File B · Sci-fi comedy
The End, And Then?
He was at the top of his game… the end of the world arrives… and then?
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The case so far
Brian Bryant teaches high school biology. He also has a song in the Top 40 and a supermodel girlfriend, so he is at the top of his game… and then the End of the World arrives.
A bureaucratic error assigns him to be a part-time gardener for the next thousand years. A massive invasion fleet hovers in orbit, and a madman on the Moon is about to wreak havoc. To save humanity, Brian has to enlist the help of a pair of bumbling alien scouts who happen to resemble mice.
There were signs, after all: earthquakes, pestilence and famine. Adolf Hitler came back as a school bus driver and Abraham Lincoln ran for office again. Colonel Hogan bombs Brian's house on contract with G.O.D. Enterprises, then bills him for the bomb, his salary and the takeoff and landing fees. Eventually it all ends up in a courtroom in Cleveland, where Perry Mason defends humanity at the Final Judgment.
Packed with surprises. Non-stop action. Will leave you wondering what in heck happens next.
Persons of interest
Brian Bryant
A high school teacher with a song in the Top 40 who is dating a supermodel. When the End of the World arrives, he is torn between two worlds.
Lora Dora
A high-flying TV news reporter, months away from a top spot in New York. She humiliates Brian on national TV, then discovers the truth behind the lie.
Ignatz & Jerry
Two alien invaders who think they will gain super powers on Earth. While trying to reach Mickey Mouse, they steal a car, get arrested and take Brian's cat hostage.
AJ
Brian's childhood rival, who got his 666 cereal boxtops in on time when Brian did not. Now a member of the elite, he presides over the Final Judgment of humanity.
Lucy Lavelle
A seductive former schoolteacher and Brian's co-worker. She is hauled off by the Moral Police and ends up face to face with the madman on the Moon.
Josh & Brenda
Two awkward teenage students who help Brian save the Earth and discover each other along the way.
Also appearing: Colonel Hogan, Perry Mason, Della Street, Paul Drake, Rod Serling & Lulu the cat.
Evidence: the prologue, “Lone Scout”
The lone scout craft sailed gracefully through the solar system, performing a flawless slingshot around Saturn, lightly skimming the rarefied atmosphere of Mars, before stalling out on its approach to the Moon. Who was the intrepid pilot who glanced nervously at the gas gauge, tapping it with a gloved appendage, and then swearing when it became apparent that he was … well … out of gas?
Using colorful language, Mortimer, for that was the fearless pilot's name, made a less than textbook landing on the Moon, his craft shattering into fragments upon impact. Before losing consciousness, he was at least able to push the red button, which caused the ship's remaining emergency systems to encase him in a protective coating of industrial strength nano-fiber. His last view, as he was automatically flung back into space, was of the friendly large blue planet which was to become his new home.
“You plan to spend the rest of your life as a freak show exhibit?” asked a dapper gentleman, interrupting Mortimer's recollection of the curious sequence of events that had brought him here.
Particulars
- Author
- Douglas Alan
- Publisher
- Lulu, an unlikelysource book
- Published
- September 2009
- ISBN
- 978-0-557-08606-1
- Length
- About 600 pages
- Genre
- Tongue-in-cheek science fiction
- Buy the book!
- Paper Back | eBook.
Further reading
Also on file: Further Indications, Douglas Alan's debut novel, in which a single blinking streetlight sets off a world tour, a love triangle or two, and a plan to build The Bomb.
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