Hope Rides Again by Andrew Shaffer and MacTrump by Doescher

Does it feel as though the news is indeed stranger than fiction? Or, are you like a friend of mine who says, "I just don’t read the news any more – can’t do it.” Either way, here are two very funny texts which will hopefully give you a smile and a bit of escape:

HOPE RIDES AGAIN by Andrew Shaffer is the second title in his satirical mystery series featuring fictionalized Obama and Biden. The first, best-seller Hope Never Dies, was a 2018 Goodreads Choice Award Finalist. This new whodunit is set in Chicago which makes for added fun as the two characters race around town and out on Lake Michigan. They encounter Rahm Emanuel, of course, and there’s also talk about Michelle’s meeting with Oprah.  Many of the adventures are definitely over the top as narrator Biden makes some crazy choices, opting, for example, to navigate the steam tunnels below the University of Chicago.  But Shaffer uses the madcap activity to frame some amusing witticisms: “The tunnel was lit with flickering emergency bulbs. This is where democracy dies, I thought. In darkness.” Here are a couple of other favorite observations: “He droned on. There wasn’t any way to get a word in when Barack Obama was in professor mode.” Or “I’d never been able to get a feel for the city.  I liked New York style pizza with thin crust; I liked my politics free of corruption. … we weren’t just up against criminals – we had a whole damned city to contend with. A city that didn’t put ketchup on hot dogs.” Recently reviewed in The Washington Post, HOPE RIDES AGAIN is a quick read and a welcome diversion. Enjoy!

 
MacTRUMP by Ian Doescher won’t be formally published until October first, but put it on your to be read list, especially if you appreciated his William Shakespeare’s Star Wars books, where Doescher used meter and verse to recreate the Star Wars saga as Elizabethan drama with titles like The Empire Striketh Back and The Jedi Doth Return.  In this new book, described by the publisher as a “tragicomic tale of ambition, greed, and ineptitude,” MacTrump has surprisingly succeeded to the throne and seeks to govern with advisors like Stephen Bannox, plus offspring Desdevanka, Donnison, and Erikson. He enters to acclaim (“A-thump! A-thump! A-thump! Here comes McTrump!”), but the streets of Washingtown are soon filled with protestors: “’Tis the daughters of the Fiefdoms pleading for the right./For the right!/Raise the flag and plant the standard, Wave the signal still!/Wave it still.” Like Shakespeare's own work, this parody contains pithy phrases, humorous allusions and appeals to universal emotions.