PASSING THROUGH THE FLAME

by Norman Spinrad ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 1974

Karma-schlock for Rockheads. A weaving of popular fantasies about druggy movie and music types who are out to trash the kids with a phony rerun of the Woodstock-Altamont jamborees, now called People's World Fair. Jango Beck, an evil record-company genius with a head for hype, throws a festival in a Southern California desert, makes a sure loser film of the event and at the same time gains control of Eden Pictures -- it's a complicated fraud. The kids come to see Susan Schiller, known as Star, the Virgin Mary who takes up all your pain into her sex-energy and gives you kleen karma. Susan's having reality problems: she keeps turning into Star against her will and screwing the pain out of the most far-out degenerates, cast-offs and misfits. Paul Conrad, the hero, is an underground film maker bursting to go commercial and gets the director's job on the floppo flick. A gun-toting fascist group takes over the fair and gives it to ""the people"" -- who only want the music. Star saves the day, walking bare-breasted through a haft of bullets and singing her big song. But the novel was lost before the author sat down to type his souped-up freakout fiction.

Pub Date: Feb. 26, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1974

Categories: FICTION