Joe's Liver

A young boy journeys into America's abridged heart. "Di Filippo is the spin doctor of SF—and it's a powerful medicine he brews" (Brian Aldiss).

An orphaned boy in the Caribbean named Readers Digest (after the magazine) but referred to mainly as "Ardy" is deeply inspired by his readings of the stories that appear in his namesake magazine and conceives of a plan to make a pilgrimage to the Digest HQ in Pleasantville, New York. He embarks on an odyssey to what he envisions as the most important symbolic beacon of the wonderfulness that is America. A simple trip turns complicated and Ardy meets an endless stream of very odd and unusual characters as his journey progresses to an unexpected finish.