Operation Supergoose, William Hart, Timberline Press, 2007
After terrorists destroy the awesome phallic symbol of the land of Plunder, with help from gasoline-filled blunderbusses, Lieutenant Ernest Candide goes on a mission of revenge. When he was younger, Candide fell into the core of a nuclear reactor, then later he accidentally shot himself in the head. The bullet is still there, up against his pineal gland. This has turned Candide into a bona fide superhero, with X-ray vision and the ability to fly.
Candide unhesitatingly accepts a mission from his Commander in Chief, Buzz Twofer II, to sneak into the country of Ragistan, to find and eliminate Moolah al-Razir, the architect of this awful attack on the people of Plunder. Candide sees many dead civilians, and unintentionally causes some civilian deaths. He is captured by Moolah, and, attempting to escape, runs into Delilah Jihad, part of Moolah's harem (and a Shrinkistanian and Zionian double agent). They escape into the hills between Ragistan and Pockistan, where Delilah tells Ernest that the war is all about oil, and, for instance, why a person would become a suicide bomber.
Returning to Plunder, Candide is immediately accused of treason, for allegedly spilling classified information to Jihad, and for expressing doubts about his mission. Given a chance to redeem himself, Candide flies into the country of Qroc, to eliminate Madahm Badassi, who has tons and tons of weapons of mass destruction that he is just itching to use on Plunderian forces. Candide sees and hears more things in Qroc that lead him to believe that Plunder is not the land of truth and virtue that he was taught from childhood. Failing to carry out his mission, Candide gets a one-way trip to Guantanamo, where he is tortured, and gets a "trial," where he faces about a dozen different death sentences, for his sexual relationship with Jihad, for doubting his mission, and for failing to save his commanding officer�s life quickly enough.
As you might have guessed, this is a satire of the "war on terror," and as such, it does an absolutely
wonderful job. This book doesn't just reach the level of Wow, it leaves Wow in the dust. It is extremely
highly recommended.
Showing posts with label hart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hart. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Never Fade Away
Never Fade Away, William Hart, Fithian Press, 2002
John Goddard is a remedial English teacher in the California State University system, and a soon-to-be published fiction writer. He is also a Vietnam veteran still troubled by bad dreams of his time in the war.
University policy is that two failed remedial English courses equals automatic expulsion from the university. The system, designed by Mary Hart Parcell, Dean of Arts and Sciences, whom Goddard loathes, seems intended for just that purpose. The assignments and exams are totally wrong for people who are usually immigrants from another country, and whose English may be lacking. Goddard is that rarity, a teacher who sincerely cares about his students, but without tenure, there is only so much that he can accomplish.
Tina Le is a student in Goddard's class. One of the post-war Vietnamese boat people, she is living with a woman named Rayneece, the sort of person who goes through boyfriends the way most people go through tissues. Tina writes a short story for an assignment about life back home in Vietnam. For Goddard, trudging through a sea of pretty bad writing by the rest of the class, Tina's story is a breath of fresh air. He fudges the grade on her final exam so that she can pass the course; the story is just too good to ignore. He gets disciplined by Dean Parcell, and after refusing to change Tina's final grade, is told not to come back next semester. He files an ultimately unsuccessful grievance against the school. Meantime, the relationship between Goddard and Le blooms into something more than the usual student-teacher relationship.
This is a gem of a first novel. Told in alternating diary excerpts, Hart easily switches back and forth from American English to "immigrant English." The author, an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in real life, has many things to say about the academic world, none of them very complimentary. This one is well worth reading.
John Goddard is a remedial English teacher in the California State University system, and a soon-to-be published fiction writer. He is also a Vietnam veteran still troubled by bad dreams of his time in the war.
University policy is that two failed remedial English courses equals automatic expulsion from the university. The system, designed by Mary Hart Parcell, Dean of Arts and Sciences, whom Goddard loathes, seems intended for just that purpose. The assignments and exams are totally wrong for people who are usually immigrants from another country, and whose English may be lacking. Goddard is that rarity, a teacher who sincerely cares about his students, but without tenure, there is only so much that he can accomplish.
Tina Le is a student in Goddard's class. One of the post-war Vietnamese boat people, she is living with a woman named Rayneece, the sort of person who goes through boyfriends the way most people go through tissues. Tina writes a short story for an assignment about life back home in Vietnam. For Goddard, trudging through a sea of pretty bad writing by the rest of the class, Tina's story is a breath of fresh air. He fudges the grade on her final exam so that she can pass the course; the story is just too good to ignore. He gets disciplined by Dean Parcell, and after refusing to change Tina's final grade, is told not to come back next semester. He files an ultimately unsuccessful grievance against the school. Meantime, the relationship between Goddard and Le blooms into something more than the usual student-teacher relationship.
This is a gem of a first novel. Told in alternating diary excerpts, Hart easily switches back and forth from American English to "immigrant English." The author, an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in real life, has many things to say about the academic world, none of them very complimentary. This one is well worth reading.
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