A “hilarious collection of parodies and other satirical writings that affectionately send up the SF genre as well as the publishing world” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). In the manner of Robert Sheckley, William Tenn, Harry Harrison, Douglas Adams, Tom Holt, and other great science fiction satirists, Paul Di Filippo takes on the foibles and follies, tropes and tics of the genre he loves in a wealth of short, sharp flash fictions. Using his four decades of experience in writing and publishing, he skewers authors, editors, artists, readers, retailers, librarians, and book companies alike with fantastical and visionary humor. You’ll encounter miniature android authors as playthings and a future where guns are de rigueur and books are banned. You’ll learn of the secret collaboration between Wells and Verne, and how civilization was toppled by a DVD sale gone wrong. You’ll attend the only school for writers that matters, and witness how an invented language escapes Hollywood to revolutionize the world. On each overstuffed mini-odyssey into Carrollian contrarianism, you’ll enjoy sparkling and savage prose and meet folks you'll recognize from a thousand conventions—or from looking in the mirror. The reader’s love of good science fiction will be enhanced, and their radar for pretentiousness and fakery will be upgraded to cosmic levels!
