Book Review - The Extra by Michael Shea

Hollywood. The land of glitz and glamour, of sparkle and sizzle; the "Hollywood" sign preening itself on a hill overlooking the city, basking in the golden richness of its domain, which lies exposed like the throat of a submissive dog. Where the homeless sleep on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, tourists nudging them aside to get a photo of Chuck Norris's star, waiting. (He was genius in Missing in Action!) Nearby a madman screams at an ATM machine, that sympathetically beeps back, while another group of tourists huddle over a star, murmuring: Leslie Nielsen? Surely you aren't serious? Serious indeed, serious as Erik Estrada's star residing in front of an anal bleaching salon, the Spinctorium, just around the corner.Hollywood. The graveyard of dreams. Where out of work actors wait tables in the local sushi joint, hoping for that big break, hoping to be discovered. To be plucked out of this zoo of humanity, and elevated-into a movie star. Everyday as they return home to their cramp
ed apartment, undiscovered, unimportant, a part of their dream dies, passing with a whimper. Thirty years later, still waiting tables in the same sushi restaurant, the dream is dead, only a vacant shell left behind asking me if I want some Nihonshu with my meal. If Disneyland, fifty miles to the south, is the place where dreams come true, Hollywood would be its anus-the place dreams go to get flushed. Hope's final resting stop.Still the wannabe starlets dream, might even pray if there was a church in the Hollywood city limits. If only there was something they could do, some way to distinguish themselves, to rise out of the muck that is their life.And then a billboard appears, big bold letters scrawled across it as if it was written by some divine hand: Extras Wanted. This billboard, lurking over the 101 freeway, is salvation. And it is also almost certain death.Being an extra in a movie could net you hundreds of thousands of dollars, enough to escape the city, maybe start up
a pig farm out in the 909. Being an extra could also get you killed, fast, and in horrible ways. Chances are, overwhelmingly, you'll get killed. But it's worth it, even with a slim chance at survival. That's how bad life is in the Zoo; it's worth wagering your life to get out.So on the appointed day, you kiss your loved ones goodbye, head on down to Panoply Studios, and sign up to be an extra on their latest "live death" extravaganza, Alien Hunger. See, movies have evolved, audiences expect more now, more bang for the buck, more carnage from their celluloid. They expect real deaths, hundreds of them, the more brutal and gory the better. And that's where you and your fellow extras come in-to die graphically on film, limbs torn asunder courtesy of specially devised killing machines called APPs (Anti-Personnel Properties). Which are big, ugly, vicious mechanical spiders in the case of Alien Hunger. Kill any of these spiders and you'll earn yourself big money, survive the entir
e shoot and you'll earn even bigger money. Maybe even enough to start that pig farm.Want one word to summarize Michael Shea's The Extra-brilliant. Like cackling mad scientist, Tesla coils humming in the background brilliant, a heady brew of rapturous glee mixed with malicious intelligence. It's Swiftian satire written for a reality TV world; the true Amazing Race, where losers go home in a two-ply Hefty bag. Shea writes with an ever present wink and a smirk for his audience, lampooning rich targets like reality TV, the Hollywood system, and socio-economic injustice in America. What would otherwise be a bleak, dismal imagining of the near future, Shea fills with energy and hope; it's giddiness bottled, the feeling you get seeing the underdog win. Pure literary magic.Moving quicker than a heart attack suffered by a Chicago Bears fan, The Extra is non-stop entertainment, with action more combustible than a trailer park meth lab. Even though the characters are running around a s
mall city set, trying to survive for the majority of the book, the action never dulls, never feels redundant. Shea keeps events fresh, shocking, and wilder than a Girls Gone Wild: Nymphomaniac Edition DVD.A huge heart beats at the center of the novel, exemplified by bros-for-life Curtis and Japh who both decide to risk their lives as extras on Alien Hunger. Their relationship, as well as their newly-formed friendships with other characters, is strengthened throughout The Extra. The stress under fire they undergo, not unlike warfare, makes for engaging interactions and bonding between the characters. It's very similar to the adage that people fighting together form unique bonds, lifetime bonds. Unbreakable bonds. Trust and respect come much easier to someone that's saved your life, repeatedly.Want another word to summarize The Extra-how about read it now. I lied, that's three words. Point is. Read. It. Now. Mug me, mug a friend, mug a Walmart greeter, just get this book. Make
the sacrifice, wager the time. And do I need to remind you, there are mechanical spiders. Mechanical spiders!One of the best books of this year. Or any other year.

View this post on my blog: http://www.yourgamebook.com/book-review-the-extra-by-michael-shea.html