Gadget Man
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The Republic of Southern California was in serious trouble. The casually repressive rule of the junta was threatened, not only by the growing band of guerrillas in the south, but also by the sudden, inexplicable outbreak of riots in the Republic's wealthiest suburbs. Then word reached the Social Wing of the Police Corps that the daughter of the guerrillas' leader had information about the cause of the riots, and Sergeant James Xavier Hecker was sent to investigate. Hecker was an unlikely policeman: not only did he lack any overwhelming personal ambition, but he also retained a vestigial faith in the good will of the men and women around him. And his odyssey through the rubble of our consumption-oriented, gadget-filled, anything-for-kicks society-by turns surprising, appalling, and devilishly funny-makes an unusually entertaining and perceptive novel.
Ron Goulart
Ron Goulart (b. 1933) is a cultural historian and novelist. Besides writing extensively about pulp fiction—including the seminal Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of Pulp Magazines (1972)—Goulart has written for the pulps since 1952, when the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction published his first story, a sci-fi parody of letters to the editor. Since then he has written dozens of novels and countless short stories, spanning genres and using a variety of pennames, including Kenneth Robeson, Joseph Silva, and Con Steffanson. In the 1990s, he became the ghostwriter for William Shatner’s popular TekWar novels. Goulart’s After Things Fell Apart (1970) is the only science-fiction novel to ever win an Edgar Award. In the 1970s Goulart wrote novels starring series characters like Flash Gordon and the Phantom, and in 1980 he published Hail Hibbler, a comic sci-fi novel that began the Odd Jobs, Inc. series. Goulart has also written several comic mystery series, including six books starring Groucho Marx. Having written for comic books, Goulart produced several histories of the art form, including the Comic Book Encyclopedia (2004).
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