Rock 'N' Roll Babes: A Novel

by Linda Jaivin

Aliens mating with earthlings? It’s true. And now three of their otherworldly offspring have stolen a spaceship and are zooming toward Earth in search of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll. Parking their saucer in Sydney, Australia, they shapeshift into luscious earthgirl form. When the alien who calls herself Baby Baby abducts Jake and straps him into the saucer’s sexual experimentation chamber, the global warming begins.
 
Next the Babes decide to form a band and soon they’ve skyrocketed to rock 'n’ roll stardom. But trouble is on its way in the small gray shape of Captain Qwerk, who has set out to recapture them, with the U.S. Military and Eros, the excitable asteroid, right behind. Rock ‘n’ Roll Babes from Outer Space proves that Jaivin’s imaginative powers put her in a league with Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams. With a brave and racy wit, Jaivin delivers her most outrageous, enjoyable novel yet.
 
“Witty and wickedly satiric . . . the plot is rocket-fueled and the puns almost literally fly off the page. Few writers have skewered the rock and roll world so savagely and accurately and with so much delight.”— Washington Post Book World

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Music

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Linda Jaivin is the author of twelve books, including the forthcoming (May 2021) The Shortest History of China and the novel The Empress Lover, published in April 2014 as well as the travel companion Beijing, published in July 2014. Other major publications include the Quarterly Essay: Found in Translation (late 2013), five novels and a novella, a collection of essays (Confessions of an S&M Virgin) and a China memoir (Monkey and the Dragon). Her first novel was the internationally bestselling comic erotic Eat Me. The Empress Lover follows A Most Immoral Woman, which is set in China and Japan in 1904 and based on a true story. She is also a translator from Chinese and a playwright. She was the winner of the 2014 New South Wales Writers Fellowship.

Reviews

[Linda]

I wrote this at a time when I was hanging out on the pub rock scene in Sydney and everyone was watching X-Files.

[🐴 🍖]

wonderful. some of the humor veered a little spencer's-gift-tee-shirt, sure, but if you're demanding maturity from a novel about oversexed riot grrrl aliens who eat toaster ovens & bedsprings idk what to tell you

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book often pops into my head when I am walking down King St in Newtown. It helps me remember a time when Newtown wasn't so trendy and I paid two thirds less rent!!

[Rosa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like this book went into my head (like the alien girls do), messed around with things it shouldn't have, made me smile a bit, and left me with a sadness that probably won't last long. After having read quite a few novels of questionable literary merit recently, this one clinches it: I need to read something solid and slow and of unquestioned quality. I need to rest.
Baby is sweet, with a personality like all of the Spice Girls rolled into one, but Doll is a jerk, I think, and Saturna and Skye are very annoying.
And yet, this is the book I wish I had written—minus some bits, certainly—but with cleverness and so much rock n' roll.
And also, I did want B and J's romance to have a happy ending. And by that, I mean together forever. As it was, I made no sense of the ending at all.
Update: I just started rereading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and I don't know why this wasn't as big a hit as that. The style is almost identical. Oh, maybe that's why...
Both of the books try too hard.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

How can you ignore a book with a title like this? It's a bitter-sweet tip of the hat to poor taste, but a lot better than I expected. Reminded me a lot of '70s Vonnegut, and parts of it were amazingly amusing. Rock on...

[Franklyn S. Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was wild, if I'd read this when I was 19 it would have been my whole personality for months it's got a gonzo Tank Girl feel to the writing, a really interesting approach to alien sexualities and all the 90s rock music reference you can cram in. I felt oddly nostalgic reading it, definitely worth a look for those interested in sexy alien babes starting rock bands and erotic antennae play 👽👽👽

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! I might be bias because I'm an Aussie who has hung around the places mentioned in the book and I loved the 90's but this book had me hooked by the first few pages.
By page three I had already laughed at some of it and by page six I had decided that I would have to read the rest of Jaivin's book after this one.
It's such a fun, fast paced novel that really packs a punch. The use of slang and innuendo's are hilarious and make for an even more entertaining read. It has a lot of sex, drugs and music and I think that's what so great about it, because even though it has aliens it represents the 90's subculture so well. Plus the Aussie slang makes it really refreshing, well for an Aussie, to read. I don't know how it would go over with someone outside of Australia though. You might want to get your hands on a slang dictionary just in case but I highly recommend it, given Jaivin's creative and amusing imagination.

[Siegrist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its funny that the nineties now seem so retro! Looking "filthy" in their animal print minis and leathers, the "babes" of the title come to earth for sex, drugs and rock and roll. Oh and of course to save the world. They steal the headline act from the conflicted "Bosnia" and in the process amusingly and sexilly expose the sexism of a particular type of live music culture as well as a risque antenna or two.

[Mandy Partridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is better than drugs. Need a pick-me-up? Linda Jaivin's 'Rock'n'roll Babes' is the trip you need. Alien babes Baby, Doll and Lati are stuck on the most boring planet in the yoon, so they steal a ship and visit Sydney, Earth. They abduct dread-headed rocker Jake for sexual pleasure and guiding them through the underground rock and dance scene. Hilarious!

[to_vraki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Είχα πει πως δεν θα ξανά αφήσω αδιαβαστο βιβλίο, αλλά το παράτησα στις 140 σελίδες. Αν είχα 5χρόνο καθυστερημένο ανιψάκι, θα το είχε γράψει καλύτερα.

[Ευθυμία Δεσποτάκη · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ένα Αυστραλιανό υπερθέαμα γεμάτο sex, drugs 'n' rock 'n' roll, που αποτυγχάνει να μιμηθεί ικανοποιητικά τον Ντάγκλας Άνταμς. Αυλαία.

