Juicy Ghosts
332 pages. Transreal Books, 2021.
Hardback, Paperback, and Ebook.
Notes for Juicy Ghosts
394 pages. Transreal Books, 2021.
Hardback, Paperback, and Ebook.
Rudy's best, furthest out, and most cyberpunk novel yet. Juicy Ghosts is a fast-paced ride, centering on telepathy, immortality, and revolution. Set amid the chaos of a Trumpian US presidential election and his Top Party's attempts at a coup. Hip, bright, darkly comic, and deeply radical. With the surrealism of our streets. And, yes, why not some romance.
This book is more crucial than ever in 2026. It's coming true.
For the public good, the novel's ebook price has been cut to a minimum.
And you can even browse Juicy Ghosts free online.
A key text for these terrible times.
A source of hope, a breath of air.
Rudy Rucker's great new novel, Juicy Ghosts, represents a wise man working at the peak of his powers. Ripe with satire, humor, empathy and tough-minded political hardball, this book exhibits all the shining Rucker talismans, from telepathy to immortality, from gonzo shenanigans to chaotic redemption. With a stellar cast of high-tech lowlifes, male and female both, dialogue that crackles and amuses, and a fire in its belly, Juicy Ghosts outlines a path into our mutual future that is painted in rainbow bioluminescent neon colors.
--- Paul Di Filippo, Locus.
Juicy Ghosts is some of Rudy's best stuff, it flows wonderfully, and the characters are great. A thing of absolutely breakneck pace, with high energy throughout. Nonstop insanity.
--- Marc Laidlaw.
Juicy Ghosts is a story about technology, immortality, and a presidential election. President Tredle resembles Trump. He is about to make sure his third term happens.Very much a comment on our times. An absurdist satire of the very sad and serious times. That could get dark really fast in the hands of most cyberpunk but Rucker's gonzo humor and unleashed weirdness make this a hilarious experience.
Sneaky and living at the edges of this book is a commentary on getting older, and the ways our social media and technology is keeping a record of us. The lifebox is a way that characters as persona might live on.
A Rudy Rucker novel is a surrealist abstract painting ripped from a universe that can only exist in the mind of a genius. A thing of wonder..
--- David Agranoff
The villains of the story are the tyrannical President Ross Treadle and his Top Party. Ross is about to win a third term by using a specially engineered highly communicable virus that infects minds and converts them to Top Party drones. (Which is one of the best metaphors ever for describing what happened to politics in the last decade
Days before the election the heroes are able to counter the virus, which destroys the Treadle majority, but the Top Party is able to steal the election anyway (despite his opponent having won both the popular and electoral vote). The heroes aren’t down for the count, though, and manage to assassinate the tyrant (using bioengineered wasps).
The story moves along at a fast pace. I was so caught up in it that I read nearly the entire novel in one sitting. I finished the last chapter the next day. And, as the blurb promises, there’s a happy ending, including some cathartic aspects for those badly dismayed by the dishonesty and cruelty of the Trump administration. If only life imitated art.
---Wyrd Sythe
I started reading Rudy Rucker’s Juicy Ghosts in front of a Safeway pharmacy, waiting to see if my Covid booster shot was going to give me any side effects. This tale of Silicon Valley biohackers merrily running amok was just the thing to pass that time. As for side effects, I felt a little high for a couple of days, like I was at a party back in the old days and took a toke of whatever was being passed around.
The novel grew out of Rudy’s reaction to the political situation of the last few years, and what it's doing to America. Yes, Rucker isn't happy with Trump, and channeled his anger into writing. So, we get a book that begins with a presidential assassination and goes on into a revolution made possible by a new technology that save minds electronically and then plugs them back into bodies of various kinds.
Like ghosts, but juicy. A solution to any complaints about science fiction tending to want to avoid the hot, throbbing, sticky stuff that makes life so wonderful. The book made me nostalgic for cyberpunk, the New Wave, underground comix, and gives hope for the upcoming generation.
I not only highly recommend buying and reading Juicy Ghosts, but I'm recommending it not just to jaded old fans, like me, but to the kids. After years of dreary, formulaic YA dystopias, this is a welcome change.
Maybe it is possible to change the world
--- Ernest Hogan
An exuberant romp from Rudy Rucker, tells the story of the downfall of Ron Treadle and the corrupt Top party and their minions in an imagined future United States. Inspired by the obscenity that is Donald Trump, and the mindless stupidity of his supporters, and the venal immorality of his backers.
Sadly, not a practical solution to current problems, but an entertaining wish fulfillment. Also, so much less depressing than yet another Hunger Games cookie cutter dystopia. There is an anarchic joy to the way a rag tag band of heroes destroys the oppressors!
