Calling Dr. Patchwork

Odd Jobs, Inc #1

by Ron Goulart

1st DAW edition paperback, vg+ Josh Kirby cover

Genres: Science Fiction, Humor, Fiction

156 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 21, 1978

About the author

Pseudonyms: Howard Lee; Frank S Shawn; Kenneth Robeson; Con Steffanson; Josephine Kains; Joseph Silva; William Shatner.
Ron Goulart is a cultural historian and novelist. Besides writing extensively about pulp fiction—including the seminal Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of Pulp Magazines (1972)—Goulart has written for the pulps since 1952, when the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction published his first story, a sci-fi parody of letters to the editor. Since then he has written dozens of novels and countless short stories, spanning genres and using a variety of pennames, including Kenneth Robeson, Joseph Silva, and Con Steffanson. In the 1990s, he became the ghostwriter for William Shatner’s popular TekWar novels. Goulart’s After Things Fell Apart (1970) is the only science-fiction novel to ever win an Edgar Award.

In the 1970s Goulart wrote novels starring series characters like Flash Gordon and the Phantom, and in 1980 he published Hail Hibbler, a comic sci-fi novel that began the Odd Jobs, Inc. series. Goulart has also written several comic mystery series, including six books starring Groucho Marx. Having written for comic books, Goulart produced several histories of the art form, including the Comic Book Encyclopedia (2004).

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calling Dr. Patchwork is one of the best novels in Goulart's satiric Odd Jobs series, which feature the delightful husband and wife team of investigators Jake and Hildy Pace. Set in the near-future world of 2002, it's a wry look at politics and entertainment-influenced society with a distinctly dark undertone. It's an amusing story with several absurd touches, as is all of Goulart's work that comes to mind. Of course it's silly to think that anyone would ever be elected to any public office, much less to the presidency, on the strength of their personality or entertainment skills as opposed to their political acumen and intelligence, but it's a fun story nonetheless.

[Mikepottz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in the 70s, the story set in 2002. Jake is 36, tanned and capable. His wife Hildy is 32, a red head. Attractive, nice set of equipment. They are owners and operators of Odd Job, Inc. They solve impossible and intriguing jobs. 7 entertainers have been killed. Mr President is paying for their services. Mr President wears white cowboy suits and Stetson. Tangled up in this case is a mob outfit known as Amateur Mafia run by a guy who has robotic zoo animals. Or are they androids? Hildy is kidnapped and will smash her head into a guards balls then karate chop his neck out cold. In a New Orleans nightclub a naked girl decapitates a chicken. The government has outlawed tobacco but junk food is on the rise. A crazy doctor had unlocked a secret genetic code and is compiling bits and pieces of people to construct a killing machine called the Patchwork Man. My first Goulart book. Bizarre, zany, confusing, mindless candy to destroy brain cells.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s sort of like Mad Magazine or Cracked. It’s silly but original!

[David Lemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ron Goulart is pure fun

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good story about a pair of pulp polymaths. I remember other Goulart pieces as better than this.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm exhausted right now so another review I just wrote is about as lacking in pizazz as it cd get. This won't be much better. This was published in 1978 & Goulart makes reference to a country singer president (remember this was BEFORE Reagan was elected) & to the Republican-Democrats & the Democrat-Republicans. Right there I think he deserves cred for precociousness. There's an Amateur Mafia that doesn't allow Italians & an upgrade on the Dr Frankenstein idea that's actually relatively fresh considering how overdone that particular theme is. All in all, an easy read & packed w/ plenty of somewhat juvenile chuckles that're good for people like me who're too tired from working to want to deal w/ anything more intellectually challenging.

[Otto Penzler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ron Goulart continues his colorfully idiosyncratic Odd Jobs, Inc. novels, and this time around he’s created a monster. A modern-day Frankenstein/murder mystery, Dr. Patchwork has built and brought to life a celebrity monster called The Patchwork Man, who is “patched together” by all the pieces of dead stage and movie icons. If this isn’t trippy enough, murder and mayhem abound, all set in Goulart’s futuristic world. Goulart is a master of the humorous and the absurd, and Calling Dr. Patchwork is one of the best of the Odd Jobs Inc. novels. Laugh and enjoy!

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated but still a fun read. I wish we had androids all over the place.

[Jack]

Another Jake Pace / Odd Jobs, Inc novella. Pure satire.