Desolation Road

DESOLATION ROAD

by

Voted BEST NOVEL OF 1988 BY A NEW AUTHOR by Locus readers

"This is the kind of novel I long to find yet seldom do-extraordinary and more than that!"

-Philip Jose Farmer

"
Desolation Road
is wild, original, exuberant, profound, moving, magical, hilarious, fantastic, fabulous.... It is also good science fiction."

-Don C Thompson,
Denver Post

"Most exciting and promising debut since Ray Bradbury's.... Here's a first novel brimming with colourful writing, poetic imagination, and outrageous events recounted in a persuasively matter-of-fact manner ... hugely readable."

-Shaun Usher,
Daily Mail

"... destined to be a classic ... perhaps a work of true genius.
Desolation Road
will drift along timelessly, undoubtedly outliving its creator-though may he live long and prosper-and occupying its own special place by the dust-blown literary highways travelled by countless generations of future readers. "

-Peter Crowther

"A spectacular first novel. A lively wit leavens the dense complexity of this epic tale. From the Greatest Snooker Player the Universe Has Ever Known to a mysteriously transported Glenn Miller (father of the Martian swing craze) and the technoevangelist Inspiration Cadillac, the characters are madly memorable, the most extraordinary mix of human and not-quite human since Cordwainer Smith's tales of Norstrilia."

-Faren Miller,
Locus

"McDonald is a truly original stylist, somewhat reminiscent of Jack Vance, yet still somehow unique. This is a dangerous trick for a writer to attempt, because if he fails the book will be unreadable. McDonald pulls it off, and his prose sings ... the author tells a real story populated by real characters. Desolation Road and its inhabitants will haunt you ... poetic, moving, and unforgettable. It deserves to be a classic."

-Janice M Eisen,
Aboriginal SF

"The quality of the writing is superb.... Most of the truly gigantic cast are memorable and distinct. There is enough invention in this one novel to fuel sixty thousand trilogies ... this is a strange book and its strangeness makes it memorable. Unpack your sense of wonder and buy a ticket to Desolation Road. You won't regret it."

-William King

"... not since Walter Miller's master work
A Canticle for Leibowitz
have I been so profoundly affected by a writer's breadth of vision and prescience.... I have seen the future and it is
Desolation Road
."

-Alan Crump,
GM

To all the numerous people who helped raise
Desolation Road
from the dust, especially to Patriciaarchitect, constant supporter, and First Lady of the town.