Customer Reviews

Waiting for the Galactic Bus

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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Waiting for the Galactic bus begins at the begining...of the human race that is. Some aliens who can exist in solid form or in energy are taking a trip around the universe, tripping all the way since they're young and want to try the latest and greatest in sensory experience through thier equivilant of drugs and extreme sports. They happen upon a planet where they spend some time drinking in the rich atmosphere and experiencing various solid forms, getting drunk on the sensations. When they're ready to leave, two brothers in thier number who are considered trouble makers and losers are too drunk and get left behind. The others decide they'll come back for them in an aeon or two, serves them right for being drunk jerks, right?

Barion and Coyul wake to find themselves alone, with nothing but the primitive life of Earth to keep them company. Since they're so bored, one decides to give self-awareness to a monkey and start a human species. His brother warns him against this, as there are serious laws against elevating species before they are prepared for it, the disasters resulting from such irresponsible advancement of a species are terrible and the punishments severe. But, since the deed's been done, might as well improve on the design, right? figures the other brother.

And so, it is the begining of all the creativity, sadness, hope, destruction, love, hate, art, and violence. Barion and Coyul soon discover that this new species just keeps going on after they die in the form of consious energy. Not quite sure what to do with them, they decide to throw them a party, and "Upstairs" and "Downstairs" develop, and religions on earth develop and influence the way the realms develop.

So, after witnessing human history, and all the violence it can produce, as well as recognising the potential, they decide to intervene to stop what could very well be the next Hitler, before he is even conceived. And here is where our human charachters enter. Charity and Roy...Roy the Nazi wanna-be, and Charity, who has great potential, but doesn't know much of anything outside what she learned in a podunk little town; poverty, the local tabernacle church, and McDonalds.

Coyul and Barion take them on a ride through downstairs they can never forget, giving them both thier individual dreams to wake the sleeping genious in Charity, and to show her the monster the Roy can become. Charachters throughout history are also working in the realms of upstairs and downstairs and add a lot to the story. All told in witty, thoughtfull, and downright funny prose. A very enjoyable read.

I loved it. It was such a new look at classic evolution that I couldnt help but love it. The descriptions of Heavon and Hell, or Topside and Below Stairs, were so funny and imaginative that I fell instantly in love with the places. While I was reading it I tryed, on numerous ocassions, to describe the book to my friends and teachers who rewarded my efforts to enlighten with very strange looks. In fact the only person who didnt give me a very strange look was my best friend who instantly wanted to read it. We both enjoyed it alot and think others will too.

This is a strikingly original fantasy novel about fascism and foolishness. Humans, it postulates, are a species condemned to struggle against the pain of having "a mind capable of conceiving eternity trapped inside a body that dies." Two energy beings, blind drunk after over-indulging (in what?) at a graduation party on a series of backwater worlds, miss the bus home. Facing the prospect of eternal boredom, they begin to tinker with the mental capacities of a few unlucky apes, and presto, "Christ, Beethoven, Auschwitz, thumbscrews and philosophy, Magna Carta and White Supremacy, poetry, poison gas, nuclear fission and romantic love" are born. Fast-forward to present day, and the two decide to intervene to prevent the marriage of Charity Stovall, an intelligent but unthinking religious hanger-on, and Roy Strider, a small-minded, vicious proto-fascist. But they do it by show-and-tell, convincing Charity and Roy that they're dead and letting them roam through Heaven and Hell to find wisdom--or damnation (it's your choice, after all). Highly entertaining, packed with original, witty, novel conceptions and ideas. (About the only book I can think of that resembles it to a degree: Robert A. Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land.") Four stars instead of five only because the characterization is limited in depth.

You have to read both books to get the full effect. Theology/mythology meant to enlighten/amuse/provoke thought and, yes, even educate in a painless manner--Read these books!!

Light on character, heavy on philosophy and ideas, Godwin throws some big stones at evangelical Christianity without taking on any of the really tough questions. The plot revolves around energy beings from another galaxy who foster intelligent life on Earth... only to discover that humans are flawed (ala Brin's Uplift series). Superficial and cartoonish in places, clearly heartfelt and deeply moving in others, never as funny as Godwin seems to think, the story ultimately collapses on Godwin's inability to provide a character about whom the reader really cares. Hence reminiscent of the absurdities of Vonnegut.

Waiting for the Galactic Bus and its sequel, The Snake Oil Wars (to which I give a rating of 10), are fabulous commentary on zealotry and fanaticism. Mr. Godwin is a wonderful writer and very humourous. His dedication for The Snake Oil Wars says it best: "To those lucid and courageous minds who gave us the Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, Falwell, Robertson and the God-inspired Rule of the Rightous. To those intrepid souls who fight with unflagging zeal to remove from libraries dangerous books they have not read and from theaters those spiritually toxic films they have not seen, believing that thought is a controlled substance and secular thinking hazardous to mental health." Such wise and wonderful words! Two of my all time favorite books.

This pair of books is a satire, and it is fairly obvious of what type. A couple of really advanced aliens decide to monkey with life on earth. This leads to humanity developing rather quickly, but it turns out 'dem people are rather immature and like to hit things, kill people, and blow stuff up.

This results in a lot of dead people stuff for the aliens to play with, becoming confused for the god guy and the devil guy. Fairly amusing.

3.5 out of 5

Great news! I found this book at Dreams Unlimited and it's now available again. Snake Oil Wars is being reissued also at www.dreams-unlimited.com next month and I can't wait to get a copy of that! These books are definite keepers!

If there were ever candidates for re-issue, Parke Godwin's Waiting For The Galactic Bus and the sequel, The Snake Oil Wars, would have to be among them. Even though some of the images and characters might be a bit dated for younger readers, the issues that Godwin parodies are still very much with us. Even the chapter titles are a hoot.

I read this book when it came out 10 years ago and loved it! It is witty and extremely philosophic. My biggest regret is that I loaned it out a few years later, spent a year or so trying to find out who had it, and have never been able to find it since! It is a tribute to Parke Godwin's writing that I have never forgotten that book and, to this day, I recommend it to anyone who can find it!! I am overjoyed to find that through Amazon.com I might get a chance to read this book again and again!!