The Road To Mars
   Eric Idle
   (Associate Reviewer - D. H. BROWN)
  1999 Pantheon Books NY USA
   ISBN: 037540340X


This "post-modem" novel is about an android who works for a couple of comedians from the 22nd century traveling the outer vaudeville circuit of the solar system known, ironically, as the Road to Mars.

Carlton - a 4.5 Bowie Artificial Intelligence Robot - is attempting to write a thesis about comedy, its place in evolution & whether it can ever be cured. He does not understand irony. He is also studying the comedians of the late 20th century - including that obscure & esoteric act called Monty Python's Flying Circus - Carlton is sure there's a comedy gene.

In the meantime, his comedian employers are getting into trouble by offending a fabulous diva & tumbling into a terrorist plot against the planet Mars, the home of Showbiz.

This book made me laugh. Not the generalized laugh of "Ha-ha, that's funny!" but the laugh of implausibility. Of "hee-hee" like I used to do watching Monty Python's Flying Circus. It wasn't until I'd finished that I looked at the author's picture on the back flyleaf & recognized who Eric Idle was, realized why I'd chuckled at the improbability of the plot as it thickened.

The humor of vaudeville was struck true & often. His characters, including Carlton, floated back & forth from the possible to the improbable. This was a book that I could pick up & lay down, didn't grab & hold, just kept beckoning.

It's also a very fine dissertation, in itself, into the psychology of comedy & gave me some real insights about the comedic mind.

The Road to Mars was a lark & it made me think. I found myself realizing how the plots of Monty Python fame came to be & how the scripts probably came out wholecloth from ideas borne from nothing into something, frivolous & free. It made me recognize the little boy in me.

A real break from the seriousness of reading, charming & fun.

Also by Eric Idle: years of hilarity as one of the original members of Monty Python's Flying Circus in addition to editing all their books; Hello Sailor - a book; Pass the Butler - a play; The Quite Remarkable Adventures of The Owl and the Pussycat - a children's novel.
(010200)

D. H. BROWN
A RebeccasReads.com Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
D. H. BROWN is the author of the critically acclaimed HONOR DUE and the Citizens Warrior Series. The son of missionary parents and with the help his Uncle Sam, he has touched base in more than 40 countries.  In 1986 he produced the independent children's film Lessie's Rainbow.  During the late 80s and early 90s, he wrote the book Common Sense and delivered the seminars of the same name for the Community Action Network of Seattle (CAN).  While doing his early Vietnam recovery work, he counseled Veterans and spoke widely to men's groups in Washington state, and was a founder of The Lodge of the Wolf.

D. H. BROWN has worked as a Logistics and Weapons Specialist in Viet Nam; day laborer; Director of Security; Armored Car Driver; Police Officer; Professional Hunting Guide; Trapper; Dog Sledder; Homesteader; Truck Driver; General Contractor; Minister; Editor; Writer; Speaker; Restaurateur; Movie Producer; Antique Restoration Specialist; Personal Care Worker; PC Repair Specialist; Computer Instructor; Webmaster and Web Designer. "I write about what I know."

He lives deep in the Pacific Northwest rainforest with his wife, author and editor Rebecca and Buddy Dog, working on his next book.
Visit him at: www.dhbrownbooks.com