Operation Supergoose

If you enjoy Doonesbury,or think Mark Russell can generate political satire;wait till you see what William Hart can do when he takes on government and its leaders. He is a master at one-liners,character exposition,situation description,alternate and descriptive names. While he is a master of all that;he does a super job of weaving it all together in a novel that is filled with action,an unusual interpretation of history;particulatly since 9/11,even working in a smidgeon of fantasy;and produces a novel unlike anything I've ever read;and virtually impossible to put down once started. This doesn't look like a very long book.Its just 202 pages.It has 61 chapters and a 17 page Epilogue. When you see a book with that many chapters;it often is a result of leaving a page and half or more blank between each chapter ;just to give the impression it's a novel rather than just a novella. Not so with this book. No blank pages and part pages;there are only 3 blank lines between each chapter.What you get is page after page of great writing ,each having several thoughts and descriptions that almost blow you away and leave you thinking ."Yeah,now that's a different way of looking at it!" This book is so different that people on either side of the political spectrum will find it imaginative,thoughtful and satirical and I can even see the the characters involved enjoying it. So,if you follow politics at all,and it's impossible not to,unless you live in a cave,yeah,even in remote Pockistan,have ideas of making changes,like Nathan Radar,think you are really running things,like President Buzz Twofer II, or trying to tell the world what is really going on,like Ralph Blister;it's all here,and put into perspective,by a writer with fascinating insight. You may be like me and not be too familiar with William Hart,but once you've read a book of his ,like this,you'll be looking for more. The 2008 elections are on their way.There are going to be a whole new group of leaders and geopolitical events coming. Regardless what Party ends up in power,and who become the leaders;there is going to be a lot happening I am sure William Hart is going to be on top of it and I hope he gives us another book ,telling what is really going on and what we should "think" of it all...of course in only the way that he can do it! "Terrorism was but the tip of the iceberg,however. What if two billion consumers weaned themselves from Plunderian products ansd services? What if foreign owners of Plunderian financial assets--many trillion dollars worth--decided to cash in? Or what if overseas holders of Plunderian debt (more trillions) called home their chips? Any one of these scenarios combined with ballooning oil prices could plunge the world's most over-leveraged economy into a long and severe decline." Personally ,I'm getting my election posters ready.This time they are going to say; DON'T BOTHER VOTING THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO WIN ANYWAY !!

Sometimes public events just seem to evoke good satire, as if by some natural process. Juvenal said almost as much two thousand years ago. More recently we have had Catch-22 and M.A.S.H., but close analogies date back as far as Voltaire, and in case we'd forgotten Candide William Hart reminds us of it explicitly with the names of his hero in this book and of another major player in the drama. Operation Supergoose is a worthy successor in this great tradition. It will give some bitter comfort to the many who understand and sympathise with its message; and it will outrage a certain type of patriot, or I hope it will. The basic message of the book, as I read it, is that we live to a large extent in a world of make-believe. Hart creates a world of more explicit fantasy featuring grotesque caricatures of the current American administration (plus some sideswipes at a few others), but the reality he is attacking is not individual politicians but a more general mentality, and it is only necessary to read some contributions to certain chatrooms and blogs to realise that he is not even exaggerating. Simply - when people are emotionally committed to certain causes they `tint their reason a'thegither', as surely as Burns's Tam O'Shanter under the influence of booze and lust, when their beliefs and assumptions are undermined. Their responses are triggered as automatically and as noisily as a battery of Patriot missiles, and the ratio of rationality to forcefulness in the result is usually much the same too. The serious points are slipped in artfully and briefly when we are not necessarily expecting them, which is good storytelling. The general tone is of slapstick, ridicule and hyperbole, much as in Ben Elton's `Stark' in some ways, but done far more artistically. At the same time, this book is no rerun or facsimile of any previous work but has a distinctive theme of its own, which is what happens to people when they seriously think about the doctrines they were brought up believing. The hero ceases to be superman (or superdolt), but even more startlingly a judge and a general fall victim to reason and thought like the wild beasts tamed by the lyre of Orpheus. Dream on, you may say, but there is really a significant thought in this, and it is that once the conventional doctrines are pushed beyond the point of credibility some people will be forced, however reluctantly, to question what they have been believing all along. This will sap morale, of course. Once the Trojan horse of thought has breached the citadel of thoughtlessness and certainty there is no saying what may come out of it, and Hart blatantly poses the question `How does the Axis of Evil actually perceive the situation?' Do they think `We are an Axis of Evil pitted remorselessly against the forces of goodness and light?' or do they think `We are abused and exploited by greedy hypocrites?' They are not depicted as any saints either, I should probably add, but when we quite understandably and re