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is so goated needs to be optioned for the screen ASAP

[Madd · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an insane read. I loved the energy and the love stories and the time capsule this book is. It knows what its about - sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll!!! - and it sticks to it with superglue. I had a great time.

My only negative points were that the US military bit felt thrown in last-second, and the beastiality lmao. But it was a great read. Strangely topical for the modern era.

Found this in a Christian second-hand bookstore btw.

[Adrian Bloxham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, filthy, immensely loud and totally over the top sex, drugs and rock'n'roll

[Pixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was great when I read it in the late 90s - now, not so great.

[Booker]

I was looking for something escapist in the sci-fi realm with a quirky twist, like quarks, but this is pathetic. First of all the plot is over simplistic and lacks imagination, maybe written for a junior highschool adolescent, ie. over hormonal, reader.. even the jokes and premises are pretty cliché and not able to keep my interest. The only real wisdom I was able to glean from trying to read this trashy attempt at a sci-fi sex romp was this, "ayles" (alien) women have multiple vaginas as opposed to multiple orgasms. Although the story hints at alien abduction, I fear that may be a reflection on the author's (in)experience, and it is my hope that she has had more than one actual sexual experience on earth or any other planet. The brightest Doodoodoodoo being, "On the news, the government announced new laws making it illegal to laugh at the foreign minister or any other members of Cabinet, no matter how risible they became." Knowing this about Australia is indispensable to understanding world politics as they exist today. Then there's this take on God, the ole arshole Jahweh hisself, who thinks he's "the only one", an old joke I remember from "Eve and the Fire Horse" which was a charming and sensitive independent movie contrasting Buddhist and Christian beliefs. On a scale of 1-10, I give this a minus (-) 3... something maybe Beavis and Butthead may have come up with on an off day. Anything more to say would be a waste of words. I special ordered it and blew $30 on some promise of "erotic fantasy". It's not even Gay.

[Karschtl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Drei Alien-Frauen landen auf der Erde und kidnappen Exemplare der männlichen Spezies um an/mit ihnen ein paar (sexuelle) Experimente durchzuführen und palavern derweil oder auch zwischendurch mit dem Leser über alle möglichen komischen Dinge, die ihnen auf der Erde so aufgefallen sind.

Bin nicht über Seite 10 herausgekommen, ist mir zu bescheuert und ich frage mich wieso ich das vor ca. 10 Jahren mal gekauft hab (selbst wenn es nur ein Mängelexemplar war). Schon allein der Klappentext hört sich blöd an.

Update: Nachdem ich hier bei BC nach dem Buch mal gestöbert hab und viele Leser es anscheinend umwerfend lustig fanden hab ich dem Buch eine zweite Chance gegeben. Diesmal bin ich bis Seite 70 gekommen, zu mehr war ich dann doch nicht motiviert. Anscheinend wirklich nicht meins. Naja, ist ja nicht weiter schlimm.

[Ola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Y'know, this book has some of the trippiest sex scenes that I've ever read.

That being said, I liked Rock 'n' Roll Babes from Outer Space. It was a lot of fun to read. Three sexy hybrid Nufonian chicks (half Earthlings) hijack their mothership and land on Austrailia in search of sex, drugs and rock n roll. They perform numerous sexual experiments, form a rock band and acquaint themselves with three slackers of the Newton music scene.

Parts of this novel are ridiculously witty---bound to make a person laugh out loud.

[Iznaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in Waterstones in Dublin, when I had been there a while and needed a touch of home. Feeling a bit like an alien at the time, the book hit the spot, as I was young, vibrant and none of my bits wobbled back then!
It was a great bit of escapism and was well-suited to the era.
I left my copy back in Dublin and bought this copy back home, probably 10 years later and began to read it. I didn't get far - it's like my hotpants; they are a bit dated. However, I would recommend this book to younger readers (under 30s), especially for holiday reading!

[Mirko Liang · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wacky, somehow creative, rock (in case it wasn't clear enough) series of events involving aliens and aussies.
I think this is the kind of book the author had a lot of fun writing, much more than the readers would actually have reading.
Not particularly interesting, you just have to go with it - enduring the style in the beginning that almost made me give up - and wait for the last part where it gets slightly better. You can get an additional value if you live(d) in Australia, as you might be familiar with the places the story takes place at.

[Arax Miltiadous · Rating 4 out of 5]

μου αρέσουνε πολύ τα βιβλία που διέπονται απο αστείρευτο χιούμορ και έχουν ευφάνταστα σενάρια..
πόση αλήθεια κρύβεται στην φαντασία του καθενός είναι κάτι .. υποκειμενικό!
όποτε
μετά απο την ανάγνωση αυτού του βιβλίου ξέρεις οτι
κάθε φορά που ξυπνάς μετά από ένα επικό μεθύσι και δεν θυμάσαι τίποτα,
να είσαι σίγουρος πως σε είχαν απαγάγει εξωγήινες ροκ γκομενίτσες με γαλάζιες κεραίες και έκαναν μαζι σου αχαλίνωτο σεξ!!!!
χε χε!
ναι, αξίζει να διαβαστεί !

[Isabella Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it when I was 12. My dad bought it for me in fact. I remember it being extremely hiliarious and really different. Erotica that doesn't take itself seriously, with a good measure of toilet humour thrown in. I still remember the story over a decade later.

[Abby · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved her first book. This one was just silly. Obviously meant to shock with the sex and drugs part, I really didn't care for any of the characters. Tedious to get through, a real let down.

[J.M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this at all. All the reviews I read said it was fun and erotic, but I found it dull and boring. I didn't bother to finish it.

[Lucas Thorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

beam me up.

[Chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

quirky and fun, but dragged a bit