Emperor Mollusk versus the Sinister Brain [Hardcover]

A. Lee Martinez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2012

Emperor Mollusk.

Intergalactic Menace. Destroyer of Worlds. Conqueror of Other Worlds. Mad Genius. Ex-Warlord of Earth.

Not bad for a guy without a spine.

But what's a villain to do after he's done . . . everything. With no new ambitions, he's happy to pitch in and solve the energy crisis or repel alien invaders should the need arise, but if he had his way, he'd prefer to be left alone to explore the boundaries of dangerous science. Just as a hobby, of course.

Retirement isn't easy though. If the boredom doesn't get him, there's always the Venusians. Or the Saturnites. Or the Mercurials. Or . . . well, you get the idea. If that wasn't bad enough, there's also the assassins of a legendary death cult and an up-and-coming megalomaniac (as brilliant as he is bodiless) who have marked Emperor for their own nefarious purposes. But Mollusk isn't about to let the Earth slip out of his own tentacles and into the less capable clutches of another. So it's time to dust off the old death ray and come out of retirement. Except this time, he's not out to rule the world. He's out to save it from the peril of THE SINISTER BRAIN!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Abundant, zany humor." (Publishers Weekly on Monster )

"Divine Misfortune reads like a mash-up of Neil Gaiman, Monty Python, and a sugar-bombed nine-year old." (Locus )

About the Author

A. Lee Martinez was born in El Paso, Texas. At the age of eighteen, for no apparent reason, he started writing novels. Thirteen short years (and a little over a dozen manuscripts) later, his first novel, Gil's All Fright Diner, was published. His hobbies include juggling, games of all sorts, and astral projecting. Also, he likes to sing along with the radio when he's in the car by himself. For more information on the author, check out www.aleemartinez.com.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Orbit; 1 edition (March 5, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316093521
• ISBN-13: 978-0316093521
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,846 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A. Lee Martinez was born in El Paso, Texas. At the age of eighteen, for no apparent reason, he started writing novels. Thirteen short years (and a little over a dozen manuscripts) later, his first novel, Gil's All Fright Diner was published. Since then he has published or is about to publish five additional novels, including the forthcoming Divine Misfortune. His hobbies include juggling, games of all sorts, and astral projecting. Also, he likes to sing along with the radio when he's in the car by himself.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Earthling Reader versus the Superior Book March 11, 2012

By Tex Thompson

Format:Hardcover

You know, probably the worst thing that you could say about this book is that it would make a great videogame. And really, it's true: there are something like nine setpieces/stages in the space of 300 pages, most of which culminate in a big action sequence and the acquisition of a specific plot-piece doodad.

So what's really doing my nut in here is trying to figure out how a book that is structurally so episodic can be so - excuse me for saying it - *cerebral*. This is NOT pulp-by-the-numbers - far from it. It's fun and compelling all the way through, with all its colorful characters and settings sewn together by a clear and well-developed theme. Future reviewers will probably mention Megamind (and I will be disappointed if nobody else brings up Krang of Ninja-Turtle fame!), but the best comparison I can make is to The Nightmare Before Christmas: you can enjoy that movie as just as a fantastical story with lots of Halloween monsters and fun music, but at its core, it's a story about trying to be someone you're not, and one well-crafted enough to satisfy even the card-carrying grown-ups among us. Likewise, Emperor Mollusk is a veritable Van Gogh of thickly-painted, brightly-colored dinosaurs and space-ships and Venusian lizard-warriors with ray-guns, swirled together to make a bigger picture that's really pretty striking.

I could hand-wring about minor points here - those nine different set-pieces do blow by pretty quickly, with very little time to spend savoring any particular one, and you might not get as much out of the ending if, like me, you have a hard time wrapping your modest Earthling brain around the finer ins and outs of time travel - but what I really want to emphasize is that this is not just an average book wrapped up with a gimmicky name. Assuming your first thought on reading the title was "hey, that sounds fun - is it any good?" then I can all say is: if it does, then yes - yes it is.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as his previous work March 31, 2012

By reviewerbruce

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

After reading several other of Martinez's work, I have become a fan. I am sorry to say this book did not live up to my expectations. Another reviewer said this was something like a video game with nine or so set pieces implying the book was formulaic. That reviewer was willing to overlook this flaw because they thought the pieces were cerebral and funny. After the first episode, I thought they became predictable and tedious, something I have never thought while reading other works by Martinez. Part of the problem was I never feared for the protangonist's life nor for those of his trusty sidekicks. You know he is going to win no matter how dire the situation. The beginning, middle, and end of each encounter became predictable and no amount of scientific double talks rom the Emperor or his deadly foes could make them suspenseful. Some of the episodes ended so abruptly(with the Emperor winning, of course) that I actually thought I had missed reading some pages. Having said all of that, if you are looking for some light reading, where you want to suspend all connections to reality, this book fits that purpose; just be sure to read some of the author's earlier works to appreciate what a magical writer he is.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Endlessly innovative June 2, 2012

By Dave in Missouri

Format:Hardcover

These days most fantasy is one more dreary, endless (seriously, some of these books weigh 5 pounds) sword and sorcery novel or a seemingly endless series of vampire, werewolf, or demon novels, all pretty much the same.

A. Lee Martinez fits no category.
His fantasy is wildly innovative, with no two of his books even remotely like any other.
While most other fantasy books have interchangeable heroes with a sword, Martinez's heroes are a wild mix of a mercenary who can't seem to stay dead, a seven foot tall robot private gumshoe, a witch with a family but no name , a pair of vampire and a werewolf good ol' boys traveling the Southwest, some people looking for a little help from less than what you'd expect gods, a woman who rents an apartment in a world that doesn't seem to make much sense, an exterminator who doesn't do the normal rodents and bugs and has a demon girlfriend, and a kobold housekeeper with a lot of common sense.

Martinez is simply in a category all his own and is the most innovative fantasy writer of the time. One thing is guaranteed, he always surprises you and never bores you, and you'll never meet the same character or the same story twice in his books.
To top it off, you get a good dash of humor missing from most fantasy work.
Mixed in with strange stories and the humor, you get asked some serious questions about friendship, family, and humanity.
This wild mix is something you don't exactly expect from an author from El Paso.

In this outing, we meet a retired Mollusk Super Villain who's conquered Earth but is now retired from the grind of defending his realm from various greedy invaders and saving Earth from catastrophic events, 74% of which he's caused.
When a new Super Villain challenges his happy retirement Emperor Mollusk comes out of retirement to crush the upstart....sort of.
Accompanied by a female Venusian soldier trying to arrest him for his many crimes and his playful bodyguard monster centipede, Mollusk battles from jungles filled with prehistoric creatures to lunch in Paris followed by the theft of the Eiffel Tower.

When you get tired of the same ol' sword and demon novels, try something really different, try one of Martinez's weird and funny worlds.