Back in 1967 I saw a then popular Off-Broadway play called "MacBird'" an obvious yet entertaining look at the administration of the then decreasingly popular President of this country, Lyndon Johnson. As is the case with most political satire, the references were not oblique or vague: the representative characterizations were intended to be obvious - and were. Although not a favorite of the critics at the time, that play written by Barbara Garson (and starring the then little known actor, Stacey Keach in the title role) was a big hit with theater goers who were opposed to the war in Viet Nam and to the administration that seemed to be perpetuating and growing it. Satire can be expressed in many forms. Gary Trudeau has developed it into a comic-strip art form in "Doonesbury" and Stephen Cobert's "Cobert Report" is having a similar (but differently twisted) impact on television political satire. And now comes a literary version of intentionally obvious, exaggerated and at times truly laughable political satirization of the current administration in William Hart's newest novel, "Operation Supergoose." The "hero", a Lt. Ernest Candide is super strong - owing to a sequence of mishaps that rendered him a true "secret weapon" in the arsenal of the American military. (Shades of the Six-Million-Dollar Man!) The President's name is Twofer - his father, an earlier President is a part of the story as well. His Vice-President, Chain Dickey, is kept in a state of suspended animation until his brain is needed. The country they live in is called Plunderland and if there is any mystery or confusion about what administration or what international doings or domestic manipulations are being satirized, they are completely unintentional. It is clear after the opening paragraphs, that a part of the humor is that the re-namings are not intended to fool anyone or to conceal anything about the story or intended humorous telling of it. At times I laughed, and at others, I was saddened. I was reminded of an English professor many years ago who defined "Black Humor" as being the experience where someone sticks a knife between your ribs - then twists it so that it tickles. The details of the plot are a cross between "MacBird," "Doonesbury" and the New York Times. It is about real things but presented in a way that makes them seem, at least briefly, surreal. The question is: Does what might be presented as a series of four framed daily cartoon strips hold up as a verbal narrative in novel form. The answer, I am somewhat surprised to find myself saying, is "Yes," but with one rather massive caveat. This is a book that may well be found entertaining by those who are in agreement with it's clearly defined point of view and either ignored or loathed by those who disagree. During that performance of MacBird back in 1967, a handful of patrons walked out after the first act. Obviously people who did not realize what they were walking in to and were offended by the way LB

In this biting and at times depressing satire, the (super)hero Lieutenant Ernest Candide goes into action against the enemies of the United States. A terrorist organization burns down a flag factory, which galvanizes the leadership of Plunderland into action. President Twofer, Attorney General Zombus, Vice President Chain Dickey and Defense Secretary Clayton Minefield order an attack against the country that supposedly was the base of operations for the attackers. It is a country with a large amount of oil reserves and the plan is to overthrow the evil dictator so that the country can develop a democratic government. At first, the American forces move through the country with ease, killing all who give the semblance of resistance. Candide is capable of flight and as he flies over the region, he sees many instances where innocent civilians have been killed. This begins to open his mind to the reality of the reasons for the war and he begins to question the motives and justness of the conflict. Despite his clear heroics, he is brought up on multiple treason charges and eventually sent to Guantanamo prison. A lawyer eventually manages to get him a trial, where it becomes clear that the charges are trumped-up. As the war starts going very badly for Plunderland, rather than admit to mistakes, the leadership expands the war. Eventually, the rest of the world begins to boycott the United States and the Plunderland economy quickly collapses. The story has obvious links to the recent history of the United States and its actions in the world. It is easy to recognize the major players and the absurd way they conduct the country's business. President Twofer and all the other leaders employ phrases and syntax similar to what has been used by their counterparts in the United States over the last six years. I enjoyed the story; sometimes the only way to cope with the absurdity of the real events is to experience it being satirized.

Review of Operation Supergoose by William Hart -- Candide Faces Off with the Axis of Evil: Bush, Cheney, Rummy -- The idealistic and naïve Lt. Candide and the Machiavellian General Pangloss roam the earth once more, spreading truth, injustice and the Plunderian Way in this witty and devastating look at the post-9/11 war on terrorism. Some may see close parallels between William Hart's fictional world and real-world events of the past five years: a moralistic moron - appointed as President of Plunderland by a five-to-four majority of the Supreme Court - is led blindly into a misguided war by a vengeful Secretary of Defense, an oil-hungry and Lipitor-needful Vice President, and a skeezy Parson Weed with a warehouse full of snake oil to peddle. The Faux News Network provides blatantly slanted media coverage to pre-occupy the somnambulant masses as Plunderland launches its secret weapon - the Supergoose - against a lot of civilians and a few possible evildoers in the Middle-Eastern nations of Ragistan and Qroc. Like most allegories, and certainly like the original Candide, events in this novel are at times just barely short of stupid, but when the action gets going, the stupid gets laugh-out-loud hilarious. But as in Voltaire's satire, each sugar-coated guffaw conceals a bitter gag of truth. If you voted for Bush twice and think Saddam Hussein planned the attacks on the World Trade Center, you will not find this novel amusing; actually you probably won't understand it. If, however, like Operation Supergoose's Lt. Candide, you have learned to think more for yourself in recent years, my guess is you'll be passing copies of Hart's book to your friends. Voltaire would be proud.