Product Description
Theodore Sturgeon Award winner
Nebula and Hugo Award nominee
It is the early summer of 1945, and war reigns in the Pacific Rim with no end in sight. Back in the States, Hollywood B-movie star Syms Thorley lives in a very different world, starring as the Frankenstein-like Corpuscula and Kha-Ton-Ra, the living mummy. But the U.S. Navy has a new role waiting for Thorley, the role of a lifetime that he could never have imagined.
The top secret Knickerbocker Project is putting the finishing touches on the ultimate biological weapon: a breed of gigantic, fire-breathing, mutant iguanas engineered to stomp and burn cities on the Japanese mainland. The Navy calls upon Thorley to don a rubber suit and become the merciless Gorgantis and to star in a live drama that simulates the destruction of a miniature Japanese metropolis. If the demonstration succeeds, the Japanese will surrender, and many thousands of lives will be spared; if it fails, the horrible mutant lizards will be unleashed. One thing is certain: Syms Thorley must now give the most terrifyingly convincing performance of his life.
In the dual traditions of Godzilla as a playful monster and a symbol of the dawn of the nuclear era, Shambling Towards Hiroshima unexpectedly blends the destruction of World War II with the halcyon pleasure of monster movies.
Review
"This dark, wildly funny, politically incorrect satire is a winner."
-Nancy Kress, author of After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall
"The most provocative satiric voice in science fiction."
- Washington Post
"...widely regarded as the foremost satirist associated with the SF and fantasy field."
- SF Site
"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
"America's best satirist."
-James Gunn, University of Kansas
"Readers will never think of Godzilla-or any other B-movie monster-in quite the same way, that's guaranteed."
- Green Man Review
"...the strange brew of jolly satire and moral indignity of vintage Kurt Vonnegut...."
- Time Out Chicago
"It's called satire, and James Morrow does it brilliantly."
- SF Site
"...tour-de-force of razor-sharp wit...packs a big wallop...."
- SciFi Dimensions
"Morrow is the only author who comes close to Vonnegut's caliber. Like Vonnegut, Morrow shrouds his work in science fiction, but the real story is always man's infinite capacities for love and for evil."
-Paul Constant, The Stranger.com
"...witty, playful...reminiscent of Watchmen...."
- Strange Horizons
"...a reminder that for all the shenanigans in his plots, [James Morrow is] first and foremost just a great writer."
- Bookgasm
"In the tradition of Dr. Strangelove...even as you're laughing, you're not sure you should be."
- Omnivoracious.com
"James Morrow's bizarrely funny new book Shambling Towards Hiroshima turns the usual Godzilla paradigm on its head: Instead of being inspired by the horrors of nuclear war, Godzilla is its herald."
- io9.com
"It takes a special sort of person to...imagine a real-world basis for Godzilla...."
-John Scalzi, The Big Idea
"Morrow liberally salts the yarn with real Hollywood horror-movie personnel, Jewish showbiz snark, and gut-wrenching regret for the bomb. As usual for Morrow, a stellar performance."
- Booklist
"...sharp-edged, delightfully batty...skillfully mingling real and imaginary characters with genuinely hilarious moments."
- Kirkus
"...a total hoot to read...recounting horrors both imagined and real with equal aplomb."
- The Agony Column
"A ridiculously fun read...pitch-perfect satire."
- Fantasy & Science Fiction
"This is what we have come to expect from Morrow: intelligent, thoughtful, dark comedy with real bite-and in this case radioactive breath."
- New York Review of Science Fiction
About the Author
James Morrow: James Morrow is the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning Towing Jehovah and the New York Times Notable Book Blameless in Abaddon. His recent novels include The Last Witchfinder , hailed by the Washington Post as "literary magic," and The Philosopher's Apprentice , which received a rave review from Entertainment Weekly. He is a master of the satiric and the surreal, a writer who has enjoyed comparison with Twain, Vonnegut, and Updike. Morrow lives in State College, Pennsylvania.
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