Subject: Prograde Reviews--John DeChancie & David Bischoff:Dr. Dimension

From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 1994 12:08:18 GMT

John DeChancie & David Bischoff: Dr. Dimension

A Prograde Review by Aaron V. Humphrey

I'm still trying to remember what John DeChancie told me about this
book...whether it was him who provided the ideas and Bischoff who did the
actual writing, or the other way around.  Or both.  Whatever.

Ahem.  Enough name-dropping...except to mention that this, along with _The
Kruton Interface_, was a book that I bought mostly because of DeChancie's
inimitable net-personality(and I'm told he's not that different in real
life), since I didn't care much for _Castle Perilous_ when I read it a few
years ago.

This one clicked a lot better than _Kruton_.  Perhaps because it hadn't
started out as a stage play, perhaps because of Bischoff's participation...

The book is intended as a spoof on old 30's pulp serials.  (If you have any
doubt, the book ends TO BE CONTINUED IN OUR NEXT THRILLING
INSTALLMENT!!!!!)  Not having read many of these, I have to judge it mostly
on its own merits.  It's still pretty funny.

Dr. Demopoulous is a scientist years ahead of his time, with a Groucho
Marx-like wit, a 'big lug' of a lab assistant named Troy Talbot, a
well-endowed assistant named Diane Derry(Warning: Much Sexist Humour
Concerning Feminine Body Parts).  Dr. Vivian Vernon, his rival, and
Geoffrey Wussman, the department head, are out to see his funding
cut...until he actually gets his time-space machine working, and send them
hurtling off into the middle of a war between alien races like the Dharvans
and the Asperans(not to mention the Quaaleuds)...

Not exactly a laugh a minute, especially when they keep trying to advance
the plot, but it will keep you reading.  The Firesign Theatre would
probably do a spendid job of it, although it may be a bit low-key for
them...

_I'm_ waiting for the NEXT THRILLING INSTALLMENT!!!!!

%A DeChancie, John
%A Bischoff, David
%T Dr. Dimension
%I Penguin/New American Library/Roc
%C New York
%D June 1993
%G ISBN 0-451-45252-6
%P 284 pp.
%O Paperback, US$4.99, Can$5.99

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