THE IMMORTALISTS [Paperback]

Richard Cummings (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2002

Out of today's headlines, The Immortalists is a cutting edge novel that sends up the life extension movement in all its pretentiousness. Joe Forcione is determined to defeat death. With his vast financial resources and sheer will, he sets out to embrace scientific and mystical possibilities to defy the unenviable fate of all human beings. In the process, he becomes entangled in erotic adventures with beguiling and strong women who lead him to an understanding of the limits of his masculinity and realization that femininity, in all its mysteries, somehow holds the key to human transformation. In fact, he is actually transformed into a woman by mistake, leading to catastrophic consequences, before he is returned to his masculine state. Torn between his wife and his mistress, a Swedish massage therapist, both of whom he impregnates, he plunges into his pursuit of immortality. His encounters with a priest with healing powers, shamans and charlatans, a physician (Dr. Kleist) with arcane medical capabilities to reverse the aging process, and a mad Korean computer scientist, Dr. Duck, capable of replicating human life in the form of virtual reality, propel him into a dizzying Swiftian voyage of life and death from the Hamptons to Zurich, across several continents, as the secrets of life and death are revealed to him.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Cummings is a graduate of Princeton. Columbia Law School and Cambridge University in England (Ph.D.) A noted playwright (Soccer Moms From Hell), he is the author of the acclaimed biography of Allard Lowenstein, The Pied Piper. He has taught at St. Catherine's College Cambridge, Haile Sellassie I Univesity in Addis Ababa Ethiopia and the the University of West Indies, Barbados. He is a member of the Association of former Intelligence Officers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: InPrint.com (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588640108
• ISBN-13: 978-1588640109
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 6.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,593,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ...quixotic and [appealing], August 3, 2003

By 

Laurel Johnson (Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: THE IMMORTALISTS (Paperback)

Surrealistic and quixotic are descriptive terms that came to mind as I read The Immortalists. But the contemporary issues were real enough and the characters clearly defined in this work of fiction.

Joe Forcione is wealthy, successful, living his dream life in the East Hamptoms with a young and [physically attractive] wife. He's proud of his palatial beach home and pleased that his investments have accumulated into the multi millions. But Joe is sixty. The vicissitudes of age are taking over. He turns to a phallic implant and viagra to offset his impotence, consults a priest dispensing healing miracles for dental bone loss, but what can Joe do to achieve immortality? He does not want to die. Of all spectres, past or present, Joe Forcione fears death.

Joe's quest - and a large chunk of his money - takes him around the world. He has sheep gland injections in an exclusive Swiss clinic and invests in various life enhancing or prolonging techniques. Perhaps he can escape death through cryogenics or cloning! The sky's the limit if you have the cash to buy it. Joe's mood improves along with his hope of finding eternal youth and escaping death. Soon he has a pregnant wife and mistress, an increasing [physical] appetite encouraged by a wandering eye, and a whole new set of problems to resolve.

The characters in this book are not caricatures. Joe Forcione is a typical American in search of ever increasing wealth and all the trappings money can buy. And I particularly liked Father McDermott, the healing priest with feet of clay, who moonlights as an actor and enjoys quality time with his mistress every chance he gets. There is humor in this book as well as surrealistic science fiction, and an underlying truth that all humans must eventually face. Nothing is permanent.

Recommended for mature audiences due to strong [physical]content.