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Eleanor Lerman

Radiomen Hardcover – January 31, 2015

by Eleanor Lerman (Author)

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Winner of the 2016 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year

There are two themes to Radiomen. First, if there are aliens interacting with our world they are likely just as confused about who or what God is as human beings are; and second, whoever they are, they're probably just as fond of dogs as we are.

Laurie, a woman who works at a bar at Kennedy airport doesn't remember that when she was a child, she met an alien on the fire escape of a building where her uncle kept a shortwave radio. The radio is part of a universal network of repeaters maintained by an unknown alien race; they us the network to broadcast prayers into the universe.

She meets a psychic who is actually part of a Scientology-like cult called the "Blue Awareness," as well as a late-night radio host. All have their own reasons for unraveling the mystery of the lost radio network.

Laurie is given a strange dog by her neighbor, an immigrant and a member of the Dogon tribe - people who believe they were visited by aliens long ago and repeat a myth about how the aliens brought dog-like animals with them. All Dogon dogs are supposedly descended from that animal.

As conflict develops between the Blue Awareness leader and the other characters, the Dogon acts as an intermediary between the humans, who want to understand why the aliens need the radio network, and the aliens who need the humans to help them find a lost element of the universal network.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

The Permanent Press
Publication date

January 31, 2015
Dimensions

6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1579623832
ISBN-13

978-1579623838
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"When Laurie calls into a late-night radio show to talk to a psychic, she has no idea that this connection will turn her world upside down. Before she can even speak, the psychic is able to discern an image from Laurie's childhood: an alien being Laurie saw four decades ago. The psychic is part of a cult-like organization known as Blue Awareness that believes humans share a common lineage with aliens. Laurie simply wants to be left alone, but Blue Awareness becomes increasingly menacing, as she discovers that the alien she saw as a child wants something from her now. This novel is both a sharp send-up of Scientology and an intriguing aliens-among-us-tale." --Booklist

"This novel has an inspiring premise and an even better plot. It's a hybrid between conventional novel and science fiction. At the end of any good book what readers ask themselves is, "What did it all mean?" and, more importantly, "What does it mean to my life?" These are questions that Radiomen asks in multiple ways." NY Journal of Books --New York Journal of Books

"Eleanor Lerman's odd, compelling novel can lay claim to showing its author's skill as a poet, especially in its bleak descriptions...Though the narrative proves engaging, it's the unconventional subject matter that proves most intriguing. Radiomen brings together an unlikely assortment of people and situations...Radiomen, may be science fiction, but, hardly a predictable or typical example of the genre, it may well appeal to those who think they never would read such pop lit and enjoy it." --NPR

"As Lerman's entertaining second novel winds to its conclusion, it'll leave readers wondering if there might be life out there." --Publishers Weekly

About the Author

ELEANOR LERMAN is a writer who lives in New York. Her first book of poetry, Armed Love, published when she was twenty-one, was a National Book Award finalist. She has since published several other award-winning collections of poetry - Come the Sweet By and By; The Mystery of Meteors; Our Post-Soviet History Unfolds; and The Sensual World Re-Emerges, along with The Blonde on the Train, a collection of short stories.

Eleanor was awrded the 2006 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets and The Nation magazine, and received a 2007 Poetry Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2011 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her first novel, Janet Planet, based on the life of Carlos Castaneda, was published in 2011. Her latest collection of poetry, Strange Life, was published in 2014.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Permanent Press (January 31, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1579623832
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1579623838
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,727,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #12,987 in First Contact Science Fiction (Books)
- #16,430 in Alien Invasion Science Fiction
- #142,047 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
12 ratings

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Eleanor Lerman is a native New Yorker and unrepentant member of the Woodstock Nation. She has also been a guide in a Chinese museum, the manager of a harpsichord kit workshop, and a comedy writer. Connections between the humor of the human condition and the mysteries of infinity are the hallmark of her nearly forty-year-long writing career, for which she has received numerous awards including a National Book Award nomination, an NEA grant, the 2006 Lenore Marshall Poetry Award from the Academy of American Poets and a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship. She is the author of six collections of poetry, two collections of short stories and several novels--most recently, Satellite Street (The Permanent Press, 2019).

