Falling Sideways
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
From the moment the first Homo Sapiens descended from the trees, possibly onto their heads, humanity has striven towards civilisation. Fire. The Wheel. Running Away from furry things with big teeth and, after a great deal of time, coming back and bravely nuking their descendants from orbit, are all testament to man's ultimate ascendancy.
It is a noble story, a triumph of intelligence over adversity and, of course, completely and utterly wrong.
For one man believes he has discovered the hideous truth: that every great civilisation in history has, rather embarrassingly, been founded, run and then cunningly manipulated by a small gang of devious frogs.
More information on this book and others can be found on the Orbit website at www.orbitbooks.co.uk
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lonely computer programmer David Perkins has spent his life obsessed with Philippa Levens, a witch who was burned for heresy hundreds of years ago and immortalized in a painting. When he impulsively purchases a lock of her hair at an auction then, coincidentally, finds himself near Honest John's House of Clones, whose proprietor agrees to bring her back to life he triggers a chain of events that reveals mankind's puppeteers to be a meddling race of highly evolved, immortal frogs. It turns out that David's life, and the lives of those around him, have been meticulously planned over the centuries to bring about the rebirth of Philippa and her long-lost love; she and her immortal father spend most of the book tossing off hip cultural references and Microsoft put-downs, all the while leading David through an increasingly byzantine plot. Holt (Nothing but Blue Skies, etc.) has a touch that is equally breezy and serious: the story's twists and revelations feel like Douglas Adams emulating David Mamet. Although the prose is wordy at times and the story is 100 pages longer than it needs to be, Hitchhiker's Guideaficionados will relish every line.
