The Madonna and the Starship

A weird satire of science fiction and religious thought, set during the 1950s, with obligatory headnods towards McCarthy and Buck Rogers. A science fiction writer for a Buck Rogers-type show learns that logical positivist lobster aliens really really like his show, and then has to conspire to pull the wool over their eyes when they decide to vaporize the two million viewers of a religious drama on the same channel. The dialogue feels a little too snappy at times– it's very hyper-stylized. But once I started reading it I didn't really want to stop even when I rolled my eyes at some of the author's phrasing. Also, this book read to me as very Jewish at times, despite the fact that the plot revolves around a Christian soap drama.