Saint Vidicon To The Rescue [Paperback]

Christopher Stasheff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 2005

Tech troubleshooter Tony Ricci has been recruited by Saint Vidicon--the patron saint of computer geeks--to combat the forces of evil that wreak havoc within all things technological.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Technogeek Tony Ricci's latest assignment is to debug a marketing firm's system. For him, this bug is a first: pages of Bible-like text unreel for exactly six minutes, intermittently throughout the day. Tony notices that the scrolling text tells the story of one St. Vidicon of Cathode, humanity's defender against the consequences of Finagle's General Statement--"The perversity of the universe tends toward maximum"--and Murphy's Law, one of Finagle's corollaries, as they apply to all things electronic and mechanical. Utterly absorbed in tracking the virus, Tony is surprised when he finds himself--at least, a part of himself--inside the computer network and face-to-face with St. Vidicon, who needs a part-time assistant to help answer prayers and fix things. In return, Tony will get some badly needed assistance with his love life. Soon, Tony and Vidicon face the biggest challenges of their virtual lives, with the safety of the world hanging in the balance. Extremely enjoyable light fantasy seasoned with a dash of physics, some sweet romance, and good philosophizing. Paula Luedtke
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

[Stasheff] has a nice sense of the irreverent and a bit of the bawd. -- Analog

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ace (March 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044101271X
• ISBN-13: 978-0441012718
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,385,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fine stand alone, March 30, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Saint Vidicon To The Rescue (Paperback)

The Catholic Church is poor with members leaving every day to join Reverend Sun's organization. In one last desperate measure, the pope goes on television to show why the church must survive. The equipment they use to televise the pontiff is old but Father Vidicon repairs the apparatus until he receives a shock and dies; thanks to his perseverance the show went on and the church is saved.

People pray to Father Vidicon, who they want to make a saint, to help them when Finagles General Principle operates in their lives. Father Vidicon who is fighting the minions of the imp of the perverse is busy answering all prayers. His solution is to find an assistant who is smart and to help those who need some spiritual help. He contacts computer technician Tony Ricci threw his writings on the computer screen directing him where to go to help people in need. In return Father Vidicon gives advice to Tony about the woman to loves who he met when company's computers were showing the writings of Father Vidicon.

Christopher Stasheff, the author of the famous warlock series, uses a contemporary setting but with the same humor in his latest work, SAINT VIDICON TO THE RESCUE. This novel is really a series of vignettes where Tony or Father Vidicon are helping people who are entangled with Finagles General Principle and Murphy's law. The spirit and the man communicate through dreams and a computer. When Tony works on solving a prayer he is a spirit that can become any size he chooses to get the job done. This is a stand alone book that will please fans of this talented author.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In Dr. Stasheff's defense, December 4, 2005

By 

Ian Johnson "Not all of us grow up to be astr... (NM, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Saint Vidicon To The Rescue (Paperback)

After reading the other two reviews, I felt I should put in my slightly more informed two cents. The complaint that this book reads as a set of short stories instead of a straight stream of thought can be justified by the fact that IT IS A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES. My wife and I have been reading these stories since before they were published. An important thing to remember is that the author is a professor in a field where most students are lucky if they can actually do half of their job right. (alas, poor comm majors)At this particular university, the most common excuse a professor hears is "my computer lost it" in matters concerning research, homework, and any other thing that computers can possibly be blamed for. This book is nothing to be taken seriously. Read it in the same mindset that you would read HHGTTG, or Dirk Gently. If you try to be more serious than that, then the book will make absolutely no sense. (the name St. Vidicon of Cathode should have been a hint.) The four stars are so that I don't appear too biased

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment, January 3, 2011

By 

Chad Cloman (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Saint Vidicon To The Rescue (Paperback)

This book was a disappointment.

I've enjoyed other books written by Stasheff and thought this would be a funny, light-hearted romp through technology with a bit of religion thrown in. And the prologue and first chapter or two were right up that line. Then it devolved into a series of mostly unrelated short stories that, with one exception, weren't very interesting (either standalone or in the context of the greater story). And the "glue" that held them together was repetitious and pretty boring -- this being the journey of St. Vidicon down the mouth of the beast and the ongoing relationship between Tony and Sandy. I did, however, like the final story where the alien conspiracy group took the TV studio hostage.

Stasheff could have done so much more with this idea, and the book falls flat.