The United States and its Freedom Coalition allies are conducting serial invasions across the globe, including an attack on the anti-capitalist rebels of Northern California. The Middle East—now a single consumerist Caliphate led by Lebanese pop singer Caliph Fred—is in an uproar after an attack on the al-Aqsa Mosque gets televised on the Holy Land Channel.
The world is on the brink of a total radioactive, no-survivors war, and human kind’s last hope is Eliot R. Vanderthorpe, Jr., celebrity heir, debauched party animal, and Elvis impersonation scholar. But Eliot’s got his own problems. His evangelical dad is breeding red heifers in anticipation of the Rapture. Eliot’s dissertation is in the toilet. And he has a doppelgänger. An evil doppelgänger.
Reviews and Endorsements
“Abusing the future to make hash of the present, Lee Konstantinou has fashioned one hell of a satire, one hell of a world. The writing is stunning, every sentence so packed with knowledge and wit that one’s laughter can barely catch up with the story. Konstantinou has shown us the future, and it doesn’t work. But this novel sure does.”
–Roger Rosenblatt, author of “Lapham Rising” and “Beet”
“This playful and witty novel takes our celebrity-obsessed and media-hijacked culture, mixes in geopolitics and a dash of cyberpunk dystopia to create an intelligent and blistering what-if.”
–Publishers Weekly
“There’s a good deal of rattle and a certain amount of hum in this novel; rattle in the hailstorm of cool ideas, plot twists and one liners… [A] mighty impressive debut: I’m envious. In a good way.”
–Adam Roberts, author of “On” and “Yellow Blue Tibia”
“‘Pop Apocalypse: A Possible Satire’ is a highly entertaining shaggy dog story about the confluence of branding and Big Brother in the near future… Konstantinou’s world abounds with fascinating ideas… with hilarious/terrifying implications for us all.”
–Jim Ruland, author of “Big Lonesome”
“Konstantinou’s clever caricature of the twenty-first century strikes a perfect balance between serious storytelling and humor.”
–Sacramento Book Review
“[T]he details of his known universe are just close enough to terror fantasies and current corporate skullduggery as to be riveting.”
–The Onion A.V. Club
“Konstantinou packs the book with ideas upon ideas. For futurist fans, and those nervous about a coming rapture, ‘Pop Apocalypse’ could be an enlightening read.”
–AM New York
“This future tale is a fast-paced lampooning of celebrity fame, pop culture, and media attention span as to what is important… Fans who enjoy an irreverent look at modern culture will want to read [this] amusing take no prisoners’ tale.”
–Midwest Book Review
“Konstantinou’s dazzling debut generates laughs while deliciously skewering today’s hyperkinetic media, religious zealotry, and international politics. One of the most mordantly funny satires of the new millennium.”
–Booklist
“If you sometimes pause in awe at the absurdities of everyday life, this is the book for you. It’s always nice to visit a place a little crazier than the one where you live.”
–The Daily Evergreen
“In terms of its scope, tone and ambition, Lee Konstantinou’s debut falls somewhere between Sam Lipsyte’s wonderful and bizarre The Subject Steve and Philip K. Dick’s much darker The Man in the High Castle. In all cases, the authors’ implicit criticism of contemporary culture is built through some smart, proleptic storytelling… Konstantinou has taken a much-appreciated risk in writing such a bold, weird and colorful debut.”
–The L Magazine
“The trick with writing good satire is to create a memorable, yet possible, world. It has to be interesting, outlandish even, but grounded enough in the exigencies of the writer’s current climate to convince the reader to keep reading. In his new novel, Pop Apocalypse, Lee Konstantinou has done that…. Eliot R. Vanderthorpe Jr. … is a perfect satirical protagonist.”
–Pop Damage
“Pop Apocalypse is a genuinely frightening book, not for its apocalyptic prophesies, but for its peek five minutes into the future. It’s suggestion that photo-tagging software could someday turn all of existence into the ultimate reality television show isn’t far-fetched in the least. One character comments that when you see how sausage gets made, you’ll want to become a vegetarian. And in Pop Apocalypse, we’re the sausage, and the whole world sees how we’re being made all the time.”
–Lauren Davis, io9