Bimbos of the Death Sun [Paperback]

Sharyn McCrumb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 1996

"Sharyn McCrumb is a born storyteller."

*Mary Higgins Clark



WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD!

        

"Sharyn McCrumb has few equals and no superiors among today's novelists."

*San Diego Union-Tribune



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 ?



"I loved BIMBOS OF THE DEATH SUN . . . Beautifully observed, funny, nicely constructed, even compassionate."

*Robert Silverberg


From the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Sharyn McCrumb is a born storyteller."

*Mary Higgins Clark



WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD!

        

"Sharyn McCrumb has few equals and no superiors among today's novelists."

*San Diego Union-Tribune



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 ?



"I loved BIMBOS OF THE DEATH SUN . . . Beautifully observed, funny, nicely constructed, even compassionate."

*Robert Silverberg --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (December 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345483022
• ISBN-13: 978-0345483027
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #947,818 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am an award-winning Southern writer. I am probably best known for my
Appalachian "Ballad" novels, set in the North Carolina/Tennessee mountains. These books include New York Times Best Sellers She Walks These Hills and The Rosewood Casket, which deal with the issue of the vanishing wilderness, and The Ballad of Frankie Silver, the story of the first woman hanged for murder in the state of North Carolina; The Songcatcher, a genealogy in music; and Ghost Riders, an account of the Civil War in the Appalachians.

My newest novel St. Dale, the Canterbury Tales set in NASCAR, was published by Kensington Books of New York in 2005, and is currently a nominee for the Library of Virginia Literary Award in Fiction and a finalist for its People's Choice Award.

Honors include: the 2003 Award for Literature given by the
East Tennessee Historical Society; AWA Outstanding Contribution to
Appalachian Literature Award; Chaffin Award for Achievement in Southern
Literature; Plattner Award for Short Story; and AWA's Best Appalachian
Novel.

I was the first writer-in-residence at King College in Tennessee. In 2001 I
served as fiction writer-in-residence at the WICE Conference in Paris, and
in 2005 I was honored as the writer of the year at the annual literary
celebration at Emory and Henry College. (And I was the first Southern writer to take along a NASCAR driver to that literary seminar. Thank you, Ward Burton!)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Does to cons what should be done to cons, July 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bimbos of the Death Sun (Mass Market Paperback)

Before I start, let me say that I'm a minor SMOF (secret master of fandom) who has been a panelist and masquerade MC at several regional cons and one Worldcon. I wrote fan fiction, married an APAhacker, and participated in regular D&D runs until recently. I didn't go to cons for a while due to financial problems, but I'm going to Readercon next weekend. I'm also in the SCA.

And I thought this book was hilarious, and very much on point when it came to cons. I know a lot of fen who hated it because it stereotyped fandom...unfortunately, they forgot to remove the beam from their own eyes when contemplating the mote in Sharyn McCrumb's. This is a devastatingly accurate portrait of a small con, down to the enthusiastic fen who do nothing except write comments for each other's zines. There are plenty of everyday, normal weight folk who go to cons and live their lives, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of the Bernard Buchanans out there.

I loved it. And I really wish she'd write a third book in the series, maybe set at an SCA war. I know Mary Pulver did it already, but McCrumb can write her into the ground....

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best in the sci-fi-con murder subgenre, June 7, 2001

By 

R. Kelly Wagner "[e-mail]" (MD, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bimbos of the Death Sun (Mass Market Paperback)

The sci-fi-con murder subgenre, you ask? Well, yes, there is a whole subgenre of murder mysteries where the murder takes place at a science fiction convention. (There are similar subgenres of murders that take place at romance writers' conventions, and at mystery writers' conventions...) The worst - and therefore funniest - stereotypes about the bad habits of science fiction geeks are brought out. The costumed wackos, the people who can't stand real life and escape into Star Trek, the dedicated gamers... the slightly lost, slightly underweight guys who sometimes forget to eat...

I'd say this book is tied for my favorite in the subgenre; my other top favorite is _Sci-Fi_ by William Marshall, which takes place at a science fiction convention in Hong Kong. (It's out of print, but as of this moment, there may be a used copy available...) If you read both books back to back, your stomach muscles will hurt from laughing.

One of the things that annoyed me about the title of the book, funny as it is, is that when the book first came out, bookstores kept classifying it under science fiction instead of mystery; luckily I read both, so I found it.

Other than that confusion about the title, nothing whatsoever was wrong with this book. It was funny all the way through. So what if the nasty little author who got murdered was a stereotype of nasty, demanding, little authors? He was funny!! Our hero is a bit of a stereotype of the absentminded young professor, too, but he's funny also! Only the pickiest reader would mind a little bit of stereotyping in order to move the plot along at its hysterically funny pace.

One of my favorite bit characters in the book was the Scottish folksinger. As he's thinking about heading home to Scotland from his American gig, he's contemplating what he's going to tell his friends when they ask what he did in America: "I fed candy to the Martians." There's also a great cop, who delivers a very funny "I love this job!" There's not a bad line in the book.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put this book down!, March 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bimbos of the Death Sun (Mass Market Paperback)

I thought that Highland Laddie Gone, in Ms. McCrumb's "Elizabeth MacPherson" series was one of the funniest mysteries I'd ever read. That was until I picked up this book and spent one side-splitting night reading it.

As a person who has attended various science fiction conventions, I recognized many of the characters in the book. The characterizations are too funny and very realistic.

Dr. James Owen Mega (aka Jay Omega) is an engineering professor at the local college, and the author of "Bimbos of the Death Sun", a new science fiction novel. He is attending his first science fiction convention as a guest author, and is bewildered to discover that he has literally entered another world. Guiding Dr. Mega through the world of sci fi fandom is english professor, Dr. Marion Farley, Emma Peel fan and Dr. Mega's significant other.

The entire convention is thrown into a tailspin when the main guest of honor, author Appin Dungannon, is found murdered in his hotel room. Jay and Marion decide to help the police discover who would kill him.

A must for anyone who has ever attended a science fiction convention.