THE OPTICAL LASSO

Spacefaring hero Jason Cody, long presumed lost, resurfaces to face off against alien invaders and the devil himself in Corwin’s SF novel.

Earth’s legendary ace pilot Jason Cody is a prisoner on a mysterious, hellish planet called Vixus: He’s been captured by grotesque, mustard-yellow “tripod” aliens in the year 2140. They have tortured and vivisected Jason for a century (he’s now essentially a limbless torso) to learn his military secrets, but the hero has confidence God will get him out of even this jam. Indeed, God (or fate, or chance) sends Jason a savior in the supermodel-gorgeous form of Janet “Cat” Miles, leader of a fearsome, all-female “Fighting Fury” team sent by the Army Corps to investigate Vixus (which seems to reverse its rotation and appear at different places around the galaxy). Her perilous foray to Vixus coincides with a coup back on Earth launched by treacherous, secular military men against the faith-based ruling council; a cabal of rogue officers are eager to learn what incredible technology makes Vixus what it is and how to weaponize it. Jason Cody has had more than one narrow escape in the course of his illustrious, unnaturally extended lifetime—he was a boy dying of a leukemia-like illness in 2002 when he encountered a weird, yellow, tripod-shaped alien creature dredged up after spending 35,000 years in the La Brea Tar Pits. Oozing pus from the creature permeated Jason’s body, healing him and boosting his already formidable intellect through the stratosphere. As a young man and daring military pilot intent upon investigating a bizarre wormhole anomaly past Neptune, Jason combined his “Chi” natural energy (“the fundamental life force that flows through everything”) with technology to make the optical lasso, a light-bending device. When this piece of tech travels faster than light into space, it intercepts and returns light leaving Earth, allowing the optical lasso to show the future. By these means, Jason (after regenerating his limbs via alien tech) gets forewarned of an impending, nightmarish alien invasion not only targeting Earth but also the Centurions, who are (mostly) friendly, multi-legged lizard-creatures (though they shape-shift into various forms) whose contact with Homo sapiens was brought about by Cody. The master villain behind all of this malice? Blazing eyes, red skin, horns, a pitchfork, and scripture passages indicate it is none other than Satan.

In addition to quoting numerous popular song titles and lyrics throughout, the enthusiastic prose packs on the comic-book superhero references (“Technically I’m more like Green Lantern, except I gained strength from the color yellow instead of inheriting a weakness”), emphasizing the pulpier rather than the preachier elements of the material. The action rarely lets up in a narrative that feels like a rollercoaster riding another rollercoaster. The plot delivers generous helpings of surprises, though many of the twists hinge on very sketchy ground rules and shaky science (even Marvel and DC costumed avengers pretend to follow a playbook now and then). The dialogue is smart-alecky mixed with macho-expository (“looks like something scared him to death before ripping him apart and chewing on his entrails”). Lucifer, the ultimate bad guy, is used somewhat sparingly in this outing, which is a wise move—theologians will likely agree that John Milton gave him more depth. A sequel is in the works.

A Bible-referencing hellzapoppin SF comic-strip adventure.