7.6 /10 1 Votes
Cover artist Christopher Sergio Media type Print (paperback) ISBN 0-8129-7416-6 Originally published October 2005 Genre Science Fiction OCLC 57641675 | 3.8/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 496 pp Dewey Decimal 813/.6 22 Country United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Similar Private Midnight, Reverend America, Enigmatic Pilot: A Tall Tale Too, Sinister Miniatures, Sea Monkeys: A Memory | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Zanesville is a science fiction novel written by Kris Saknussemm and published by Villard Books, an imprint of Random House in 2005.
Contents
Plot summary
The story is set forty years into the future, in an America in which distinctions between government, religion, and corporations have vanished. The main character, Elijah Clearfather, is found by a resistance cell outside their camouflaged borders in Central Park, New York City. After the cell witnesses the Clearfather's powers, they learn a little about his true identity but decide, in the interests of everyone, to send him away, with the only safe clues to his identity they can provide: a bus pass marked with three important locations and a note written in disappearing ink. Clearfather is set on a journey of self-discovery pursued by murderous Vitessa Cultporation agents, and accompanied by Aretha Nightengale, once a lawyer, now a cross-dressing resistance leader; Dooley Duck and Ubba Dubba, hologram cartoon characters leading a sexual revolution; and the mysterious Kokomo.
Reception
Zanesville has been called a "revolutionary work of surreal black comedy," and touted as being "pretty cool" with "good word play" by Rudy Rucker. The novel was hailed by The Austin Chronicle in 2005 as "the most original novel of the year." The novel is said to have offended fringe feminist groups and conservative organizations like the Right to Life movement, the Catholic Church and the Republican Party. In 2007 the author of Zanesville threatened to sue Michael Jackson upon reports that the singer was going to erect a giant robotic model of himself in Las Vegas, claiming the idea was his.