From Publishers WeeklySpinrad's shrill messianic novel reaches the U.S. eight years after its first publication in French. Texas Jimmy Balaban is convinced that stand-up comedian Ralf, a self-proclaimed refugee from a horrific world of tomorrow, could be a megastar. Jimmy drafts jaded SF writer Dexter Lambkin and New Age guru Amanda Robin to effect this transformation. Amanda eagerly accepts Ralf at face value, and cynical Dexter is surprised to find himself also falling under Ralf's spell even as the new role takes a terrible toll on the comedian. Spinrad alternates between revulsion at overweight SF fans, whom Dexter shamelessly manipulates for egoboo pussy and joke fodder, and an unshakable conviction that these Monkey People can change the world if they just apply themselves. Even Spinrad's venerable name won't sell this book to the readers he so palpably despises, leaving it without an audience. (Apr.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistStarred Review In the pantheon of elderly, still active sf authors, Spinrad occupies a seat somewhere outside the circle of grand masters like Vance and Silverberg. Yet a few of his works, like pre-cyberpunk novel Bug Jack Barron (1969), belong among the genre’s classics. Moreover, his latest, a sprawling, satirical epic featuring a stand-up comedian allegedly from the future, just may be his magnum opus. When two-bit talent agent Texas Jimmy Balaban retreats to a Catskills resort with his latest mistress, the last person he expects to meet is an offbeat jokester with unlimited showbiz potential named Ralf. Billing himself as a comedian from Earth’s environmentally decimated future, Ralf has enough timing and novelty appeal to be a hit. With the help of New Age acting coach Amanda Robin and fading sf writer Dexter Lampkin, Balaban polishes Ralf’s image and material enough to land a lucrative TV contract. While to Balaban Ralf simply represents dollar signs, Lampkin Ralf’s acerbic shtick, littered with dire ecological warnings, represents a wake-up call for humanity. But to Amanda, he may be something much more: a godlike entity beyond space and time. Spinrad skillfully blends environmentalism and mysticism with time travel and biting satire in a funny, intriguing tale that’s one of his best and one of the best sf novels of the new century to date. --Carl Hays

Taking aim at both Christian fundamentalists and corporate CEOs, Raising Hell is a rousing account of the fight to improve working conditions in Hell, a cause taken up by the likes of Jimmy Hoffa, John L. Lewis, and César Chávez. This volume also features "The Abnormal New Normal," an essay that casts a cold and critical eye on current trends in popular culture, showing how they reflect the domination of the one percent and suggesting a radical fix. The book closes with an Outspoken Interview, a mix of intimate revelation, celebrity gossip, insight, opinion, and outright lies.

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This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic, timeless works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

Can human consciousness exist within the framework of an electronic "brain" and still maintain its humanity? In DEUS X, a dying priest's consciousness is uploaded into the most advanced computer of the day - and what ensues is a thought-provoking, entertaining and overly intriguing clash between the various characters surrounding the experiment, a female Pope and a computer guru who'd rather be sailing and smoking pot, for example. **

THE NOVEL DEEMED TOO DANGEROUS TO BE PUBLISHED IN AMERICA—IS FINALLY PUBLISHED IN AMERICA!In this thought-provoking work set in the near future and first published in 2007, Spinrad (Raising Hell) traces the course of his protagonist's life from naive youth to veteran soldier... At its core, the book is about a young man struggling with his faith and the politics that are rightly or wrongly attached to that faith, and his choices feel plausible even to readers who would make very different ones. — Publishers Weekly, Starred ReviewOSAMA THE GUN, set in a not-so-far future when the "Sons of Osama" have established a powerful Islamic Caliphate with Pakistani nuclear weapons and Arabian oil money, is the story of one of those "sons" of the martyr, a naive and sincere young man who becomes a Caliphate secret agent to escape its closed confines and see the world — and finds himself becoming the reluctant hero of the title.Osama the Gun becomes a terrorist...