''Bug Jack Barron'' is a 1969

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

novel by American writer

Norman Spinrad Norman Richard Spinrad (born September 15, 1940) is an American science fiction author, essayist, and critic. His fiction has won the Prix Apollo and been nominated for numerous awards, including the Hugo Award and multiple Nebula Awards. Pe ...

, first serialized in the '' New Worlds'' magazine under the editorship of

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worke ...

. It was nominated for the 1970 Hugo Award. The novel is notable for its lyrical style and unique use of cut-up phrases. In this regard, Spinrad has cited the influence of Beat writers

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

, and Jack Kerouac.

Plot

The "Bug Jack Barron"

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...

begins Wednesday evening with an on-air call from Rufus W. Johnson, who has been refused service by the Foundation for Human Immortality, an organization which allows people to have themselves

cryogenically frozen Cryo-preservation or cryo-conservation is a process where organisms, organelles, cells, tissues, extracellular matrix, organs, or any other biological constructs susceptible to damage caused by unregulated chemical kinetics are preserved by co ...

. Johnson accuses the Foundation of being unwilling to offer Freezer contracts to African Americans. Show host Jack Barron is appalled to hear this and after making a few calls, finds a supporter in the Governor of Mississippi, Lukas Greene. The following day, Barron receives a visit from Foundation Chair Benedict Howards, who tries to gain Barron's support by offering him a free Freezer Contract and immortal life. Though tempted, Barron refuses the bribe. Howards later makes the same offer to Barron's ex-wife Sara. Sara dreams about being frozen together with Jack, and being revived together after an

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality. Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...

treatment has been discovered. The next morning, the Governor of California, Gregory Morris, suggests that Barron consider running as the next President of the United States. Though Barron is reluctant, his friend Lukas Greene (who is black and of radical political views) encourages Barron to accept. Barron then gets a call from Sara. The two argue about why they broke up and soon reconcile. Howards visits Barron again with new contracts for both Jack and Sara to sign. The new contracts not only guarantee being frozen, but also the immortality treatment. Jack cannot see any drawback in the contract, and he and Sara agree to sign. On the next broadcast of “Bug Jack Barron”, a man named Henry George Franklin calls in and complains that he sold his young daughter to some wealthy men for $50,000. Even though the men promised to provide his daughter with a better life, Henry claims he was duped, and wants Barron to help him get his daughter back. Howards is furious that Franklin was on the show, and tells Barron to abandon the story. Intrigued by Howards's reaction, Barron flies to Evers, Mississippi to meet Franklin and speak with him. They meet in a restaurant in a low-income neighborhood and start by walking to the governor's mansion, when a sniper kills Franklin and attempts to shoot Barron as well. Barron deduces that Benedict Howards must have been behind the shooting and realizes in turn that the Foundation must also be responsible for buying Franklin's daughter. Barron later confirms his suspicion by using computer records to search for other children who are now missing. Upon his return home, Barron shares all his suspicions with Sara. To get to the bottom of the mystery, Barron unveils a plan. He and Sara will receive their immortality treatment, and make Howards think he really has them trapped. Then when Howards admits to all his crimes, Jack will use a concealed very small portable telephone to record the confession. Sara agrees. The next day, they go to Howards's office and proceed with the treatment. When the treatment is over, Howards explains that the treatment consists of transplanting glands from the abducted children into new bodies. The children are killed off by radiation poisoning. Howards threatens if Barron exposes Howards, Howards will suborn witnesses to testify that Barron and Sara knew everything about the treatment, meaning that he and Sara will also be charged with murder. Barron and Sara return home where he reveals to her the truth about the children and that he will support the Foundation in his next shows. When he goes to the show, he gets a call from Sara, who commits suicide in order to change his mind. With nothing left to lose, Barron reveals the truth during the show, while Howards goes paranoid on air, threatening to kill him. Barron begs the viewers to believe that he didn't know anything about the children beforehand. Eventually, Barron does run for President, planning to give his position to future Vice-President Lukas Greene after his election.

Reception

The book was serialised in the British

New Wave science fiction The New Wave was a science fiction (SF) style of the 1960s and 1970s, characterized by a great degree of experimentation with the form and content of stories, greater imitation of the styles of trendy non-science fiction literature, and an emphasis ...

magazine '' New Worlds'' during

's editorship. Its explicit language and cynical attitude toward politicians, as well as the fact that the magazine was partially funded by the Arts Council of Great Britain, angered British Members of Parliament.

Jennie Lee, Baroness Lee of Asheridge Janet Lee, Baroness Lee of Asheridge, PC LLD HonFRA (3 November 1904 – 16 November 1988), known as Jennie Lee, was a Scottish politician. She was a Labour Member of Parliament from a by-election in 1929 until 1931 and then from 1945 to ...

, then head of the Arts Council, successfully defended the book. Later, it was banned by W. H. Smith, a major British chain of bookstores. Feminist typesetters at ''New Worlds'' rejected the story as sexist.

Algis Budrys Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), Jo ...

gave the novel a mixed review, describing it as "a good book, and excellent idea and fair piece of writing." Budrys faulted the central science-fictional device as "absolute nonsense," saying that Spinrad "did not care enough about credibility to even be graceful," and noted that "Spinrad often uses representations of things, rather than the things themselves, and this doesn't always work." Still, he concluded, the book "is a flawed but acceptable telling of a magnificent story, a representation of nobility, one might say, with a Mickey Mouse ending."

Joanna Russ Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as ''How to Suppress Women's Writing'', as w ...

, however, found the book to be "a bad book

here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Technologies, Here Television * Here TV (form ...

the author is not in control of his material, but is in the process of being smothered by it." She faulted Spinrad's writing style ("Everybody talks like everybody else"), his plotting ("a novel of political intrigue ought to have an intelligible intrigue in it"), and characterization (the main antagonist is "only a villain-shaped hole crammed with super-high-gear prose"), concluding that the book was a "romantic, half-innocent, youthfully bouncy, exasperatingly schlocky and ultimately silly book." In 1992, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' noted that in Jack Barron, "Norman Spinrad created the talk-show host as powerful public-opinion maker."

Adaptations

In 1983, author Harlan Ellison was hired to write a screenplay for a film to be directed by

Costa-Gavras Costa-Gavras (short for Konstantinos Gavras; el, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political and s ...

for Universal Pictures. After the project went nowhere, Ellison published this screenplay, titled "None of the Above," including casting suggestions that had

Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...

as Jack Barron and

Sigourney Weaver Susan Alexandra "Sigourney" Weaver (; born October 8, 1949) is an American actress. A figure in science fiction and popular culture, she has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Gramm ...

as Sara.]

Plot

Reception

Adaptations

See also

References

External links