For more information about the author, visit: http://www.eleanorlerman.com/

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M.A.Moore

Great read with a retro feel.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 16, 2016

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Lerman has written a novel about parallel universes while creating a compelling "real world" parallel universe: late-night radio shows about the paranormal; workers on the fringe of the economy; a religious cult; and dogs tuned into what's really going on. Radiomen reminded me of Clifford D. Simak's 1963 masterpiece, "Way Station" in its key plot driver - aliens interacting with humans here on Earth - but Lerman has drawn together several factual threads: ham radio, Dogon people, pariah dogs, and a Scientology-like organization to create a complex but authentic story of family and commitment. Well-written (as you'd expect from an award-winning poet) with well-drawn characters and a well described world. Definitely not "hard" science fiction but a great read with a retro feel. Eleanor, we need more sci-fi from you, please!

2 people found this helpful

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Alda Nuvia

great read!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 20, 2016

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Radiomen is a compelling read full of suspense and excellent imagery. I love how it captures a real human quality through description and dialogue with each character that makes it believable. There's a humbleness and compassion in the writing that roots the reader in the very realistic blue collar world of the main character, which is a great contrast to the fantastical storyline. Can't wait to read more from Lerman.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 24, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is a wonderful story that is beautifully written. Even if you are not a sci-fi fan you will still appreciate the literary writing and the great character development. It is a quick read and makes you think about a lot of things afterwards like religion, cults and personal beliefs.

One person found this helpful

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Shelia Bolt Rudesill, Author

Brilliant

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 27, 2015

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There is absolutely nothing wrong with this novel! It's brilliant. Laurie is so believable and so very many people want (crave) her experience. Besides the story, the writing is exquisite, intellictual, and flows from begining to end. This is literary fiction that's not stuffy or filled with fluff.

If you want an interesting and enlightening experience visit Eleanor Lerman's website.

One person found this helpful

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E. B. Scupham

Time Travel Is Real

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 2, 2015

Verified Purchase

Super fun read for anyone who enjoys speculating about the nature of time travel parallel universes and "The Wild Blue Yonder." Lovely book that works on so many levels.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 27, 2015

Someone was bound to pose the question about whether Scientology was really a front for something other than a silly but pervasive cosmology. In other words, just because it's nutty doesn't mean it's completely untrue. The best way to do this is to change every character's name but make the trail back to L. Ron Hubbard as clear as possible, then settle back and write a good story. Eleanor Lerman has realized that a well-written novel is the best way to explore both the church and the possibility of extraterrestrial contact. Then sets it in parts of New York rarely visited for a mystery; gives us a plucky barmaid and an all-night radio host our heroes; and makes the layers of the discovery a continuous surprise for the reader.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Convincing, casual, amusing and cool

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 12, 2015

Radiomen might be the builders of crystal sets, listening for radio echoes from foreign lands. Perhaps they’re engineers, running wires above the waves. Or maybe they’ve captured the sounds of alien transmissions. In Eleanor Lerman’s Radiomen they could be all of these. But forty-year-old Laurie just finds comfort in the sounds of her uncle’s radio after working the night shift mixing drinks. Then, one night, Laurie calls into a late-night talk-show and everything changes.

Author Eleanor Lerman tells this story in the totally convincing, casual, and mildly confused and amusing voice of her protagonist, giving the story an immediacy that soon has readers believing there’s a Blue Awareness cult out to get her. If they can’t get her, they might be after her uncle’s memory, her new dog, or even the guy who runs the radio show. From the far side of Queens to the pride of the rich and famous, from the wrong side of Rockaway to hints of African legends and the Dogon tribe, from now back into a history of uncles and fathers sailing the wild blue yonder with shortwave radios at their side, Radiomen captivates with casually evocative descriptions, cool commentary, wonderful dogs, and a cast of convincingly three (or more, or less) dimensional characters.

Do engrams hiss? Do memories hide? Do dogs believe in people, and do aliens pray? By the end of this wonderfully enticing tale, the biggest question is how on earth will it ever come to a close. But the author brings it to a captivating conclusion, with great good humor, passionate determination, and even a touch of curious reverence. Because, in the end, the real question is something entirely different. And without our questions, we’re adrift on a sea of radio waves.

Disclosure: I was given a free preview edition by the publisher and I offer my honest review

2 people found this helpful

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Wendy Safran

READ THIS BOOK

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 31, 2015

A thought-inducing and compelling read, Radiomen isn't just another aliens-from-outer-space story. The magic is that Eleanor Lerman's characters, the dialogue, the setting, all feel so completely natural and familiar; that when WEIRD THINGS begin to happen, it is a seamless and (here's a scary thought) imaginable path down the rabbit hole. Eleanor has a style that makes the reader feel like she's sharing a story over a cup of coffee, but after the cups are rinsed, she leaves you with much to think about.

One person found this helpful

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