From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jan 27 10:07:59 1992
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From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: BICYCLING THROUGH TIME AND SPACE by Mike Sirota
Message-ID: <1992Jan23.194539.10463@pbhyc.PacBell.COM>
Date: 23 Jan 92 19:45:39 GMT
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                 BICYCLING THROUGH TIME AND SPACE by Mike Sirota
                        A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
			 Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper

        Jack Miller gets an offer from an alien--a bicycle that will let him
   ride "The Ultimate Bike Path."  He can visit different worlds, as well as
   the past and the future, and then he can return to his own when he gets
   tired.  This could have been interesting, but it wasn't.

        Why not?  Well, for starters, the structure didn't use the premise
   well.  It's not that Sirota didn't have Jack visit enough worlds; Jack
   visits too many, and they're not very interesting.  Jack can visit millions
   of worlds; we see him visit seven.  The first episode is a slap-stick
   humorous fantasy (where the humor consist of Jack having to ride in a dung
   cart).  The second is a four-page quickie in which Jack meets Adolf Hitler
   as a boy.  The third is a typical kill-the-evil-sorcerer tale.  The fourth
   is another quickie--a world of cliches.  Then comes a theme park world, a
   Native American spirit world, rock-and-roll heaven, and a junk food world.
   Mercifully, we are spared his adventures in the world of the sex kittens.

        It's a hodge-podge, more in the tradition of THE STARLOST than of
   Douglas Adams (which the cover claims--an early warning sign these days).
   There are enough loose ends to threaten a sequel even without the closing
   line: "I'll be back."  But I somehow don't think more volumes will be
   forthcoming.  Maybe BICYCLING THROUGH TIME AND SPACE would appeal to science
   fiction fans who are also bicyclists, but I doubt even they would enjoy it.

   %T      Bicycling Through Time and Space
   %A      Mike Sirota
   %C      New York
   %D      December 1991
   %I      Ace
   %O      paperback, US$3.99
   %G      ISBN 0-441-05735-7
   %P      202pp

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 908 957 2070   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com