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2007-08-25 - 6:45 a.m. The Road to Mars by Eric Idle The former Python has written a novel and it has many many words in it. It's in a language called English and it has everything a novel should have. It has characters, a narrator, a plot, and most importantly, it has words. Seriously, Idle has written a science fiction novel that's disguised as a comedic novel that's disguised as a academic discussion of the nature of comedy that's disguised as an attack commentary on popular culture that's disguised as a science fiction novel. It's all very confusing. Idle knows the rules of novel writing. This is evident in the skill with which he breaks all of the rules of novel writing. The narrator is a character in his own story that takes place eighty years after the events of the book. His own personal life invades the narration constantly. For a book set some time in the twenty fourth century, the references to twentieth century pop culture are overwhelming. I could go on. It's a book that should fail. It doesn't. In fact, it doesn't fail in a fun, funny, spectacular way. The Road to Mars is the vaudeville circuit that covers the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, the asteroids, and the vast luxury liners that cruise on their three year tours of the solar system, Mars being the entertainment anchor that holds the whole thing together. The story follows two low-rent comedians and their Bowie 4.5 robot (the classic "White Rock God" model, not the earlier "Ziggy Stardust" model with which there were so many problems) as they make their way from Saturn to Mars. But actually, it's the story of the robot who is working on a doctoral thesis on the nature of comedy. Secretly, it's the story of terrorists who threaten vast destruction if they don't get their way. Ultimately, it's the story of Reynolds, the micropaleontologist who has discovered this story and the comedy analysis some eighty years later. Oh, yes, and it's quite funny as well, but what can you expect? It's written by Eric Idle, a man who knows a thing or two about being funny. If you like comedy, science fiction, and sex, then pick up The Road to Mars. Did I mention there is sex in the book? 
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