| Zanesville | |
| Author: | Kris Saknussemm |
| Cover Artist: | Christopher Sergio |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Science fiction |
| Published: | 2005 (Villard Books) |
| Media Type: | Print (paperback) |
| Pages: | 496 pp |
| Isbn: | 0-8129-7416-6 |
| Dewey: | 813/.6 22 |
| Congress: | PS3619.A425 Z24 2005 |
| Oclc: | 57641675 |
Zanesville is a science fiction novel written by Kris Saknussemm and published by Villard Books, an imprint of Random House in 2005.[1]
The story is set forty years into the future, in an America in which distinctions between government, religion, and corporations have vanished. The main character, Elijah Clearfather, is found by a resistance cell outside their camouflaged borders in Central Park, New York City. After the cell witnesses the Clearfather's powers, they learn a little about his true identity but decide, in the interests of everyone, to send him away, with the only safe clues to his identity they can provide: a bus pass marked with three important locations and a note written in disappearing ink. Clearfather is set on a journey of self-discovery pursued by murderous Vitessa Cultporation agents, and accompanied by Aretha Nightengale, once a lawyer, now a cross-dressing resistance leader; Dooley Duck and Ubba Dubba, hologram cartoon characters leading a sexual revolution; and the mysterious Kokomo.
Zanesville has been called a "revolutionary work of surreal black comedy,"[2] and touted as being "pretty cool" with "good word play" by Rudy Rucker.[3] The novel was hailed by The Austin Chronicle in 2005 as "the most original novel of the year."[4] The novel is said to have offended fringe feminist groups and conservative organizations like the Right to Life movement, the Catholic Church and the Republican Party.[5] In 2007 the author of Zanesville threatened to sue Michael Jackson upon reports that the singer was going to erect a giant robotic model of himself in Las Vegas, claiming the idea was his.[6]