--- Ken Richards
Fervently wish I could experience a teep space engineered by Rudy Rucker’s mind. Very much prefer his worlds and ideas to what I’ve been surrounded by my entire life, and lament that I’ve only just discovered him. Am so moved that I’ve ordered a copy for several of my friends this holiday. If anyone could be replicated to a halo and live on freely, it should be Rucker.
---Jamie Is Namelsss
The U.S. President Ross Treadle is about to end his second term and intends to be re-elected by exploiting a virus that will infect the minds of the voters. There’s an informal opposition from the countermovement of the freals, but the election theft seems like a done deal.
In a world where there are forms of immortality that can be virtual or through clones, even the most extreme strategies must be thought out with extreme care. Maurice Winch intends to exploit the possibilities that technology offers for killing Ross Treadle.
“Juicy Ghosts” is a story that offers hope for a future in which it’s possible to get rid of charlatan politicians even when they have access to technologies that offer potential immortality. Rudy Rucker’s approach to cyberpunk always has a certain optimism that makes it ideal for readers who are interested in these issues but don’t want to get depressed.
--- Massimo Luciani.
Notes for Juicy Ghosts is the length of a novel, and includes illos and writing notes from the two years it took to write the novel. In the end, the book was too radical for any mainstream publisher to touch it. And thus it appears from Transreal Books. You can browse Notes for Juicy Ghosts for free as a webpage online
I started writing Juicy Ghosts in early 2019, as a reaction to Donald Trump’s repeated remarks that he planned to be a three-term president. I began with a short story called “Juicy Ghost.” Rebels bring down an insane, evil President who’s stolen an election. I felt that I had to write it.
None of the big zines would publish my story, so in October, 2019, I put it put it on my blog and in the small ezine Big Echo. Self-publishing the story had a samizdat feel to it.
I kept on squawking, growing the story into the novel Juicy Ghosts. While I was writing the final chapters, the January 6, 2020, attack on the Capitol took place—reality was fast overtaking my prophecies.
So, yes, Juicy Ghosts is a tale of political struggle—with a creepy pandemic thrown in. But I was also going for romance and gnarly science, with many scenes I consider to be funny. I tried to write in the loose, say-anything style of Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. The majority of the narrators are women.
The SF in Juicy Ghosts involves commercial telepathy that can transmit emotions. I ring a new change on software immortality by supposing that that a digital soul needs to be linked to a physical body. It’s not enough to be a ghost—you want to be a juicy ghost!
My agent sent the Juicy Ghosts manuscript to a few publishers, to no avail. One of them remarked that the political assassination stuff was too much. So I've self-published the first edition of Juicy Ghosts via Transreal Books, along with the companion volume Notes for Juicy Ghosts.
In order to get something resembling a book advance, I ran a Juicy Ghosts Kickstarter campaign, which turned out very well. I get the feeling that people are hungry for a novel that features the eradication of an evil President! Profound thanks to my backers and to the legions of readers who keep my career alive. You’re wonderful.
And now in 2026, my predictions are oddly coming true. Perhaps jow, in 2026, Juicy Ghosts can be a beacon of hope.
Here's a list of my worthy backers, sorted by the alphabetical order of the first letters of their screen names.
