Striped Holes

The Faustus Hexagram #5

by Damien Broderick

It materialized in Sopwith Hammil's living room as he was watching TV--a small time machine just in from the future, piloted by a worried alien that spoke of hostile creatures plotting to extinguish the Earth.

To save his race, Sopwith must marry and mate within three hours. But how...where...and, most troublesome of all, who?

Meanwhile, back in the future, a beautiful woman named Hsia Shan-yun valiantly battles to overthrow the tyranny of a brutal mechanoid civilization.

Though eons separate Sopwith and Hsia, their fates are destined to merge as they struggle against undreamed of forces of evil.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy

179 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Damien Francis Broderick was an Australian science fiction and popular science writer and editor of some 74 books. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction credits him with the first usage of the term "virtual reality" in science-fiction, in his 1982 novel The Judas Mandala.

Reviews

[Anthony Perkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading SF theme books and in fact I'm an avid fan of it but this one lacks substance just like other novels that I've read before. I somehow would like to perceive what would happen if Joe and Hsia meet in a scenario and an apocalypse will occur at the end of the story.

[John Gunders · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few laughs, but overall pretty predictable and plodding. Lacks the sparkle of Adams, who the marketing department erroneously compare him with.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might've been the 1st Broderick bk I read. I was impressed. A SF author that I wasn't familiar w/ who had wit & ideas & some social consciousness.