The Cardboard Universe

February 2, 2009
Miller's follow-up to Sudden Noises from Inanimate Objects
once again experiments with narrative, exploring the life and death of prolific science fiction novelist Phoebus K. Dank through a definitive encyclopedia of the author's work; the commentators—one sycophantic, one antagonistic—devote as much space writing about themselves as they spend on their subject. Dank, based loosely on Philip K. Dick, wrote scores of novels involving secret Martians, twins and doppelgängers, enhanced or diminished senses, and near-futures in which global warming and new viruses lead mankind in drastic new directions. Unlike Dick (who features in one of Dank's alternate universe tales), Dank is an extraordinary hack (though one of his commentators would violently disagree). The book is clever and often very funny, and the murder mystery at its heart is more complex than it first appears. A near total lack of dialogue, though, creates a feeling of endless description, and the structure lends itself to momentum-crippling padding. This novel should prove a delight, though, to science fiction fans with a sense of humor about their genre.

February 1, 2009
Everything you always wanted to know about a terrible writer.

Expanding on the premise of his first novel (Sudden Noises From Inanimate Objects, 2004), which purported to be CD liner notes discussing the oeuvre of a cranky composer, Miller here offers a putative guide to the works of one Phoebus K. Dank. A prolific author of low-grade sci-fi novels and stories, Dank crafted consistently mediocre prose and predictable plots, which didn't keep him from being published, or from attracting a few hard-core fans. One member of this group is Bill Boswell, a professor of"Dank Studies" at a small college in California. This novel is Boswell's magnum opus, an A-to-Z encyclopedia of all Dank-related matters: his curious shorthand for much-used phrases ("cdcswffc=at the CDC, scientists were working feverishly to find a cure"), his efforts to hire assistants to write novels in assembly-line fashion, his busted marriages, weight issues, etc. One of Dank's biggest b'tes noires was his longtime housemate Owen Hirt, who inserts entries of his own throughout. (Curiously, Hirt is identified as Dank's murderer early on.) Boswell and Hirt don't merely trade entries; they exchange swipes, bitter retorts and threats amid arguments over the value of Dank's collected works. Their verbal food fights in the footnotes give the text some narrative drive, and in time the story darkens and deepens, calling into question in interesting ways the motivations and identities of the dueling authors. But Miller has set himself a high hurdle by structuring the narrative around an encyclopedia, and the book often feels exceedingly overstuffed with repetitive, arcana-filled entries.

A novel about authorship and unreliable narrators that too often loses its own plot.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 15, 2009
There has been an enthusiastic resurgence of interest in Philip K. Dick ever since his death in 1982. Given the many biographies, reissued novels, and films based on his stories, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to spoof Dicks unconventional life and literary legacy. In this encyclopedia of the late Phoebus K. Dank, the likenesses to Dicks career are frequent and only thinly veiled. As were his counterparts, Danks formative years are spent in Berkeley, and his writing career moves from churning out potboiler fiction to winning sf awards while suffering intermittent psychological breakdowns. The encyclopedias A-to-Z entries constitute a fanciful mixture of Dank trivia, plot descriptions of Danks myriad stories, and thematic analysis. The most entertaining elements, however, are the arguments, sprinkled throughout the entries, among the volumes Dank-obsessed biographers, one of whom is responsible for Danks demise. Must reading for Dick fans and anyone who enjoys a little irreverent fun at the expense of a literary idol.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)