Friday, September 15, 2017

Trying to mock and failing








Nothing throws cold water over my interest in a book quite like the sort of description I just read on the cover of a Science Fiction book I was just shelving at my library:


Joe is an ordinary guy leading his safe and ordinary existence, but a devastating medical diagnosis causes him to throw caution to the wind and take his unused time machine out of the garage in order to go on the adventure of a lifetime.


Actually, on second thought, that book doesn't sound so bad. I think in the paraphrasing I accidentally improved it. I'd read this book! Still, I do object to its take on ordinary guys. For one thing I'm extremely unclear on just what an ordinary guy is. Are they all the people who write the comments on the Internet? But no matter how I'm going to interpret the definition of "ordinary guy" I know that it's never going to include "owns or is capable of making a time machine."

How about this then:

Mike is as regular a guy as you'd ever meet, but he just keeps his head down and quietly lives his bland life trying not to be noticed. People often forget he's even in the room, which suits him fine. But when his world famous rock band gets an intriguing offer from the devil, Mike decides to listen to his magic cat for once and use some of the money from his Nobel Peace Prize to go on a daring adventure that might just save the life of his best friend (who might also be God).


Oh, fine, I'd read that too.













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