@64, @akaMisterJayEm, Adam Pierce, AgentKaz, Al Billings, Alan Borecky, Alan Robson, Alan Swithenbank, Alejandro, Tomás and Felix Schmieder, Alex Barber, Alex McLaren, Alexander Schwarz, Algae13, Algot Runeman, Allen Varney, Ana Trask, Andrew E. Love, Jr, Andrew Ulysses Baker, Andrew Ward, Andy Deckowitz, Anonymous, Aris Alissandrakis, Arthur Murphy, Asher Nehring, Beat Suter, Ben Stough, Benjamin H. Henry, Bob Hearn, Bob Huss, Bob Schoenholtz, Brazen, Brendan Fisher, Brian, Brian Dysart, Brian from Milwaukee, C. Bonnici, Cam Marshall, Cameron Cooper, Carl Z, Chaplain D. S. Andersen, Charlie Lee, Chris McLaren, Christian Bogado Marsa, Christian Gruen, Cliff Adams, Cliff Winnig, Cody C Mingus, Curtis Frye, Cyberpunky Brewsterminator, DaddyChurchill, Dan dcstpaul Cohen, Daniel Berecz, Daniel Blumenthal, Daniel Eisenman, Daniel Z, Daryl Davis, Dave Bouvier, Dave Holets, David Good, David H. Adler, David Pollard, David Schutt, David Simmonds, David T Kirkpatrick, Dean Wesley Smith, Dekaritae, Derek Bosch, Dino M, Don Tardiff, Donald Marritz, Doug Bissell, Doug McIntyre, Drinkumbrella, Ed, Eibo Thieme, Eileen Gunn, Embry C. Rucker Jr, Erik Biever, Erik Saynisch, Erik Sowa, Fearlessleader, Felix Pereira, Ferenc Toth, Fizzlewick Napoleon Orpheus Roarty Daedalus Esq, Forbidden Futures Magazine (Oddness), Fred Wright, Rocco Privetera, G. Watts, Gaia Maffini-Mazzei, Gary Bunker, Gary Chappell, Gaston Phillips, Geir Friestad, Geoff Beattie, George Bendo & Hedvig Bartha, Gordon F, Grat Crabtree, Grayson O, Greg Ehrrr, Greg Goddard, Greg Johnson, Gregg Morris, Heather Lee, Hiroyuki Ogino, I Onse, Ian Chung, J.M. Hamlow, Jaap van Poelgeest, Jan K. Argasiński, Jane A, Jason Vines, Jeff Aldrich, JeffFurry, Jeffrey Thomas Palmer, Jeremy Hornik-Hornik, Jerry Jensen, jilles, Jim Anderson, Jim C, Jim Gotaas, Jim Guild, Jimmy The Pants, Joe “Madopal” Sislow, John, John Briere, John Carroll, John C. Monroe, John Fiala, John Fox, John Griffiths, John P. Sullins, John Sommerville, John Winkelman, Joker Nies, Jon Kimmich, Jon McKeown, Jonathan, Jonathan Korman, Jonathan Poritz, Josh Heling, Joshua A. C. Newman, Joshua M. Neff, Joshua Patrick Dollins, K6RTM, Kal-el Xebjon von Klaus, Karl W. Reinsch, Karl-Arthur Arlamovsky, Keaomalamalama, Keith Perkins, Kel, Kellie Miller, Kelvin R. Porter, Ken Nickerson, Ken Rokos, Kenji Kato, KentKB, Kerry Kleiber, Kevin Brott, Kevin J. “Womzilla” Maroney, Kevin Pinkham, Kris Zaphod Kahn, Larry Dickman, Leah Fenner, Lee Fisher, Lee Poague, Lexa Koszegi, Lisandro Gaertner, litlfred, Marc Majcher, Marcus M, Marian Goldeen, Mark, Mark Chatinsky, Mark Frauenfelder, Mark Lacy, Mark Thompson, Marty, Matt Moran, Matthew Cox, Matthew Diener, Maxim Jakubowski, Mayer Brenner, Michael “Krav Maga Karate Snack” Scheuermann, Michael A. Becker, Michael A. Shelley, Michael Carychao, Michael Strum, Michael Weiss, Michail Sarigiannidis, Michele Glasnović-Zapf, Mike Harris, Mike Rende, Mils Yobtaf, Miriah B, Mizuho Shiraishi, Moe Cheezmo, Mok, Mongo, Ned Snow, Nicholas Frota, None, Norbert Bruckner, Nuutti-Iivari Merihukka, Nvmb3rTh30ry, Odd, Omnidelic, Patrick Edmondson, Paul Childs, Paul Hammon, Paul Leonard, Paul Mietz Egli, Paul T, Peter, Peter Grose, Peter K, Peter Norvig, Phil Lovell, Philip R, Piet Wenings, Pojo, Pseudomammal, Rafael Fajardo, Rafael L, Raja Julie and Jason, Ralph J. G,Ramón Cahenzli, Ray Cornwall, Ray Edling, Rebecca :), Ricardo Bánffy, Rich Gibson, Rick Ayre, Rick Crain, Rick Floyd, Rick Ohnemus, Rik Skibinski, Rob Alley, Rob Szarka, Robert Gallup, Rod Bartlett, Roger Allen, Roger Shatzkin, Roger Thomas, Roy Adams, Roy Berman, Roy Collins, Ruth Coy, Sam, Sam Hansen, Sandor Silverman, Sarah Orr Aten, Schondy, Scott Bradbury, Scott Call, Scott G. Lewis, Scott Lazerus, Skylar L. Primm, Snik, Stan Yamane, Stefan Schmiedl, Steinar, Steve Flores, Steven A. Thompson, Takuya Mizuguchi, Ted, Terran Empire Publishing, The Ducharmes, Theron Trowbridge, Thomas Bøvith, Thomas Gideon, Tim + Norma Thomson, Tim Conkling, Tim Gruchy, Tim Messler, Timothy Lee Russell, Timothy M. Maroney, Tin Whitworth, Todd Fincannon, Tom Velebny, Uke Bosse, Urgemore, Uscilka Unicorns, Vorn Mern, Wallie C, Walter F. Croft His Own Self, Walter J. Montie, Walter Williams, Wes Cowley, Willard A. Stone, William Dass, William Denton, William Orson Harris III, William Sked, Yoshimichi Furusawa, and Your Name Here.
Page last updated Januray 24, 2022