I love satire, my early author influences were Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, and then television with Monty Python, and then Steve Martin, Dan Aykrod, and even today, I do enjoy Steven Colbert’s odd humor. I may not always agree with their politics, but I love to laugh at the absurdity of modern life. I read Fahrenheit 451, and Something Wicked This Way Comes and then in high school, Jailbird. I suspect the first time I realized I was a bit, odd, was in 7th grade, my red-haired buddy Mitch gave me, ‘A Wild and Crazy Guy’ by Steve Martin. I listened to that vinyl record over, and over, and over and over, because I found a ray of sunlight into another world. I didn’t understand what Steve Martin meant when he sang, “Grandpa bought a rubber.” But for some odd reason, he made me laugh. And if you read my first novel, Bobby’s Socks, you’d realize why I needed to laugh.
Fishing for Light is a satire, it is intended to be absurdly funny, and a bit complicated. I like to read books with a broad subplot and to provide the reader with unique characters that they might not learn about in their daily life. The basic premise comes from the idea that some people in life win the ‘sperm Olympics’, and get lucky in life, so they must have special DNA. So Professor Quan goes on a hunt within the genetic code to find those magic genetic traits that encourage some to be Elvis. And then there are those people like Eddie Wilcox, who have magic DNA, but they never emerge, so I wondered why? So I wondered about our rather voyeuristic culture, and thought, who has magic DNA?
Below is from Fishing for Light pages 135 and 136:
“What?” Eddie said. He wiped his moist forehead. He stared at the envelope for a few moments. Then he ripped it open. “Bizarre?” Eddie whispered. Enclosed, within the basic white business envelope, a simple single piece of notebook paper with what appeared to be just a random list of recognizable names:
Wish List
Stephano Martine Aykroyd
Ophelia Bin Frey
Biff Soxworthy Miller
Henry James O’Rahilly, Jr.
Regan Jeanne Fryingpan
Cando Hillary Grain
Peggy Bay Smitten
Lionel Bobby Forest
Deanna Elvis Crawled
Gates Warren Jobs
Sasha Night O’Canada
G. Willis Krauthammer
Farley Dresser Peters, PH.D.
Items of personal nature delivered, and verified. Exchanged items are non-returnable. Any deviation from communication protocol will end relationship.
“This is insane.” Eddie typed. He flicked the paper and envelope across his kitchen counter top. He paced back and forth.
“We have a network, but our work needs to remain secret.” Captain Lovins typed. “We need living samples.”
————————————-
More to come, let me know your thoughts, who would you steal DNA from?
NS
Leave a Reply