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About Atomik Aztex
Product Description In the alternate universe of this glitteringly surreal first novel, the Aztecs rule, having conquered the European invaders. Zenzontli, Keeper of the House of Darkness, is visited by visions of a parallel world run by the Europeans, where consumerism reigns supreme. Aztecs armed with automatic weapons, totemic powers and blood sacrifice conquer and colonize 1940s Europe, as ghosts of the world wars emerge to haunt contemporary Los Angeles. Atomik Aztex is a hilarious read. A potent concoction, with influences from graphic novels, along with Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo, the paranoia of Philip K. Dick and William Burroughs, and an outrageous cyber-Aztlán mix reminiscent of Guillermo Gómez-Peña. Sesshu Foster is the author of the critically acclaimed City Terrace Field Manual. From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Punk sci-fi and kitchen-sink realism create a startling, morally fraught vision in Foster's genre-straddling tour de force. In this codex of simultaneously existing alternate histories, the "Azteks," after defeating the Spanish, went on to conquer much of Europe, adding millions of hearts to the triumphant pyramids of sacrifice. Zenzontli, the narrator, is from a distinguished "Aztek" family, but he is in obscure disgrace with the powers that be. As a Keeper of the House of Darkness, Zenzontli deals in European slaves, who are slaughtered to honor the gods, their hearts taken out and their bodies consumed. His role in that world corresponds with his role in the conventional one, where he works as a pig butcher in a slaughter house in Vernon, Calif. To complicate matters further, in the world of Aztek supremacy, Zenzontli has a Double, controlled by his lovely wife, Xiuhcaquitl. Zenzon must evade Max, his boss at Farmer John's, and Maxtla, his political foe in the Aztek world. It sounds completely unmanageable, but readers will be blown away by Foster's control over the material, the beautiful segues between worlds and the way in which the question "what time is it?" accrues more and more weight. Brilliantly inventive, k-heavy spellings give Zenzon's voice totally unexpected tonalities. (Dec. 1) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review "… a graphic, hilarious and violent chronicle of multiple realities that could emerge … an amazing exercise of radical imagination."—Guillermo Gómez-Peña "… this is an ambitious, energetic, and fiercely intelligent novel."—Bookforum "A fine example of alternative fiction with a strong social theme; recommended for most collections."—Library Journal, January 2006 "Atomik Aztex is hip, bloody, occasionally baffling and often piercingly brilliant."—Cherie Parker, Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 15, 2005 "Hilarious, poignant, and at times devastating, Foster has crafted a fine … cocktail of sublime anarchy to toss into the machine."—Rubén Martínez, author of The New Americans: Seven Families Journey to Another Country "The prose is an electrifying, eclectic phantasmagoria of Groucho's marxism, dadada, surreal and naturalcombined with double-edged intellectual/historical hysteria."—Rick Harsh, author of the Driftless Trilogy "This is one mad neighborhood carnival roller coaster ride through Aztlán, the underground, the QT … Oddball, hilariousdeep."—Marisela Norte, author of East L.A. Days/Fellini Nights "A book so heedlessly imaginative it often seems ready to burst its pages like a comic-book POW."—Emily Barton, Bookforum, December 2005 "… puts his finger on a particular nexus of World War II-era racism, factory life and the landscape of Los Angeles"—The Los Angeles Times, January 2006 Atomik Aztex was chosen the Winner of The Believer Magazine Book Award 2005!!—The Believer Magazine, March 2006 About the Author Sesshu Foster is the author of City Terrace Field Manual (Kaya Press, 1996), and Atomik Aztex (City Lights, 2005), Sesshu Foster teaches literature and comp
