Subject: Review: Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley

From: [email-masked] (P.D. TILLMAN)
Date: 28 Jul 1999 13:15:30 -0400

Review: Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley
	    Review Copyright 1999 Peter D. Tillman

Rating: "A" -- a very entertaining UFO-political alternate-history
humorous satire [whew!]. Highly recommended.

John Oliver Banion (note 1) hosts an influential political talking-
headshow on TV. He has a beautiful house in Georgetown, a permanent spot
on the "A" list of every Washington hostess of note, and commands lecture
fees of $25,000 and up. Life is good -- until he's abducted by aliens at
the fourth hole of the Burning Bush golf course. And, um, *probed*. And
abducted again a few weeks later, on his way to give a lecture to the
American Auto Consumer Association, a trade group for foreign-car dealers.

Nathan Scrubbs is Manager of Abductions for Majestic-12. a supersecret
bureau that was started in 1947 to convince Joe Stalin that the US had
found advanced alien technology at the Roswell, NM "crash" site. Like all
government programs, it's acquired a life of its own:
	   "A country convinced that little green men were hovering
	    over the rooftops [would be] inclined to vote yea for
	    big weapons and space programs."

In recent years, MJ-12 has turned to abductions and cattle-mutilations to
maintain belief in UFO's. Staff mathematicians have devised a credibility
algorithm for determining who to abduct next. Usually the program picks
overweight housewives, but credibility figures are down, and Scrubbs has
decided he needs a more prominent abductee.

Banion's wife, agent, and TV-show sponsor are not pleased when he begins a
high-profile campaign to uncover the "truth" about alien abductions. But
the UFO fans love it -- he's the most respectable spokesman they've ever
had. Soon he has no wife, a new sponsor, a new hit TV show, and is calling
for a "Millenium Man March" on Washington, to demand congressional UFO
hearings.  Then his televised call-to-arms is mysteriously interrupted
with clips from "Space Bimbos from Planet Lust," a simulcast on the
Yearning Channel.

I can't say much more without spoiling the fun, but no plot outline can
convey Buckley's sly humor, surreal plot, equal-opportunity skewers and
deadpan delivery. I find it remarkable that he can keep delivering
wonderful one-liners, deadly gigs at thinly-disguised ("Senator Bore")
politicos, and weird but almost-believable scenarios for 300 pages.
Buckley notes that the CIA actually did run such a scam in the early 60's.
He quotes First Friend/felon Webster Hubbell's assignment from President
Clinton: "One: who killed JFK?  And two, are there UFO's?"  Which may
account for Clinton expressing an interest in Buckley's project that
"seemed to go beyond the merely polite."  Or are these more put-ons?
(note 2)

Suffice it to say that, if you liked "Thank You for Smoking," LGM is for
you.  If you missed "Smoking" (note 3), you have *two* treats in store.
Highly, and enthusiastically, recommended.

%T Little Green Men
%A Christopher Buckley
%D 1999
%I Random
%O US$25
%P 300 pp.
%G ISBN 0-679-45293-1

Read an interview and excerpt:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/categories/literature/march-1999-buckley-interview/
http://www.randomhouse.com/atrandom/christopherbuckley/

Another review:
http://www.denverpost.com/books/bkgreen0411.htm
_____________
1) Think George F. Will, and note Banion's initials.

2) I was unable to verify Buckley's factual(?) statements, above. But
stranger things have happened: 
 
  "In the [3-10-99] N.Y. Times there's an obituary of the CIA guy who 
   did all of the LSD experiments, Sidney Gottlieb. He died at age 80. His
   hobbies were folk dancing and herding goats. He loved LSD: he took it,
   and I quote, "hundreds of times." He conducted 150 separate mind-
   control experiments. One guy jumped out a window and was killed.
   I'll just read you a bit: "Government documents and court records show
   that at least one participant died, others went mad, and still others
   suffered psychological damage after participating in the project,
   known as MK-Ultra." The experiments were useless, Mr. Gottlieb
   concluded, shortly before he retired in 1972. The CIA awarded Mr.
   Gottlieb the Distinguished Intelligence Medal... 
   
   ...We must soldier on, despite the appalling odds against
   our coming up with something more piquant than the morning 
   headlines."
			(from author interview at amazon.com)

3) Wm. J. Clinton, on "Smoking": "That's the funniest goddam book I've
ever read!"  Your reviewer concurs.
			(from author interview at amazon.com)

Read more of my reviews:
http://www.silcom.com/~manatee/reviewer.html#tillman