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Buck Alice And the Actor-robot
The Milliginians. From a distant world they came, a race not unlike our own but technologically superior enough to impose their genocidal interests upon our Mother Earth with a force so catastrophic it reduces the global human population to a small handful of survivors while the surface of the planet is blanketed by a white powder. .a science fiction writer with presidential aspirations, a schizophrenic, an actor convinced he's the robot he'd portrayed on a television series in pre-invasion times, a self-proclaimed Son of God, a girl chosen to bear the children of a new civilization in the last known settlement of humanity. From the mind of Walter Koenig comes Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot, where insanity and survival strive to come to terms with a human condition stripped down to primal instinct, betrayal and social disarray, for a read matched only by the best the world of science fiction has to offer! (From back cover text by Nicholas Grabowsky)
- GenresScience Fiction
244 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1988
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57 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 28, 2021
I chose to read this book because it came up during an interview I had with the author years ago and I've had it on my Kindle forever but not read it.
Earth has been invaded, with most of civilization wiped out. The survivors make their way to the Everglades where they try to survive. However, their new society is not working out too well. The conquerors aren't doing too well either, as many of their kind are becoming ill and dying.
The story is told very quickly, with events--past and present, leading elsewhere rapidly. I found this style difficult to follow, because I've not read another book written this way. There aren't many characters to root for--all are flawed in many ways and have unsympathetic qualities. The two title characters come to importance halfway through the novel, with one being just horrible. This reads like a VERY 1960's--1970's science fiction novel.
That said, there are ideas in here that are relevant to anyone, but is someone going to take the time to continue reading to discover them? It's difficult to read this novel and not impose what I know about the author and what he was going through at the time onto the characters and their situations. If I didn't know those things, I might have had a different opinion of the book. But if it wasn't written by Koenig, I never would have read it in the first place.
A very interesting book for those who are fans of a particular television/film franchise.
Earth has been invaded, with most of civilization wiped out. The survivors make their way to the Everglades where they try to survive. However, their new society is not working out too well. The conquerors aren't doing too well either, as many of their kind are becoming ill and dying.
The story is told very quickly, with events--past and present, leading elsewhere rapidly. I found this style difficult to follow, because I've not read another book written this way. There aren't many characters to root for--all are flawed in many ways and have unsympathetic qualities. The two title characters come to importance halfway through the novel, with one being just horrible. This reads like a VERY 1960's--1970's science fiction novel.
That said, there are ideas in here that are relevant to anyone, but is someone going to take the time to continue reading to discover them? It's difficult to read this novel and not impose what I know about the author and what he was going through at the time onto the characters and their situations. If I didn't know those things, I might have had a different opinion of the book. But if it wasn't written by Koenig, I never would have read it in the first place.
A very interesting book for those who are fans of a particular television/film franchise.
February 16, 2017
Stream of thought writing, there is some plot here, disorganized segments that have no segues. Glad I paid only a few dollars for the Kindle of this and gave up by about chapter 4 or 5 while trying to read this at lunch. There is no plot. So I can't even begin to describe it, something something aliens, something, something end of the world and then a whole slew of non-sequitur and pop culture references.
May 31, 2011
Whoever he is, he seems to control a remarkable technology. ~Chekov, Who Mourns For Adonais?, Star Trek
I've mentioned before that I try to write my own summaries, but for Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot, I think it is best stated in it's original description.
From a distant world the invaders came. They were a race not unlike mankind but technologically advanced enough to impose their genocidal interests on Earth. In their wake nearly all of the human population is disintegrated, blanketing the surface of the planet in white dust. This holocaust is the ultimate waste of life, as the aliens discover the new world they have conquered and colonized is incompatible with their biology.
Now scattered survivors, both human and alien, trudge through this post-apocalyptic wasteland: a power-hungry science fiction writer, a brilliant scientist losing his battle with schizophrenia, a man convinced he’s the robot he portrayed on television in pre-invasion times, a recalcitrant hero who has proclaimed himself the son of God, a former boxer tortured by his past and the tribe of misfits who follow him, and a young girl chosen to bear the children of a new civilization in the last known settlement of humanity. Some are aimless, others purposeful, but all cling to survival and their own sanity, unaware their fates are intertwined.
When Earth’s champions gather, is there hope for a better world? No, definitely not.
I have to admit that I felt like I had eaten some psychedelic mushrooms before and I was reading this book. Now don't read that just yet as a bad thing Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot was just...well, trippy. Koenig has put a new twist on the survivors of the apocalypse. There are no GI Joes running around trying to save the world. The world as the characters in the story knew it is gone and who is left? The social outcasts, those who are typically shunned in society...for lack of a better term, the oddballs. The characters are unique and believable in their imperfections. They make mistakes, they are believable and they are all attempting to find their own purpose in this new world.
Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot is deep, it is philosophical. It makes you think. It is also silly and quite entertaining. It jumps around a lot, which can make it difficult to follow. Overall, I enjoyed Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot and I would probably go back and reread it in the future to see if I can get a clearer idea of some of the deeper meanings that I am sure are hidden within the pages of Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot.
