The Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust

One look at the title sums up the feel of the book. It's about being a badass. And it's about being a geek. Canadian author Minister Faust has concocted a Fanboy's dream world: two freewheeling bachelor's in an eclectic town, their lives going nowhere, are propelled into the Grand Mythical Quest, complete with the Mysterious Sexy Woman, the Evil Demonic Gang, the Smirking Evil Geniuses... etc.

Yehat and Hamza are two geeky guys sharing an apartment and trying to find their place in the world. Yehat is the sarcastic techno-geek, working throughout the story on a mechanical exoskeleton known as R-Mer, and Hamza is the philosophical Han-Solo rebel type, with the uncanny ability to locate things. The two hate their jobs, but try to enjoy life in their eclectic Alberta community by giving back. They're heroes on their own block, running a summer camp for kids, and generally being Good People. All of this, of course, is drastically upset when the beautiful Sherem arrives in their lives. Unknown to them, she's on a quest for a mysterious object of power, and she's not the only one. Ye and Ham's childhood arch nemeses Heinz and Kevlar Meaney are also after the power, as are the demonic Fanboys, a gang of mutant superhumans. And this is pretty much the first hundred or so pages of the book. The plot twists come at light speed, as do the pop culture references and great new catchphrases you'll be dying to try out (i.e. jimp-O-matic). Amidst all of the action, the characters actually take time to live. You get the full weight of their quest and its consequences rather than one mindless action scene after another.

To call Coyote Kings a rollercoaster ride is to call Space Mountain an amusement of sorts. Some might say the book is full of stock characters. I prefer to say it plays on archetypes. There are plenty of elements of Joseph Campbell's Heroic Structure here, and they work perfectly well thank you very much. There's a reason this story structure has survived through the ages: it just happens to be one of the most satisfying journeys to read. The ending is not very concrete, and feels a little slipshod, but I'm sure the sequel will tie the loose ends together nicely. After all, this is great sci-fi franchise material. There must be a sequel, a movie, a video game, etc. This book deserves all of that and more. Hopefully Faust will be able to magnify the strengths of this book and minimize some of the flaws in pacing and plot and produce a sequel that surpasses the original. In the meantime, if you love comics, sci-fi, action movies, monster movies, Tarantino movies, blaxploitation movies, fantasy movies, D & D, TokyoPop Lit, or Indiana Jones-style adventure, you owe it to yourself to pick up this book.