Surfing Samurai Robots (Fantail S) [Import] [Paperback]

MEL GILDEN (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: PUFFIN BOOKS (1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140901795
• ISBN-13: 978-0140901795
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,235,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mel Gilden is the author of many children's books, some of which received rave reviews in such places as School Library Journal and Booklist. His multi-part stories for children appeared frequently in the Los Angeles Times. His popular novels and short stories for grown-ups have also received good reviews in the Washington Post and other publications. (See new publications under his name at the Kindle Store of Amazon.com.)
Licensed properties include adaptations of feature films, and of TV shows such as Beverly Hills, 90210; and NASCAR Racers. He has also written books based on video games and has written original stories based in the Star Trek universe. His short stories have appeared in many original and reprint anthologies.
He has written cartoons for TV, has developed new shows, and was assistant story editor for the DIC television production of The Real Ghostbusters. He consulted at Disney and Universal, helping develop theme park attractions. Gilden spent five years as co-host of the science-fiction interview show, Hour-25, on KPFK radio in Los Angeles.
Gilden lectures to school and library groups, and has been known to teach fiction writing. He lives in Los Angeles, California, where the debris meets the sea, and still hopes to be an astronaut when he grows up.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most killer books of all time., March 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Surfing Samurai Robots (Paperback)

Detective Zoot Marlowe, endlessly quipping geek from the planet T'toom, faces his first case on earth. Can he unravel this gnarly mystery in time to keep his endless-summer gang of Malibu beach buddies from losing the Surf-o-rama? Are the suit-wearing gorillas behind it? Or maybe the guy with his brain in a lobster?

Mel Gilden blends surf movie satire with just plain, good, detective mystery plotting to achieve a highly humerous and engrossing novel.

This book really is a genre of its own.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laughs cover-to-cover!, December 2, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Surfing Samurai Robots (Paperback)

This is an excellent book! How do you combine aliens with surfers and biochemistry and Sam Spade (excuse me, Phillip Marlowe) and make it funny? I have no idea, but Mel Gilden does it effortlessly. Filled with outrageous situations and larger-than-life characters, this book is a delight to read. Highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Tongue-in-cheek, sometimes to the point of annoying, July 26, 2003

By 

Eric Troup (Fountain Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Surfing Samurai Robots (Paperback)

I bought this bok used based on the title. Being a fan of Raymond Chandler novels, I plunged ahead. While I found the bok fun to read, I can best describe the bok as ... cute.

There were moments when I guffawed out loud, but mostly I just smiled in spots. Trouble was, some of the tongue-in-cheek humor kept distracting me because it was just too over-the-top. If villains with names like Sam Andelilah and Knightenday make you laugh, you will very much enjoy this book. If they make you cringe, you may want to pass this one by. For myself, I fall somewhere in the middle. Those kinds of jokes make me laugh--I am a Bond fan, after all (Tiffany Case, Moneypenny, etc.), but a little goes a long way...and this way was just too long or me.

In my opinion, Surfing Samurai Robots wasn't a bad book...it was just not a great book either.