This is a hilarious book making fun of the phenomenon of science fiction conventions. The premise is that a college engineering professor writes a science fiction novel, gets it published, and finds himself stuck with the title "Bimbos of the Death Sun" and cover art that goes with the title (I'm sure we can all envision the type). He's been trying to hide the fact that he wrote this book from his colleagues and has snuck off to a sci fi con to do some publicity.

Of course, not being a full-time science fiction writer, or even a science fiction fan, he has no idea what to expect. He finds himself in the middle of Trekkies, ongoing ego wars, obsessed fans, role playing games, and much other chaos. The plot of the book is entertaining, but what makes this book worthwhile is just how on target the descriptions of the science fiction fans is. All of the best scenes are seen through the eyes of the engineering professor and the Scottish folksinger who finds himself sharing a hotel with a crowd of lunatics who figure he's impersonating Scotty from Star Trek, though it's also amusing to see the organizers trying to keep all of the guest authors' egos stroked while keeping the obsessed fans from revolting.

I give this a '+', since it does what it does well, and when it's run out of things to say, the story ends. I'll re-read this again sometime, and I expect it will continue to make me laugh.

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