NPR

Buckle Up For This 'Million Mile Road Trip'

We're trying not to make the "long, strange trip" joke about Rudy Rucker's new novel, but it's about three teens in a beat-up purple wagon with a dark energy motor, traveling across dimensions, so ...
Source: Night Shade

There's an alien under the bed and another on the lawn. Zoe Snapp has a pearl in her pocket that's really a transdimensional gateway, opened solely by playing a particular riff on her trumpet. A few blocks away, Villy (who is maybe, kinda, Zoe Snapp's boyfriend) and his younger brother Scud are arguing about hamburgers, the replacement of spark plugs and the road trip Villy and Zoe have planned.

Five minutes later, the second alien is gonna arrive. He's a mechanic, stoned, a slacker, with a toolbelt full of marker birds and pancakes. He's gonna make, with quantum shocks, graphene tires and a dark energy motor. Thanks to the timely arrival of Yampa and Pinchley, the aforementioned transdimensional aliens, The Road Trip (capped here, as befitting a noble quest) is suddenly a jaunt across realities, across planets, and Villy, Scud and Zoe are, apparently, the heroes, destined to scrap with alien gods and flying saucers, and to save the earth from same.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR4 min read
Tyla Is The New Face Of African Pop. She's Aiming To Take Over The Whole World
The South African singer brought a homegrown genre, amapiano, to new ears with a viral hit and a Grammy. With her debut album, she wants to prove the world is ready for a full-blown African pop star.
NPR6 min read
Can Grief Make Us Accident-prone? A Writer Learns How It Destabilizes And Remakes Us
After a fall near the first anniversary of her beloved aunt's death, a writer explored why grief can make us less sure-footed. She found answers, climbing a precarious staircase in Italy.
NPR5 min read
Why A Town On The Front Line Of America's Energy Transition Isn't Letting Go Of Coal
Kemmerer, Wyo., is on the front line of America's energy transition, with its coal plant slated to close and a nuclear plant in the works. But some think the rush to quit fossil fuels is impractical.

Related Books & Audiobooks