This could well be the most surreal book I have ever read. I don't think that this is much of an exaggeration, it is really out there, completely off-the-wall. It's the kind of book which could be so very annoying an unreadable if the author didn't ground it at least somewhere. Fortunately for us, Chris Genoa has managed to keep this under control.

Okay so what we have in essence is a mystery story based in a time-travel tourist agency. Dactyl Inc. is the world's only tourist agency that allows people to visit events in the past, using a technology developed by Robert Burk, the slightly odd (well in this book who isn't?) chairman.

Our lead character Joe is tasked by Burk to discover who might be behind a threat he received in the form of a photograph from the day of his birth. This begins a very odd strange of events for Joe – well okay, I suppose that was a given in a surreal comedy.

Well, Joe is this book's anchor, for although some of his thought patterns are a little odd, given the nature of the world in which he finds himself he is pretty normal, he's this book's equivalent of Arthur Dent.

He has the ghost of his apartment's previous tenant scaring him out of his home, a mysterious (and very ill-matched) duo turning up wherever he goes (even through time), time tourists intent on doing the strangest things on his time-tours, a boss who can only cope with one-on-one companionship for 22 minutes to contend with.

And despite all this he remains fairly level-headed, okay maybe a little paranoid but essentially normal.

Now I am not going to say this is the finest comedy novel written, it's not. I think Douglas Adams's crown is certainly intact – but then again given Adams' incredible talent in this area, this is not a terrible slur on this book.

And one thing I can definitely say about this book is that is shows great promise for the author's future. The reason I'll say this is that he has written a surreal comedy novel that is actually funny at very regular intervals.

Writing styles can be improved, plot techniques tightened as a career progresses, but the abiblity to be genuinely funny cannot be learned or improved, and this guy is. Just check out what happens on Joe's trip to the baseball game and you'll get a good example of this guy's mindset.

Good start - worth reading - I look forward to seeing what this author creates next.

Synopsis
First time novelist Chris Genoa's debut Foop! (300 pp., tpb, $13.95) is an absurd science fiction comedy about the Earth's final destiny. Nick Sagan, author of Edenborn and Idlewild, says, "Wild, fearless and wickedly clever, Foop! fireballs through time and space to find a future that is as absurd as it is heartbreaking. The more you read of Chris Genoa, the more you realize he's not content with just tickling your imagination along with your funny bone-gosh darn it if he isn't also making a play for your soul. Wonderfully dark. A terrific read. An inspired debut."

The story follows the misadventures of Joe, a hapless time-traveling tour guide who is catapulted from his humdrum life into a surreal journey where a blind hog-tying monkey is one of the sanest creatures he meets. Joe stumbles into the middle of events that threaten both the Earth's future and past in the book bestselling author Christopher Moore called "A surreal pie in the face."

World Fantasy Award Winner James Morrow (author of Towing Jehovah and Blameless in Abaddon) says, "Chris Genoa is one of our authentic literary lunatics, and the irrepressible Foop! offers irrefutable proof of his salutary madness. When they lock Genoa away in the booby-hatch, I hope they give him lots of pens and plenty of paper."

Tony Vigorito, author of Just a Couple of Days, says "Chris Genoa's Foop! is a superbly surreal and wickedly wry rollick through the space-time continuum. With a talent for hyperbole reminiscent of the late Douglas Adams, Genoa stretches surreality to its snapping point and succeeds in delivering a hilarious debut novel."