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A review by gengelcox
Count Geiger's Blues by Michael Bishop
3.0
This one jumped off the shelf and into my hands. I’m a Bishop fan from years back–having read and loved books like [b:Ancient of Days|939920|Ancient of Days|Michael Bishop|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1179637272s/939920.jpg|924895], [b:No Enemy But Time|637400|No Enemy But Time|Michael Bishop|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501707563s/637400.jpg|909468], [b:The Secret Ascension|27745504|THE WATCHERS Lost Secrets of Ascension, Resurrection and Perfection|William Henry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1447035176s/27745504.jpg|47726540] (aka Philip K. Dick is Dead, Alas), and [b:Unicorn Mountain|1363889|Unicorn Mountain|Michael Bishop|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347616908s/1363889.jpg|2000340]–and I hadn’t even known that he had a new book coming out.
Not only that, but a book that really piqued my interest. Bishop’s doing his own version of [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442239711s/472331.jpg|4358649] here–what if a “superhero” really existed in our world. But the operative word on the title page is that this is a comedy. For all his realism, Bishop is actually writing in the tradition of [a:James Branch Cabell|92665|James Branch Cabell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207156655p2/92665.jpg] and [a:Thorne Smith|171139|Thorne Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1358230465p2/171139.jpg], warping our reality to actually satirize it.
It has confirmed my expectations. Xavier Thaxton is the Fine Arts editor at the local newspaper–a man who hates popular culture. But slowly he finds that popular culture is what he needs, and what he is becoming. The conclusion is a statement about “art,” that most nebulous of terms.
Not only that, but a book that really piqued my interest. Bishop’s doing his own version of [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442239711s/472331.jpg|4358649] here–what if a “superhero” really existed in our world. But the operative word on the title page is that this is a comedy. For all his realism, Bishop is actually writing in the tradition of [a:James Branch Cabell|92665|James Branch Cabell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207156655p2/92665.jpg] and [a:Thorne Smith|171139|Thorne Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1358230465p2/171139.jpg], warping our reality to actually satirize it.
It has confirmed my expectations. Xavier Thaxton is the Fine Arts editor at the local newspaper–a man who hates popular culture. But slowly he finds that popular culture is what he needs, and what he is becoming. The conclusion is a statement about “art,” that most nebulous of terms.