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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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INVASION

Luke Rhinehart

From Luke Rhinehart, author of the cult novel The Dice Man, a sci-fi adventure delivers a challenging, satirical look at how our civilization looks to aliens from another universe.
Super-intelligent hairy beach balls suddenly appear from another universe, creatures that can change shapes into anything from a small alligator to a centipede to an eyeless four-foot human. And they’ve come to earth to play. Pretty weird. That’s what old codger Billy Morton thinks when “Louie” lands in his fishing boat and follows him home. He, his wife and two boys come quickly to love this playful alien, but when “Louie” starts using their computer to hack into government and corporate accounts, learn all that NSA knows, and steal millions from banks to give to others, they realize that Louie and his friends mean trouble. The life of Billy and his family begins a roller-coaster ride of fame, fortune, jail, death, resurrection, and a distinguished ranking high on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” List. The Government soon decides that all these aliens, even though most of them seem interested in only harmless play, are terrorists. They must be eliminated. This monumental “war” involves the full weight of the American Powers that Be against less than a few hundred on Louie’s team. They are playing games they hope will help humans to see the insanity of the American political, economic and military systems. The Powers that Be don’t play games. They make war. In this funny yet fiercely satirical story, Luke Rhinehart has created his most original, provocative, and entertaining novel since his international cult novel, The Dice Man. Luke Rhinehart is the acclaimed author of eight works of fiction, of which the best known (licensed in 25 territories worldwide) is The Dice Man, a comic novel about a psychiatrist’s discovery that the secret of human fulfillment and happiness is to turn over decision-making to chance in the form of listing options and casting dice.
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Published 2016-09-06 by Titan Books

Comments

Invasion is an incisive, iconoclastic?, humane and utterly compelling exploration of the deep recess of conspiracy that is the shadowland of our days today living in an age of total surveillance that undermines identity. Luke Rhinehart delivers a subtle and fast paced page turner that asks questions and gives answers about not only the voyeuristic world we inhabit today but the ramifications of it in a novel that is destined to become a classic.

Rhinehart’s SF satire adeptly bounces back and forth between radically silly and serious, never going overboard in either direction, on its way to a potentially deadly but entertaining showdown between fun and tyranny. Read more...

Classic Rhinehart. Fresh, smart, and very very funny.

Swinging wildly from innocent fun to black humor, playful slapstick to political evisceration, Invasion pulls off the trick only truly killer satire can manage: Making you laugh when you should be crying.

Funny, warm, and with a streak of satire sharp enough to take your leg off. Luke Rhinehart at his best. I read the book, my teeth grinding with jealousy.

How do you hold up a mirror to a crazy world that doesn’t want to look? And how do you show it where it’s going wrong without preaching? If you’re [Luke Rhinehart]—aka The Dice Man—you distract it hilariously with a bunch of morphing aliens whose chaotic antics serve only to demonstrate how cynical and insane the world order has become. It takes a master of satire to pull this off because as a device, bouncing ‘hairy balls’ shouldn’t work, but they do. Once you stop laughing, you’ll realise you've been distracted—and hypnotised—by [Rhinehart] just long enough to learn the lessons he so deftly imparts.

A delightful, creative romp of an adventure that trails a thoughtful social message behind.

Rhinehart’s exploration of the human condition and its myriad flaws through Louie’s unique take on it is delightful, and fans of globe-hopping, madcap fun with a razor-sharp side dose of political and societal satire will gobble up this absurdist treat.

[T]his is a terrific satire poking fun at politicians, the banks, the military and the gun-toting right, and is probably the best and funniest sci-fi satire you’ll read all year… at least until Donald Trump’s in the White House. Read more...

Already an icon in student flats everywhere for his cult classic The Dice Man, Rhinehart proves his veteran hippy credentials with this satire on the American Way—it’s quirky and inventive…

Luke Rhinehart gave the world a true cult classic with his 1971 novel The Dice Man….With Invasion, Rhinehart has returned with another potential cult classic in-the-making; a story imbued with biting social commentary, intelligence, originality and a constant supply of entertainment on every page. Read more...

Political commentary meets first contact invention, and somehow comes out the other end a hilarious sci-fi comedy. Read more...