The apocalypse is coming in this dark novel of increasing polarization, religious fundamentalism, and aliens. Published in 1989, a lot still feels uncomfortably close, with the biggest difference from reality being the absence of the internet, not the aliens. Four major points of view are followed. George is the core -- a revived i.e., someone who was medically -- and illegally -- revived after being declared dead. Though called zombies by some, this part seems quite plausible. For all the attention it gets early on, his status as revived eventually matters not at all. That plot involves George on a quest to find the aliens he believes are causing suicides and other strange events to happen around the country. He abandons his wife Lucy, who had him revived, and she goes on her own journey into the world of revolutionaries and prisons. He reports to Richard, his connection to a Weekly World News type publication, but Richard soon goes off the rails entirely and joins the Reverend Gilroy, our fourth POV, who is convinced the end of times is coming, angels in UFOs are due soon, and his followers are gathering and in battle with everyone else in preparation. Interstitial chapters show encounters other people have with someone who engineers personal, usually unpleasant, epiphanies. Angel? Alien? He/she/it offers a third option by the end.

The downsides of the book are a complete focus on the US, with white middle class protagonists, and a conclusion that is good enough, but not as strong as what came before.

Recommended for strong writing and characterizations. ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2015/02/review-of-good-news-from-outer-space-by... ( )

My reactions upon reading this book in 1992. Spoilers follow.

This book was not what I expected. I expected humor and tabloid type outrageousness with ufos, millenial madness, and bizarre happenings. Well, the humor was there in bits -- decidedly black bits -- with the Seppku Club, Richard Shrike claiming to be “on line” with Jesus, some of the exploits of the alien, some of the outrageous conspiracy theories (particularly private detective Delano who thinks she’s a secret agent of the president), but most of the millennial religious stuff is quite familiar and taken from Christian prophet-types (Hal Linsey’s The Rapture is credited in the acknowledgement). The novel has a generally more serious tone than I expected and also much more obscure than I expected.

I liked all the characters. George was a very Dickian character. One of the cover blurbs is correct in citing Philip K. Dick’s influence in the novel. One of the primary themes of the book-- what is truth and reality -- is, of course, one of the prime Dick themes. His supicion that he has been revived into a fake reality populated by surrogates (the openi ng chapters) is very Dickian, and his engaging search for alien interventions is too to a lesser degree. (The book’s best tabloidishness is in the tabloid headlines, and the links between ufos and Christ’s second coming.) Lucy was an interesting, put upon woman, the bastion of normality who finally has had enough. The best character, though, is the thoroughy nihilistic and suicidal Richard Shrike who thinks it might not only be fun to be around for the end-time apocalypse but to help cause it as well, a man who likes spinning elaborate lies and lives one as “witness” Richard the Hammer. He seemed a realistic example of a certain personality type. Kessel also gets high marks for Reverand Jim-Don Gilray who is not a hypocrite or money grubber. He is sincere in his endtime pronouncements.

I suppose the two themes of this book would be the search for truth (and its moral ancillary as to what the ultimate values of life should be) and transcendence. Both are centered around the curious, enigmatic interventions of an alien mind on Earth. The alien meets a person, engages in conversation and says something which throws this individual into a new state: chaos (death -- usually by suicide) or a new state of organization by challenging their view of reality and/or themselves. I particularly liked the aliens philosophy of Moral Luck -- a moral system that says intentions and ethics are irrelevant, luck determines how we will be morally judged. Sometimes these transformative conversations, like in the case of the baseball player or Lucy, turn out for the best.

This same transformative scheme is played out on a vaster scale with humanity as a whole, being simply another complex system to the alien. He is unwittingly helped by the apocalyse minded Reverand Gilray, the group of hackers who perpetrate amusing pranks under the name of Commandante Jesus, and some anarchistic brewers of microorganisms that will render men’s minds more like women’s. It is here the book falters beneath thematic inconsistencies and silly touchy-feely politics of the leftist sort. (Libertarians come in for all sorts of casual attack as the depression the world is suffering in 1999 is said to be the result of libertarian politics.)

Civilization, under the alien’s “reagant” effect, transfigures itself into a less hierarchical, less rational, more communitarian, more creative society. This is pretty lame, pretty standard stuff. One of the microbiologists who creates the agent of change, a tailored virus, says it may mean the end of microbiologists, i.e. the end of science. This is not dwelt on too much, indeed the end of the novel throws into doubt some questions of the virus’ effect. (Though Lucy can’t concentrate on law books and their logical arguments and it is implied logical thought is at an end. Pretty scary.) The transfiguration of government into community, non-hierarchial politics is silly.

As for the other theme, the search for truth, George searches for ultimate causes in abstract politics and alien invasion. Lucy puts her faith in law. Richard Shrike has no faith in any truth. His way, as evidenced by his suicide, is not seen as the answer. But Lucy and George, when they encounter the alien masquerading as Reverand Gilray, come to realize that all ideaologies must bow to the personal, the non-idealogical. The microbiologists say the same. Specifically, George rejects coming along with the alien to get the answers to many questiosn in order to save Lucy who he realizes he has been bad to but still loves. This relativistic, almost nihilistic rejection of the abstract is foolish. Abstract moral and ethical and political codes (like human rights, non-violence) inform humanity’s behavior towards each other. The abstract has its place in life. Indeed, in justice, the abstract must take precedence over the emotional, the personal. The silly philosophical and political elements of this novel don’t mar most of the book -- just the end -- and are not heavy-handed. But the implications of Kessel’s story are pretty clear, and it is a very flawed statement about life. ( )

When this book first came out, I thought it deserved its Nebula nomination and even wondered that it hadn't also been nominated for a Hugo. Having just reread it, many of its flaws are much more apparent.

It suffers from many of the problems of any book set in the near future. Once that point has been passed - and we are now 12 years after the setting of this book - things which didn't happen or happened differently, technology that turned out much more advanced, and political events stand out. Even so, a well-written near future can still stand up as an artifact of its age. Unfortunately, the differences here are so overwhelming as to actually downgrade the book somewhat. Indeed (and this may admittedly be affected by hindsight) it is hard to see how the society Kessel depicts could have developed politically, technologically, culturally, or socially in the ten short years between publication and the events of the book. He would probably have been better served by choosing a later millennium, say 2012 or 2033.

Still, it is an interesting read and there are aspects which seem more applicable today than they did in either 1989 or 1999. Unfortunately, you can be expected to be pulled out of the narrative on occasion, wondering how something could have come to pass in such a short time. ( )

ZB5