Good News from Outer Space [Paperback]

John Kessell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 1991

As the calendar counts down the months to the year 2000, millennial fever takes hold in the United States. George Eberhart, reporter for the biggest tabloid in the world, is on the track of what might be the story of the century--he has evidence that there really are aliens on planet Earth.

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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kessel's ( Freedom Beach ) latest novel, a black comedy of pre-millenial hysteria set a decade in the future, is an outstandingly original work. George Eberhart, recently resuscitated from a "successful" suicide attempt by the newly perfected Han process--a scientific advance widely regarded as blasphemous--finds himself even more alienated from his trashy journalism job and his wife than he was before his "death." George becomes fascinated by a pattern of events that suggests a protean alien is traveling around the country playing sadistic games with unsuspecting earthlings, and he sets off to find the creature. While the novel is instantly enthralling and remains so for the first half, the focus then softens and the pace slackens. Writing in a intelligent, witty voice, Kessel creates full-fleshed adult characters in a somewhat uneven but still impressive achievement.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

While televangelist Jimmy-Don Gilray mobilizes the state of North Carolina to await an alien-assisted Millennium, tabloid reporter George Eberhart uncovers an awful truth--the aliens are ahead of schedule. This clever story of cosmic (and comic) catastrophe by the co-author of Freedom Beach (with James P. Kelly, LJ 12/1/85) is recommended for both sf and general fiction collections.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (January 24, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0586210113
• ISBN-13: 978-0586210116
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you haven't read it, you should, August 8, 2001

By 

"chad597" (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good News From Outer Space (Paperback)

I first picked up my copy of this book off the shelf of some drugstore some years ago, and was utterly blown away by it. Full of weirdness, holier-than-thou mob frenzy, millienial fever, and even an alien, this Lewis Carroll-meets-Televangilism masterpiece kept me spellbound through the fourth and fifth readings. It is one of those that, while good the first time through, gets even better on subsequent reads.

I am warning you right now though, this book will be expensive for you. Why? Because you will be blown away by it, and you will make a friend read it. You will lend it to them, and never see it again. This is one of those books that will keep getting away from you until you break down and buy a copy to place in your secure book-vault.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A witty doom-sayers story with a twist., December 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Good News From Outer Space (Paperback)

This is a great book to read if you like dark social commentary, sharp wit, and stories about doom-sayers and doom-nayers. Kessel is able to capture the chaotic nature of apocalyptic events and make the reader feel as though the he or she has been absorbed into the scene. I would highly recommend this book to any avid sci-fi reader.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Run-of-the-mill story of millenium chaos and religious nuts, October 17, 2001

By 

Robert Anderson (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Good News From Outer Space (Paperback)

Written a decade prior to the dawning of the new millenium this story portrays a chaotic America that is breaking apart. It combines stories of societal chaos, religious nuts, and aliens but ultimately fell flat for a variety of reasons...

First, at the very heart of a good story is a central conflict around which the plot revolves. There didn't seem to be one here, or at least it wasn't very compelling to me as a reader (It would have been compelling if I'd cared about the characters, - more on that below).

Second, the representation of religious mania was so exaggerated that it could only have been entertaining if portrayed humorously, which it wasn't. The reverend was a way-over-the-top stereotype of those preachers on TV and his followers were cardboard "followers". No light was shed on the actual motivation of those in our society prone to religious delusions. These followers more or less believed whatever they were told and did whatever their leader said. Although it may seem that religious nuts in our society are this way, those who know much about real religious nuts can tell you that it's hard to get large numbers of them to agree on anything or follow any one particular leader. So what made these ones so pliable and easy to manipulate?

Thirdly, the characters were largely unsympathetic. Except for Lucy, they all were deranged and as a reader I felt that the world would be better off without them. And the protagonist spent the entire movie chasing aliens, yet we were only provided with the flimsiest explanation of why he was so obsessed with them or why he thought they were trying to take over the planet.

And lastly, the various plotlines were barely even resolved at the end of the book. Instead of a climax, there is an anti-climax which left me feeling like I had sort-of wasted my time reading the preceding 370 pages.

If it's possible for a book to take itself too seriously, this one did. If the book had been written in a zany, wacky, humorous tone instead of being dark, pessimistic and edgy it would have worked better, in my humble opinion.

If you like dark, vague conspiracy theories and edgy, improbable sci-fi you might like this. It's not a bad book, it just didn't work for me.