the finishing line... it is the ride rather than the finishing line that makes this a fun read."
BARE*BONES E-ZINE
"The prose is solidly tough-guy style, more noir than sci-fi, with technical terms kept to a minimum... This novel has enough twists and turns to keep a Raymond Chandler fan happy."
PATRICIA MAUNDER @ THE AGE / ABC RADIO
“A Third Man/Matrix/Blade Runner/Dashiell Hammett melange that is engrossing, intriguing and surprising!”
DOC O'DONNELL (AUTHOR/BLOGGER)
"Like a dystopian film noir and totally badass."
BETHANY SMALL @ INPRESS MAGAZINE
"Things get fairly meta what with the characters talking about how they’re acting out/being cast as certain types throughout the book... a great take on the laconic narration/voiceover you get in a lot of noir."
VICE MAGAZINE
“Flows effortlessly; smart, mesmerizingly dark and difficult to put down.”
INVURT
"We do like our unusual fare, and this one is really up there... Some of you may have heard of a new book that’s been making waves through the webosphere lately – Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat. Weird name, cool premise – and as sci-fi and noir fans, we’re pretty excited about it."
THE KINDLE BOOK REVIEW
"What's scary, though, is that aside from just a little bit of futuristic cosmetic surgery and a few other things, you could look around at the current global climate and see this mess be a real possibility."
FARRAGO MAGAZINE
"Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat is a great read; a well-rounded book from a well-rounded individual."
RMIT CATALYST MAGAZINE
"Quirky, fresh, riddled with references to noir classics, but written with a self-deprecation that douses any cries of pretension and a black humour that sees you in wry smirks when reading."
SONS OF SPADE
“Quite the offbeat P.I. novel.”
ALLTHOSESHAPES.COM
"Nice work, Andrez—so creative."
GAIJINPOT.COM
“Fresh, unusually intelligent, with canny, rapid-fire dialogue.”
THE FUTURE FIRE
"Does a fabulous job of highlighting the complexities and dangers of current world social, economic and political climates."
GEEK GIRLS
"An original, dark work of dystopian fiction that I’ve had a hard time putting down."
SCIFICTION.COM
"Really cool new sci-fi/noir."
ME, MY SHELF & I
"Bergen is a word-smith, there is no doubt about that. His writing style kept me interested and entertained to no end."
FORCES OF GEEK
“Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is a love letter to the detective genre densely packed with obscure pop culture references that had me grinning.”
FILMINK MAGAZINE
“Original and intriguing.”
JENNIFER WU, BOOK THINGO
"Thank you for writing such a great pastiche/homage/love letter."
M L SAWYER (AUTHOR)
The most unique story I have read for some time... well done for being different."
DARK ROASTED BLEND
“Some mischievous dark candy, with gritty/nutty/licorice tones.”
PAUL JACKSON (JOURNALIST)
"Enjoyed feasting on the goat. Started to think I was taking a test myself... Certainly enjoyed the blurring of one reality and another. You had the momentum flowing for another 50 pages at least!"
COLIN HARVEY (AUTHOR)
"Floyd Maquina has a distinctive voice, and a likeable character, and I’m a sucker for both... Andrez Bergen’s debut novel is a book drenched in film imagery."
READ IN A SINGLE SITTING
"Just up my alley. Award for (arguably) best title ever goes to Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat."
TIM COLMAN (JOURNALIST)
"Just finished your novel and I loved it. Great read with some punchy dialogue - reminds me of chatting over drinks with you. It's good to know the hard boiled detective lives on too."
J.F. JENKINS (AUTHOR)
"I gotta say it's an awesome indie book read."
DANGEROUS ROMANCE.COM
"Intriguing and just quirky enough."
OLLIE OLSEN (MUSICIAN)
"Lovin' what I read so far."
GORDON HIGHLAND (AUTHOR/DIRECTOR)
"Blade Runner meets The Third Man is an apt description."
BOOKS & THINGS
"Welcome to the claustrophobic, bleak Melbourne of the future... I can’t remember when my cinema knowledge was so tested in a book."
ALAN HERRICK (MUSICIAN/AURICULAR RECORDS)
"Started reading TSMG finally - was tempted to call in sick to work and finish it in one sitting - love it!"
FIENDISHLY BOOKISH
"I am intrigued (my eyebrows are definitely raised in interest) over your book. I like unusual."
BARRY GOODE (MATE)
"I can honestly say that as I was reading it I was thinking of Melbourne High School days and those incredibly graphic fight scenes you could create in no time at all."
ANZ LITLOVERS
"A bit like David Mitchell’s Ghostwritten (from his Japanese phase)."
GRIFFITH REVIEW
"The digital version looks great!"