The Extra

Shea, Michael

ISBN 10: 0765324350 / ISBN 13: 9780765324351

Published by Tor Books, New York, 2010

About this Item

New York: Tor Books:, 2010. First edition, Hardcover, Near Fine in Fine dust jacket, 283 pp. Cover artwork by: Dorling Kindersley Address sticker mostly removed from front free endpaper else Fine. First edition, Hardcover, Near Fine in Fine dust jacket,

Seller Inventory # 43178

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Extra
• Publisher: Tor Books, New York
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0765324350
• ISBN 13: 9780765324351
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Dorling Kindersley
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • General Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

Books and films have skewered Hollywood's excesses, but none has ever portrayed one man's crazy vision of the future of big action/adventure films as The Extra does. As over-the-top as Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles, as savagely dark as Robert Altman's The Player, and more violent than Rollerball, this is the story of the ultimate, so-insane-it-could-only-happen-in-Hollywood formula for success, a brave new way to bring the ultimate in excitement to the silver screen. Producer Val Margolian has found the motherlode of box-office gold with his new "live-death" films whose villains are extremely sophisticated, electronically controlled mechanical monsters. To give these live-action disaster films greater realism, he employs huge casts of extras, in addition to the stars. The large number of extras is important, because very few of them will survive the shoot.

It's all perfectly legal, with training for the extras and long, detailed contracts indemnifying the film company against liability for the extras' injury or death. But why would anyone be crazy enough to risk his or her life to be an extra in such a potentially deadly situation?

The extras do it because if they survive they'll be paid handsomely, and they can make even more if they destroy any of the animatronic monsters trying to stomp, chew, fry, or otherwise kill them. If they earn enough, they can move out of the Zoo--the vast slum that most of L.A. has become. They're fighting for a chance at a reasonable life. But first, they have to survive . . .

About the Author

MICHAEL SHEA is the World Fantasy Award-winning author of Nifft the Lean as well as other novels and many short stories. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area.