THE HAB THEORY

HAB is feisty 94-year-old Herbert Allen Boardman, who stages a faked presidential assassination attempt in order to alert humanity to some disturbing facts about the earth's rotation. On his death a crack investigative journalist takes up the crusade; while scientists debate the merits of the theory, the presidents of America and Kenya embark on a crash program to salvage essentials before the Antarctic ice cap topples the planet onto a different axis. Eckert, a respected writer on American frontier history, makes a distinctly unpropitious maiden voyage into sf: numb characterizations, elephantine dialogue (girl talking man into leaving his wife: ""For example, part of your disinclination to make a decision in our favor is your fear of a postseparation negative reaction""), and--most damaging--tons and tons of wholly unconvincing scientific documentation spelled out in excruciatingly silly detail. Graceless, pompous, and LONG.