I've mentioned before that I try to write my own summaries, but for Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot, I think it is best stated in it's original description.
From a distant world the invaders came. They were a race not unlike mankind but technologically advanced enough to impose their genocidal interests on Earth. In their wake nearly all of the human population is disintegrated, blanketing the surface of the planet in white dust. This holocaust is the ultimate waste of life, as the aliens discover the new world they have conquered and colonized is incompatible with their biology.
Now scattered survivors, both human and alien, trudge through this post-apocalyptic wasteland: a power-hungry science fiction writer, a brilliant scientist losing his battle with schizophrenia, a man convinced he’s the robot he portrayed on television in pre-invasion times, a recalcitrant hero who has proclaimed himself the son of God, a former boxer tortured by his past and the tribe of misfits who follow him, and a young girl chosen to bear the children of a new civilization in the last known settlement of humanity. Some are aimless, others purposeful, but all cling to survival and their own sanity, unaware their fates are intertwined.
When Earth’s champions gather, is there hope for a better world? No, definitely not.
I have to admit that I felt like I had eaten some psychedelic mushrooms before and I was reading this book. Now don't read that just yet as a bad thing Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot was just...well, trippy. Koenig has put a new twist on the survivors of the apocalypse. There are no GI Joes running around trying to save the world. The world as the characters in the story knew it is gone and who is left? The social outcasts, those who are typically shunned in society...for lack of a better term, the oddballs. The characters are unique and believable in their imperfections. They make mistakes, they are believable and they are all attempting to find their own purpose in this new world.
Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot is deep, it is philosophical. It makes you think. It is also silly and quite entertaining. It jumps around a lot, which can make it difficult to follow. Overall, I enjoyed Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot and I would probably go back and reread it in the future to see if I can get a clearer idea of some of the deeper meanings that I am sure are hidden within the pages of Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot.
May 11, 2011
Buck Alice and the Actor Robot by Walter Koenig provides us with a unique twist on post apocalyptic woes. There are no Gary Stus and Mary Sues running around trying to save the human race. No; survival of the human race is left to those who had actually survived Koenig’s apocalypse, the out of luck and downright insane oddballs of society.
The book trails several sets of characters including a tribe of misfit rogues, a cult bent on procreation, a lone man with an active imagination and hand, and the organ starved Milliginians. Koenig weaves a measure of whit and hilarity between the lines, and to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, would be an understatement. I loved it.
Human beings don’t always think in straight lines, and we often pick the most irrational of options available, opening up a cesspool of embarrassing problems; this is Buck Alice’s strength. The characters are quirky and drenched with imperfections. They are what made the novel all the more enticing.
This book isn’t for everyone, and I can see how one could call it jumpy, crude, and a loose cannon headed for Ground Nowhere—isn’t that the essence of the human mind though? In other words, you will either love it or loathe it.
Buck Alice is an insightful and clever look into the human psyche and those inner, primitive drives that keep us going, especially under duress. Between those lines, Koenig slips noble (and in some characters, not so noble) emotions that pull the reader in, making him or her interested in what happens to them in the end. He does a seamless job of bringing the different sets of characters and their respective plots together. With that being said, the ending is exactly the sort I was hoping for; there are no picturesque images of “everything is going to be okay.”
It is lines like the following quote that bump Buck Alice up from four starts to five, “Eeeya! Hahahahohohooo! Wawaeeeya! Hahahoooooowawagugigigi-yiyiyiyiyiiii!” cried the future mother of the human race” (13).
This is a book that I’m definitely reading again and again. It made me smile every time I opened it up. As I stated in a previous paragraph, this is a novel that you will either love or loathe.
The book trails several sets of characters including a tribe of misfit rogues, a cult bent on procreation, a lone man with an active imagination and hand, and the organ starved Milliginians. Koenig weaves a measure of whit and hilarity between the lines, and to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, would be an understatement. I loved it.
Human beings don’t always think in straight lines, and we often pick the most irrational of options available, opening up a cesspool of embarrassing problems; this is Buck Alice’s strength. The characters are quirky and drenched with imperfections. They are what made the novel all the more enticing.
This book isn’t for everyone, and I can see how one could call it jumpy, crude, and a loose cannon headed for Ground Nowhere—isn’t that the essence of the human mind though? In other words, you will either love it or loathe it.
Buck Alice is an insightful and clever look into the human psyche and those inner, primitive drives that keep us going, especially under duress. Between those lines, Koenig slips noble (and in some characters, not so noble) emotions that pull the reader in, making him or her interested in what happens to them in the end. He does a seamless job of bringing the different sets of characters and their respective plots together. With that being said, the ending is exactly the sort I was hoping for; there are no picturesque images of “everything is going to be okay.”
It is lines like the following quote that bump Buck Alice up from four starts to five, “Eeeya! Hahahahohohooo! Wawaeeeya! Hahahoooooowawagugigigi-yiyiyiyiyiiii!” cried the future mother of the human race” (13).
