Wherever You Go, There You Are - Softcover

John Hampel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0962799211 ISBN 13: 9780962799211

Publisher: BZFF Books, 2000

Synopsis

This is the outrageous and tremendously funny tale of snooty Basil Lexington, bumbling private eye and former child television star, finally meeting his match: the beautiful and sexy Synandra Wasson, herbalist, nature girl, and indefatigable keeper of Mystery Rock Hill -- from which she derives, well, unusual powers. Oh, and don't forget the gorgeous golden girl, Tiffany L'Oreal, Synandra's best friend, who happens to know all her secrets. . . . Drop in for a truly Midwestern literary feast and find out how love and ecology triumphs over greed and mean science every time . . . just about.

About this title

From the Publisher

"It's pure magic! It's Harry Potter for adults!" is how one of our favorite booksellers described John Hampel's magical and transcendent debut novel, Wherever You Go, There You Are. Another pegs it as "Wonderfully entertaining . . . Impossible to describe."

Well, it's not exactly easy to describe . . . but then there is so much here! This is a book that takes readers on a magical journey from the west coast to the Midwest, and back again. With loads of fun, magic and mystery every step of the way!

Where else can one meet the president-to-be of the United States on a suspiciously smoking hilltop in California, witness the resurrection of James Dean, and grab a ringside seat for the clash between the ultimate mechanics of science and the sacred, (supposedly) passive, exploited earth? It's all here in this very strange and wonderful tale of the great Midwest!

We begin our journey at the height of the 70's when the chief engineer of an electronics firm in Los Angeles has suddenly vanished and rookie private investigator Basil Lexington has been hired to find him.

Just another P.I.-from-L.A. story?

Hardly.

Basil's search takes him from southern California, where he was ". . . a confirmed bottom-dweller in the vast topaz basin of smog, accustomed to its harsh topography: cars, buildings, bodies at every turn, flowing freeways like ancient rivers of Coronado: San Diego, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Ventura . . ." to the great American Midwest ". . . an awesome clarity of angry sky and uncountable acres of wide open land, infinite untrammeled space with not even token hills in the distance, not a one, farm-clusters appearing like isolate islands in wet black seas stretching horizonward, the topsoil rich and dangerous, so deep here he can sink to his thighs in it . . ." ultimately to Mystery Rock Hill, nexus of the Wasson clan and plexus of the brooding earth, where he finds the girl who stops him cold, the car of his dreams, and the meaning of it all.

Review

In his freewheeling debut novel, Hampel dexterously weaves seemingly unrelated strands into a plot that combines mystery, science fiction and fantasy. L.A. private detective Basil Lexington narrates the novel, his hardboiled delivery at once a bow to and a parody of Chandler. Basil is hired to find the mysterious Capt. Jimmy Kowalske, Vietnam vet and founder of the occult Church of the Electronic Trinity. The Church is tied in with several electronics and computer companies, giving the story a cyber-punk dimension. Basil's investigation takes him to Wasson's Bay, Wis., where he meets and falls in love with Synandra Wasson, last of her clan. She is the quintessential earth mother, representative of her era--the mid-'70s--when the Age of Aquarius was coalescing into the New Age. Synandra's mentor is an elderly Indian medicine man named Dr. Bo, and together they provide what becomes the dominant strand as the mystery takes second place to a modern ecological mythology. Hampel ably blends metaphysics with magic in a highly enjoyable and fast-paced book. --Publisher's Weekly, October 4, 1991

The disappearance of the leader of an evangelical electronic cult draws private investigator Basil Lexington to a sacred Indian mound in rural Wisconsin where a pair of unusual woman, a haunted house, and a mysterious teleporting device send him careening across time and space in pursuit of his elusive quarry. This first novel combines magical realism with a hefty dose of the absurd, resulting in a New Age comedy that belongs in most sf/general fiction collections. --Library Journal, December, 1991

Private eye Basil Lexington comes to the nearly nonexistent village of MacArthur, Wisconsin, in search of Captain Jimmy Kowalske, leader of the Church of the Electronic Trinity. He is helped by the wealthy Tiffany L'Oreal and the beautiful and spiritual Synandra Wasson. All the three are amazed when they discover not only Captain Jimmy, but also a wondrous machine that carries them back and forth through time and space. Yet wherever they go, there they are: the centers of their individual universes. This is a snappy piece of New Age science fiction, the kind that combines technology with the powers of the mind. Here are Earth's energies melded with the romance of a midsummer's night deep in the country. Recommended for larger science fiction collections or those catering to more experimental tastes. Cynthia Ogorek --ALA Booklist, January 15, 1992

About this edition

• Publisher: BZFF Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0962799211
• ISBN 13: 9780962799211
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 343