THE RED TAPE WAR

Just what the sf literary establishment has been waiting for: a round-robin novel wherein the author of one particular chapter endeavors to confound the author due up next with an insoluble cliffhanger. Apparently the original intention was a parody of bureaucracies grinding into diplomatic inaction, but that soon got lost amid a welter of invading aliens, reduplicated characters, love-lorn computers, southern belles, and what-all. Just to get you started, 67th-century Earth diplomat Millard Fillmore Pierce is intercepted by an invading alien fleet whose reptilian leader is also called Millard Fillmore Pierce and is also from (an other-dimensional) Earth. Meanwhile, a teeny-weeny alien invader creeps up on the pair of them; the newcomer is also named...you guessed it...and hails from yet another parallel dimension. Thereafter, things grow more absurd and confused, but not, alas, either funny or provocative. Silly idea, predictable outcome.