This is a book that I’m definitely reading again and again. It made me smile every time I opened it up. As I stated in a previous paragraph, this is a novel that you will either love or loathe.
June 5, 2018
The nicest thing I can say about "Buck Alice & the Actor-Robot" (aka "Walter Koenig's Literary Mental Breakdown") is that it's only 245 pages long. Otherwise it's an aggressively unpleasant read whose salient feature is the author's contempt for his characters, the story, himself and the reader. Mr. Koenig attempts to veil his misanthropic disdain with a sort of manic humor that ranges from 'cornball' to 'bizarre' but rarely strays into the realm of 'funny'.
The story chronicles the adventures of a surprisingly large cast of characters after a devastating alien attack. These post-apocalyptic survivors are either idiots, ethnic stereotypes or, in more than one instance, idiot stereotypes. Three of them occupy most of Mr. Koenig's attention - Joshua, a JEWISH INSURANCE SALESMAN (caps are the authors, not mine), Imhor, a blue alien (I imagine the little alien from Eiffle 65's "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" music video) and Morris, an embittered black war veteran.
That Mr. Koenig makes fairly free use of racial epithets is mildly surprising for a book published in 1988. His shotgun-style abuse takes in African-Americans, gays, women, the Irish and even people of Polish descent. (The titular 'Buck Alice' is named after the punchline of an egregiously unfunny pollack joke.) From the way they're presented, one gets the feeling that he's 'getting even' with real people by writing them into his book.
A fair portion of the plot hinges on the fate of a repulsive 10 year old girl named Isobel. I really don't want to go into why. Suffice it to say that, if he hasn't already, the author really should seek professional help - and the reader should avoid this train wreck.
The story chronicles the adventures of a surprisingly large cast of characters after a devastating alien attack. These post-apocalyptic survivors are either idiots, ethnic stereotypes or, in more than one instance, idiot stereotypes. Three of them occupy most of Mr. Koenig's attention - Joshua, a JEWISH INSURANCE SALESMAN (caps are the authors, not mine), Imhor, a blue alien (I imagine the little alien from Eiffle 65's "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" music video) and Morris, an embittered black war veteran.
That Mr. Koenig makes fairly free use of racial epithets is mildly surprising for a book published in 1988. His shotgun-style abuse takes in African-Americans, gays, women, the Irish and even people of Polish descent. (The titular 'Buck Alice' is named after the punchline of an egregiously unfunny pollack joke.) From the way they're presented, one gets the feeling that he's 'getting even' with real people by writing them into his book.
A fair portion of the plot hinges on the fate of a repulsive 10 year old girl named Isobel. I really don't want to go into why. Suffice it to say that, if he hasn't already, the author really should seek professional help - and the reader should avoid this train wreck.
April 26, 2013
'Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot' is an outrageous science fiction tale with a host of characters who are all losers, including writer Buck Alice, alien Ihmor, and a little girl called Isobel.
The sense of humour in this novel was what made it a page-turner for me. One of the many lines that made me smile was 'one hungry day she was dragged off and thoroughly chewed by a bear'. The way Koenig arranges his words was captivating and will make me go back to this book time and again.
My favourite character was Ihmor, the panicky alien. He was a pretty amusing character and nicely neurotic. The most memorable parts for me were involving this character, though I did also enjoy most of the others as they were all interesting and different.
On the downside there were a few too many characters to keep track of and I found Isobel's storyline pretty disturbing even though it was just another extreme part of the strange and twisted world Koenig has created.
All in all this was an amusing and twisted sci-fi story told in a captivating way with many memorable lines and intriguing characters. I recommend to fans of sci-fi who have a good sense of humour!
The sense of humour in this novel was what made it a page-turner for me. One of the many lines that made me smile was 'one hungry day she was dragged off and thoroughly chewed by a bear'. The way Koenig arranges his words was captivating and will make me go back to this book time and again.
My favourite character was Ihmor, the panicky alien. He was a pretty amusing character and nicely neurotic. The most memorable parts for me were involving this character, though I did also enjoy most of the others as they were all interesting and different.
On the downside there were a few too many characters to keep track of and I found Isobel's storyline pretty disturbing even though it was just another extreme part of the strange and twisted world Koenig has created.
All in all this was an amusing and twisted sci-fi story told in a captivating way with many memorable lines and intriguing characters. I recommend to fans of sci-fi who have a good sense of humour!
June 1, 2012
I'm glad I read "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" before I read this one because it has a similar flow to it. That said I really enjoyed this book and thought it was hilarious and even poignant - who knows if the people who survive an alien invasion (hell, any apocalyptic situation) will be the ones best suited to carry on the human race? What if they are the dregs of society? My only complaint was that there was far too many characters to keep up with, but the book's episodic nature helps keep everyone together. The ending was spectacular - I never saw it coming! A very good read.
December 23, 2014
I really wanted to like this, I really did...
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews