For Critical Mass, Don D’Ammassa reviews James Morrow’s The Madonna and the Starship.

A lowly hack television writer who doubts he will ever accomplish anything gets the surprise of his life when aliens turn up and tell him that they’ve been intercepting our broadcasts and consider his work high art. Much to his chagrin, they have trouble separating fact from fiction and reason from faith and much to his horror they intend to helpfully eliminate a few million people they think are just cluttering up the Earth. So our hero has to sharpen his wits to talk them out of it. This is humor, obviously, with more than a touch of satire. It’s not quite as ambitious as some of Morrow’s earlier work, but it’s likely to have a somewhat broader appeal. And it’s fun.

For more on The Madonna and the Starship, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover and design by Elizabeth Story.