A WILD ROMP FROM THE DAWN OF CREATION TO THE BRINK OF APOCALYPSE—AND BACK AGAIN!
Barion and Coyul are two brothers from a civilization vastly superior to our own. Stranded on Earth, they decide to create the human race—without fully thinking the process through. Now, a few million years later, their upstart creations are proving to be the biggest mistake of their lives.
Charity Stoveall is a nice young woman from Nowhere, U.S.A. Roy Stride is a minor league fascist whom Charity happens to love. If Charity marries Roy, they will give birth to a child who could spell doom for the human race. Barion and Coyul must act fast to prevent this from happening—even if it means literally taking the fateful couple through hell itself.
Biting, witty, poignant and wise, Waiting for the Galactic Bus is the most amazing story yet from one of America’s master storytellers.
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► Re-read this and its sequel just this week and marveled sadly again about how much it still had to say about modern society, 20 years after its publication. Of course, it's also just a heck of a lot of fun. ◄
► Absurd, funny, and sometimes heartbreaking in its portrayal of the impact of organized bigotry in a clear parallel to the rise of the Nazis. The passage in which one character, a young woman who has been in a relationship with a bigoted bully, really sees the meaning and impact of his beliefs for the first time, is one of the most intense and devastating things I've ever read. ◄
► I read this book tongue in cheek and I enjoyed it. Yes the premise of it could be seen as sacreligious by some—but the book doesn't take itself seriously so it shouldn't be read that way.
So what if God and the devil were really just teenage aliens who accidently got left behind on earth? And what if they were bored so they speed up evolution a little? ◄
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First published in 1988 by Doubleday Foundation
Cover art by Chris Hopkins