God Drug

God Drug, Stephen L. Antczak, Marietta Publishing, 2004

Tom and Sparrow, his lover, are part of the punk music scene in present-day Gainesville, Florida. Sparrow is part of a band that has a gig at Dave-O's, the local punk music club. Earlier that day, they score some LSD, that was not meant for them, from Galactic Bill, the local drug source.

Meantime, near Atlanta, Georgia, a young woman named Hanna wakes up in a suburban house next to a fat, hairy guy. She has no memory of who she is or how she got there, except for flashbacks of having served in the Vietnam War, even though she is nowhere near old enough to have served. Hanna gets in a car and heads south, not knowing where she is going. Along the way, she meets The General, an older man in uniform who certainly remembers Hanna.

When they reach Gainesville, Hanna realizes that The General is some sort of alien whose task is to absorb certain people, and thereby become part of Jovah. She realizes this after seeing The General swallow Galactic Bill whole, like a snake eating a rat. Back at the punk club, the LSD begins to have an effect, and suddenly, everyone at the club is flying, as long as the music keeps playing. When a malfunctioning amp stops the music, gravity takes over, violently. While in the air, Tom, Sparrow and their friends watch as a giant mechanical dragon lays waste to Gainesville, like a modern-day Godzilla movie. They can't help but think that this is the ultimate drug trip, but this is reality (that's the magic word). They meet Hanna and The General, who must absorb Hanna to become "whole."

This book does a fine job at messing with conceptions of reality. One can almost hear the punk music in the background. This one is really strange and really good.