Last Week's Apocalypse (Paperback)

~ Douglas Lain (Author), Gee Vaucher (Illustrator), Eileen Gunn (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Being paranoid provides no reason to doubt that They are not out to get you, as Lain's ambitious postmodern story collection proves. In homage to past warriors against totalitarianism, contemporary Winston Smiths battle the trap of capitalism's ever-receding promise of a meaningful life via meaningless work ("Instant Labor"). Picking among the castoffs of baby boomer consumerism, Lain's Gen-X protagonists desperately try to construct an identity in a culture where novelty undermines authenticity. The simplicity of sea monkeys ("The Sea Monkey Conspiracy") and the rigidity of the Cold War ("I Read the News Today") are the closest to fixed values that can be found, and even they are uncertain at best. Characters learn, via a malfunctioning holographic Jesus ("How to Stop Selling Jesus"), that salvation is not granted but attained. Lain intrudes in his narratives, exploiting metafictive devices like direct address and references to other stories, tying a character's quest for identity to his own quest to unravel the stifling logic of America's malled-in society. Distracting typographic tricks contribute to the atmosphere of uncertainty. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

Lain takes full advantage of sf's surrealist possibilities, with results that one sometimes wishes were funny rather than disturbing and provocative. In one story, a man dismissed from the navy as crazy tries to reconnect with reality by labeling things; for instance, he writes "swimming pool" on a card he tosses in the water before he can dive in. In another, after a nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India triggers a globe-circling current of lethal radiation, the narrator eventually splits in two, reflecting perhaps his determination to continue with wife and lover as before; they'll all die soon, anyway. In one of the best, a salesman of interactive Bibles learns "How to Stop Selling Jesus" when a holographic Christ insists he take his place on the cross. The forms of some stories are as outre as their developments; they're set in whole or in part as Q-and-A interviews or as a numbered list of propositions or one--sentence precis of famous books. Sf comes no stranger, nor for some, surely, more gratifying, than this. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Night Shade Books (January 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597800341
• ISBN-13: 978-1597800341
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,390,405 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid debut collection, January 5, 2006

By	Craig Clarke (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

To be completely honest, I didn't know all that much about Douglas Lain's work before diving head first into his debut collection. I originally came across him via his LiveJournal and found him to be witty and articulate, not given to the sort of logorrhea that plagues some other writers who keep online journals. This piqued my interest in his fiction and I downloaded "Music Lessons" off his website (he has since replaced the full text with an excerpt). It was on the strength of this remarkable piece of prose that I requested a review copy of Last Week's Apocalypse.

I must confess that I could not be called a fan of modern science-fiction. The kind I like went out of style in the 1950s, along with the demise of a little old-time radio program called X Minus One. (Coincidentally, Lain uses the body of an old radio to house a magic shredder is his hopefully apocalyptic "Shopping at the End of the World.") "These are stories of the future," Fred Collins announced weekly, "adventures where you'll live in a million could-be years on a thousand maybe worlds." Really, though, they were stories written for a general audience: character- and conflict-based tales that just happened to include a fantastic element.

"Music Lessons" struck me in much the same way that those stories did (and still do): sure, there are aliens, but Lain's story mostly centers on a minimalist composer's struggle with his sanity. Lain's combination of interviews alongside first-person narrative shows us different sides, all of which are confusing and disconcerting and more than a little creepy. (When Mr. Rogers showed up, I just about lost it.) It's fiercely intellectual, but with bees and gorillas.

If there is a "Douglas Lain" type of story, it probably involves the protagonist's descent into madness in some form. But just as often it's the world that's gone mad -- merely causing Our Hero to think he is the only one. I haven't read one yet where the reader goes crazy, but "The Suburbs of the Citadel of Thought" probably comes closest. In it, characters go about doing the bidding of the author -- normal enough behavior, only this author (who bears a significant resemblance to Lain himself, even mentioning his story "Instant Labor") keeps breaking through to explain his motives and insert related thoughts. It's a combination of fiction and reality I was not prepared for.

(I wasn't aware of this before, but I guess I don't like my books to address me personally. I found it made me vaguely uncomfortable, and found myself wondering if the Douglas Lain ca. 1999 who wrote this could see me through the pages, if I had somehow dropped into a Douglas Lain story. By the time I reached the end of "Suburbs," I had a headache, but that could have been from the dry air of the commuter train. Whatever the cause, I had to put down Last Week's Apocalypse, and I didn't pick it up again for a week, choosing instead to read a couple of Westerns and watch a lot of Moonlighting, just to clear my head.)

It's obvious that Lain is a father from the tenderness with which he treats his child characters (his characters are often fathers and/or have high-profile jobs in advertising, cartooning, sales of Time-Life Books, etc.). Teaching Noah in "Subliminal Son" to speak properly is a wonderful construct upon which to hang a story about memory, primarily its loss. "Instant Labor" (the earliest story in Last Week's Apocalypse), suggests that Lain appeared on the fiction scene fully formed. He seems to have already found the voice and style that would serve him so well over the years. (It was even published in the legendary Amazing Stories; you can't beat that for an auspicious start.)

There is little that is common in Lain's fiction; surprises awaited me at nearly every turn of the page, whether from the plotline itself ("The Sea-Monkey Conspiracy" with its school for Manchurian Candidates combined with photography and John Philip Sousa) or from the way it was told ("On a Scale of One to Three" uses a clever style choice, a questionnaire as a method of reminiscence, and I loved his reference to Van Halen's "Jump" as a "suicidal anthem."). Throughout, he shows a sharp sense of humor and a memory for time and place as exhibited through pop culture references, all told with an accessible narrative style, familiar like a friend telling you about a dream they had. His protagonists, while they obviously have problems, seem like the kind of people you see everyday and would not hesitate to strike up a conversation with.

The only story not previously published elsewhere, "I Read the News Today" opens with a quote from the author of The God of Small Things, but then bits from "Hey Jude" and Help intertwine with this story of an author of a book not-quite-about the Beatles, his wife, his synesthetic girlfriend, and his doppelganger. (My description makes it sound like a Greenaway-esque love quadrilateral, but there's no boy tenor.) "'Identity is a Construct' (and Other Sentences)" closes out Last Week's Apocalypse with a story of self-realization and the problems that it can cause. Lain sets up a wonderful premise, using his narrative to present only part of the whole story, and I very much enjoyed filling in the rest myself. A less ambiguous ending (or one less open to interpretation) would have made it ideal, but it's entirely possible that I just didn't get it. (After all, all I know about Philip K. Dick, the author that has most famously influenced Lain, is what Richard Linklater spouted over a pinball machine at the end of Waking Life.) I am almost surely not the target audience for Douglas Lain's fiction, but I unabashedly admire his skill at what he does, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. These are stories I'm going to want to revisit again and again.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Stunning, February 6, 2006

By	Mike Ellis (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This book absolutely rocked my world. A stunning debut by an up-and-coming writer who's work should not be missed. Any fan of literary fantasy... Of smart Science Fiction... of slip stream...Fans of Kelly Link, Small Bear press, etc... This collection is for you!

Timeless and insightful social and political critiques, hidden beneath the framework of wonderfully entertaining stories.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Last Week's Migraine, February 6, 2006

By	Michael Jasper (Wake Forest, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Doug Lain's stories give me a serious headache, but in a relly good way. And damned if I don't learn something about living in our messed-up modern world every time I read a Doug Lain story. Good stuff. I'll be looking for more, soon as the Tylenol Extra Strength kicks in.