Where the Hell is Tesla? by Rob Dircks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Now this book was an awful lot of fun.
As with the stories of the authors Rob Dircks is obviously influenced by (Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Kurt Vonnegut), the story is rather less important than the dialogue and outrageous ideas. Also as with those writers, the story is actually pretty good.
An underachieving young man (is there any other kind in science fiction?) named Chip stumbles upon what appears to be a journal belonging to Nikola Tesla, describing a device of his own design for interdimensional travel. (Sorry, an “INTERDIMENSIONAL TRANSFER APPARATUS” – Tesla is rather particular about the proper terms for things.)
Accompanied somewhat reluctantly by his slightly more responsible friend Pete, Chip manages to expose them both to a series of increasingly improbable and dangerous situations as they move throughout dimensions the only way Chip knows how to do things – in over his head.
Where the Hell is Tesla? isn’t exactly a character study, but the characters are well thought out and expressed. Chip & Pete are familiar archetypes – the lovable idiot and his suffering friend – and these are well-worn types for a reason. These two idiots are just a hell of a lot of fun.
Where the Hell is Tesla? is just so enjoyable. After reading the story, I received a recommendation for Teleport This by Christopher M. Daniels. I’m not reviewing that one yet, as it’s a trilogy and I only took in the first book so far, but it has a very similar feel; and that’s a great thing. I can’t get enough of somewhat silly SF. As long as the characters have enough meat on the bone to stick with and the writing is solid, I’m up for a good time. Where the Hell is Tesla? delivers that and more. Highly recommended.
