A Novel Novel

Daybreak: Arthur Lee Wray wakes up his computer, clicks on the word processing icon and composes the first sentence of the first paragraph of what will be his first novel, The Wayward Bookmen. Arthur is unaware, however, that his laptop is infected by alien spyware contrlled by an extraterrestial agent. Utilizing its extraodinary reconnasissance capabilities, the cyber stowaway becomes a chronicler of Mr. Wray's maiden literary efforts. The Wayward Bookmen (a novel within The Novel) begins in rural Alabama during the mid-sixties. The narrative follows the bizarre adventures and ill-fated ends of three disparate book collectors: Theodora O. Boob, an eccentric book thief, Dr. Julius Snell, an emeritus Professor of Library Science and Chester Johnson, a retired sanitation worker. The alien's journal, A Tale of a Tale, not only reports on the the novice novelist's trials and tribulations in completing and publishing his manuscript during nine months of 2001 but also records his vexing relatonships with a host of women; these include, among others, Sarah ,the widowed mother; Inez, the beautiful ex-wife; Zoe, the lesbian literary agent; Lo joy, the sensual nymph and Sherry, his strawberry-blond muse.

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Ray Hettche retired from an academic position at Penn State University in 2004 and soon afterwards moved to Florida's Treasure Coast. Recently, he took up the challehge of writing fiction and general interest essays. A Novel Novel is his most ambitious effort to date.