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Spaceman Blues: A Love Song Audiobook
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(3.03) - 339 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
This debut novel is hailed by sci-fi luminary Harlan Ellison as a "mad tornado of words." After Manuel Rodrigo de GuzmAn GonzAlez disappears, his lover Wendell Apogee searches through New York City's "Darktown" to find him. Along the way, he encounters everything from black market dealers to alien assassins. "Slattery's debut is a kaleidoscopic celebration of the immigrant experience ... Pynchon crossed with Steinbeck, painted by DalI ..." -Kirkus Reviews
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"There's a blurb on the cover of this by by Harlan Ellison that starts with, "What a breathless, mad tornado of words!" Which is true. Sometimes I get on the L and the train is going so fast that it's a little a scary but mostly exhilarating, that's kind of the way the book reads. Spaceman Blues is about Wendell Apogee's search for his lost love, Manuel Rodrigo de Guzman Gonzales. Along the way Wendell ends up at cockfights, an underground city, and massive, riotous parties. There is so much partying in this novel that if you have never partied before it will give you a hangover. Things start off weird, what with the disappearance of Manuel and the subsequent explosion that consumes his apartment, but then people start seeing things in the sky. Before you know what's what there are these guys in raincoats on some kind of hoverboards blasting people to cinders with their green flame shooting guns. We met characters such as detectives Salmon and Trout, who used to solve cases via riffing on more and more complex theories until the one case that has put a strain on their relationship; Diane, who keeps the company of several, possibly hive minded, Ecuadorians, and has never stopped loving anyone; Lucas, who was indoctrinated into the Lunar Temple, who proposed that the moon would crash into the earth in the near future, but it only turned out to be a helicopter being used by the feds; Masoud, former soldier turned pacifist, who now is helping Wendell out even if it means fighting, and a plethora of interesting characters. One of the biggest characters in the book is New York City. The "A Love Song" part of the title seems be directed to NYC from the author. And then you got the Church of Panic running around. AND then the spaceships show up. I have a habit, not sure if it's good or bad, that whenever I read a novel I like I almost immediately start thinking about how it would look like as a movie, not as in who plays who because I don't know too many of the actor types, if it was up to me Jason Statham and Jackie Chan would meet the Mummy, in space. More as in what the novel would look like stylistically. Spaceman Blues would be a high speed, highly charged anime with art that would be so sharp that it would cut you if you saw it in HD. If you want to go for a somber novel about the minutiae of melancholy in relationships that doesn't involve mayhem then you should avoid Spaceman Blues, but then you'd be depriving yourself of a way fun read. I got this book from the 1-3 dollar cart from a bookstore I frequent for 2 bucks, what a deal!"
— Abraham (4 out of 5 stars)
Spaceman Blues Listener Reviews
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" Loved this book. Great energy, the story moves along with the energy of a song in a language you don't know but wish you did. "
— Josh, 2/5/2014 -
" I was really disappointed with this book. It just didn't feel like it went anywhere interesting and ended up as a kind of limp hipster Day the Earth Stood Still with a little bit of a love letter to New York City mixed in. "
— Judd, 1/24/2014 -
" Amazing book, reading it is like listening to gypsy punk music, which is to say that it's delightful and imaginative and strange and many other wonderful things. "
— Stuart, 1/16/2014 -
" Whirling, hyperbolic tale with language as rapid fire as you are likely to read it. "
— Patrick, 1/2/2014 -
" Running with the phrase "illegal alien", Slattery takes a close look at the underground lives of aliens in NYC and their story. "
— Randall, 12/14/2013 -
" I work in Red Hook and this book takes place mostly there. Lots of fun, wacky writting, short read. "
— Lauren, 12/7/2013 -
" This book is amazing. The writing style is truly wonderful and thought-provoking, the characters intricate and lovely. I wanted to keep reading it even though it had ended. It's a mystery and a romance and just generally weird, but beautiful in every sense of the word. "
— Katy, 10/15/2013 -
" 3.0 stars. Well written, original and very, very odd. Certainly not everyone's cup of tea but I thought it was a pretty fun read. "
— Stephen, 9/30/2013 -
" I loved the language in this book, but I got bogged down about halfway. It took me forever to finish the book, and by the time I did I found that I didn't care very much for the ending. "
— Dotarvi, 9/16/2013 -
" It was a month of bad books. The library purchaser obviously didn't read much science fiction. This was a definite don't bother to read book. "
— Louis, 5/19/2013 -
" A talented writer - particularly good at describing action. He bit off a little more than he could chew with this one, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next. "
— Shek, 3/30/2013 -
" An acid trip of a story, Phillip K. Dick channeling dime store detective fiction through Douglas Adams. This book goes all over the place, but the writer's craft and central thread keeps it on task and prevents the story from sliding into meaningless absurdities. "
— Christopher, 12/3/2011 -
" This book is great and it is one of the few science fiction novels that (in my opinion) reflects the current urban experience. The other might be the Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler but this one is a lot less depressing. I can't wait to read his new one! "
— Sarah, 9/17/2011 -
" Twisting adventure, entertaining. More so than Slattery's other novel this one left me feeling like the story was just a framework for the prose to flow over, through, and then soar above. The writing is excellent, just wanted more of a story. "
— Donald, 7/27/2011 -
" The entire time I was reading this book I had "Hot Cha" by They Might Be Giants stuck in my head. Somehow, due to that fact, I feel as if I had already read the book. "
— Meril, 2/24/2011 -
" An acid trip of a story, Phillip K. Dick channeling dime store detective fiction through Douglas Adams. This book goes all over the place, but the writer's craft and central thread keeps it on task and prevents the story from sliding into meaningless absurdities. "
— Christopher, 8/4/2010 -
" this was a fun read and the Pynchon comparisons are well-deserved. I'm looking forward to reading his 2nd novel. "
— Bob, 7/19/2010 -
" Twisting adventure, entertaining. More so than Slattery's other novel this one left me feeling like the story was just a framework for the prose to flow over, through, and then soar above. The writing is excellent, just wanted more of a story. "
— Donald, 2/10/2010 -
" This book is great and it is one of the few science fiction novels that (in my opinion) reflects the current urban experience. The other might be the Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler but this one is a lot less depressing. I can't wait to read his new one! "
— Sarah, 2/2/2010 -
" Lots of great prose in this debut novel. It's very lyrical and crosses that science fiction/literary work line. An excellent read and one that you won't easily forget. "
— Ronya, 1/29/2010 -
" It was a month of bad books. The library purchaser obviously didn't read much science fiction. This was a definite don't bother to read book. "
— Louis, 5/24/2009 -
" The Apocalypse has a broken heart. "
— Esteban, 5/13/2009 -
" A love story: tragic love, crazy love, unrequited love, family love however you define family, love between equals, love of New York City. With aliens and mystery. And the Intergalactic Groove Squad.<br/><br/>The people need the funk. "
— Eileen, 4/9/2009
About Robert Ramirez
Robert Ramirez came to audiobook narration fresh from his MFA in classical theater. Initially answering a casting call for a narrator who spoke Spanish, Robert has used his Mexican-American background to imbue authentic flavor and dialogue in audio titles. His powerful command of language and rich voice reflect his interest in dialects. Ramirez is the winner of eight AudioFile Earphones Awards.