Space Opera

Decibel Jones is shocked to wake up from his hangover and look into the big, beautiful eyes of a very large, blue, flamingolike creature (an Esca) and to realize he is not hallucinating. Instead, Jones learns that he and his defunct band, the Absolute Zeros, have been selected to represent Earth and perform in the Metagalactic Grand Prix music contest. They will either save Earth, enabling humanity's membership as a sentient species in the galaxy, or doom the planet to annihilation. It's a lot to take in, but Jones does his best. He locates his estranged, former instrumentalist, Oort St. Ultraviolet, and the two unwillingly sally forth with the Esca to save the world. On the way, readers are treated to a fascinating and hilarious galaxywide tour of prior Grand Prix winners, losers, and runner-up civilizations. Teens will eat up this hysterically funny, clever wordfest, written in the vein of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, complete with ultra snarky narrator and galactic-weary ennui, with a bit of the fatalistic vibe of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens. Alert readers will catch amusing and appropriate classic and contemporary sci-fi and pop culture references.