The Madonna and the Starship
by James Morrow
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Pub Date Jun 10 2014 | Archive Date Aug 15 2014
Description
THE DIABOLICAL LOBSTERS FROM OUTER SPACE!
It is New York City, 1953. Young pulp-fiction writer Kurt Jastrow's world is thrown into disarray when two extraterrestrial lobsters-like creatures arrive at the NBC studios. Though rabid fans of Kurt's "scientific" alter-ego, loveable scientist Uncle Wonder, they also judge that the audience of a religious TV program is "a hive of irrationalist vermin." To Jastrow's horror, the crustaceans scheme to vaporize two million viewers when the next show goes on the air.
Now Jastrow and his co-conspirators have a mere forty hours to produce a script so explicitly rational and yet utterly absurd that it will somehow deter the aliens from their diabolical scheme....
If possible, please hold reviews until after 6/10 pub date.
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
Praise for James Morrow
“The most provocative satiric voice in science fiction.” —Washington Post
“Morrow is the only author who comes close to Vonnegut’s caliber.”
—Paul Constant, The Stranger
“Morrow understands theology like a theologian and psychology like a psychologist, but he writes like an angel.” —Richard Elliott Friedman, author of The Hidden Book in the Bible
Marketing Plan
-Consumer and trade advertising; co-op available
-Author tour to include select appearances and
national conventions
-Blog and interview tour; social media promotion
-Planned giveaways via Netgalley, Goodreads,
publisher website
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781616961596 |
| PRICE | $14.95 (USD) |
Links
Featured Reviews
Lynda S, Educator
The Madonna and the Starship—Utterly entertaining. James Morrow has pleased this reader again! This time with the kind of laugh-out-loud philosophical humor I am only accustomed to finding in Terry Pratchett’s pages (and in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods). The book’s setting – with its fancies of time that will be found by Baby Boomers laden with nostalgia and by Gen-Xers with cultural curiosities – is both accurate and absolutely entreating. Morrow’s voice is clear and pleasing. A simply wonderful quick read for a Sunday morning!
Ian W, Reviewer
Set in the TV world of New York City in 1953, this novel is as hilarious as the name of James' Morrow's website (do visit! Click on his name above on my blog). It's set in the cozy world of 1950's TV - where the advertisers literally sponsored shows, and sci-fi really started taking off in several media. It's clear that Morrow is in love with the era, because it shows in the intelligent, knowledgeable, and warm way he writes about it.
The absurdly hilarious proposition behind this novel is reminiscent of the movie Galaxy Quest, which also features aliens tuning in to US TV shows, and misunderstanding them. In this case, the aliens are logical positivists (a self-assessment soon to be revised!), and cannot stand the thought of two million viewers buying the religious lies each week. Unless things improve, the aliens plan to exterminate all two million by means of shooting a ray out of the TV screens during the next transmission of the show. It befalls Kurt, the male protagonist who is hardly religious, to save the religious show! I'm still chuckling at that concept.
Kurt is a struggling sci-fi writer, who has the hots for Connie, the producer and writer for the religious show, although as an atheist, he has little faith that she will reciprocate, of course, but the two team up once she becomes convinced he's not loony tunes with his alien story. Their solution is subtley anarchistic and if I can put it paradoxically like this: awash with dry humor. The romance which sparks between them is a far cry from so many crappy 'romances' I've read in far too many YA fiction novels lately. This is a fine grown up example of how to write a realistic and believable relationship.
I recommend this story - which is a relatively short and easy read - wholeheartedly.
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