Red Zen: A Novel of Extreme and Bizarre Adventure In Which a Mystical Book on Buddhism Changes the Hero's Life

by Jason Earls

Saul Summerblend has a bizarre memory problem. And his Zen master, Bodhee, says he should travel to the dwarf planet Ceres to fix it. Along the way Saul meets a thirty-foot magic square whose diagonals and rows sum to 666, encounters a group of drunken Vikings and evil dwarves, works some campy mathematics and overhears amusing CB radio conversations, fights a visionary with a penchant for wrestling masks and flipping off cars all day on main street, invents neologisms like deemkrite and freeganidge. He also learns of a mystical book called 'Red Way of the Butterfly' and attempts to solve a few koans about kangaroos, split toe nails, and carts filled with hatchets. Will Saul fix his strange memory problem? Will he even make it back to Earth alive?

188 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2007

Reviews

[Zevi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. A lot of eccentric individuals. Buddhism, underground writers, cool visual images in the text. And in the back of this novel, the author promises to build you a prime number with text embedded in the digits that will spell out any word you want. Just email him and get yours today. He even uses one of the Nobel Prize winner John Nash's ideas throughout the book. It is great and funny. Highly recommended.

[Tyrone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't let the Zen and the mathematics in this novel turn you off. It is hilarious and well-written and fun for the whole family. Well, not the whole family. Mainly just the adults.

[Brie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So random, it opens your mind up to thinking.