Bimbos of the Death Sun

[elderbear]

OK! OK! I know it sounds stupid, like a really, really bad Bad BAD book ... but it's a great book to give to those folks (especially of the female persuasion) who just don't get what enjoying SF is all about. I cite Amazon:

 

For one fateful weekend, the annual science fiction and fantasy convention, Rubicon, has all but taken over a usually ordinary hotel. Now the halls are alive with Trekkies, tech nerds, and fantasy gamers in their Viking finery - all of them eager to hail their hero, bestselling fantasy author Appin Dungannon: a diminutive despot whose towering ego more than compensates for his 5' 1" height ... and whose gleeful disdain for his fawning fans is legendary.

 

Hurling insults and furniture with equal abandon, the terrible, tiny author proceeds to alienate ersatz aliens and make-believe warriors at warp speed. But somewhere between the costume contest and the exhibition Dungeons & Dragons game, Dungannon gets done in. While die-hard fans of Dungannon's seemingly endless sword-and-sorcery series wonder how they'll go on and hucksters wonder how much they can get for the dead man's autograph, a hapless cop wonders, Who would want to kill Appin Dungannon? But the real question, as the harried convention organizers know, is Who wouldn't?

 

The story is told through the eyes of a university prof who wrote a piece of hard SF under a pseudonym. He's attending the con with his girlfriend, who is an experienced fan. This book has the amazing ability to take fandom seriously while also scoring points on its humorous side AND manages to sneak a decent murder mystery into the mix.

 

A great gift for concerned or scoffing parents, spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends, or anybody else who needs to be educated in the fundamentals of SF.

[bbbb]

I've never heard of that one.

[elderbear]

I've never heard of that one.

The book title looked so bad I had to pick it up in the store. Then it turned out to be an interesting read.