How to Build a Skydeck

9781589390225

1589390229

Have you ever wondered if our species' development is guided by a Greater Intelligence? Or if your goofy-looking neighbor is really an alien on an assignment of global scale? How much soul should one be willing to swap for a little more comfort? Who wants to trade for a baloney sandwich? Stan Davis ponders this and more throughout his day as a white laborer on an all-black crew in the Deep South. Shoved from the nest at nineteen, the bright but indolent son of luxury struggles to make his way in a world of country clubs, convenience stores, topless bars and trailer parks."How to Build a Skydeck" is an imaginative, humorous tale set in Columbus, Georgia, during the spring of 1980. The fast-paced story begins when Stan moves into a trailer park and meets Pete, a balding, bug-eyed astronomer who claims to be on a mission of Cosmic Importance. Dumped by his girlfriend and abandoned by his country-club crowd, Stan struggles by day to break free of his racist upbringing while at night seeking to solve the mystery of his neighbor's identity. When an old schoolmate is made his immediate supervisor, Stan has an opportunity to advance himself, reclaim his girlfriend, and increase his pay, if he can forget everything he's learned about being human.Meanwhile, two comically unlikable government agents do their best to complete a mission so secret they've no idea what it is. An embittered old vet teamed with a dedicated young brown-nose, Delacroix and Dickerson despise each other as much as they loathe their assignment: to drag the streets of Columbus, using the mysterious Device to locate a possible security risk for further action, a task undertaken with the zeal and enthusiasm of real civil servants.The story climaxes on a mountaintop in northeast Georgia where Stan faces his own mortality and deals the Ultimate Evil a walloping kick below the belt. Ultimately Stan learns that although his neighbor isn't quite an earthling, neither is Pete precisely the extra-terrestrial he had assumed. Most importantly, Stan discovers that he himself isn't quite what he had assumed, either.It's a pre-PC tale of black and white, rich and poor, pot smoking aliens, angels, and God. Despite the irreverent setting and blue-collar characters, this very human, deeply thoughtful, and occasionally sarcastic tale will forever change how you think about the origin and destiny of humankind.