Pyramid Scheme » (Reprint)

An alien pyramid has appeared on Earth, squatting in the middle of Chicago. It is growing, destroying the city as it does—and nothing seems able to stop it, not even the might of the U.S. military. Somehow, the alien device is "snatching" people and—for unknown reasons—transporting them into worlds of mythology.

Dr. Lukacs is one of the victims. Granted, he's an expert on mythology. But myths are not something he'd thought to encounter personally. Or wanted to. Weighing in at 135 pounds in his odd socks and glasses, this academic is as assertive and aggressive as a jelly sandwich. At home in an office full of dusty books, he is ill-prepared for the great outdoors. Especially this great outdoors—full of man-eating monsters, dragons, angry sorceresses, and bronze-age thugs. Sure, he has a couple of tough paratroopers along with him, as well as a blonde Amazon biologist and a very capable maintenance mechanic. Unfortunately, modern weapons don't work, and the Greek gods are out to kill the heroes. All they've got is their own ingenuity, and...

Well, yes, they've got Medea and Arachne and the Sphinx on their side (both Sphinxes, actually—the Greek version as well as the Egyptian). And at least some of the Egyptian gods seem friendly.

But that can be a very mixed blessing, to say the least. Oh, and whatever you do—don't mention dwarf-tossing.

Publishers Weekly

In this SF-fantasy romp through classical myth, the authors of Rats, Bats, and Vats offer a charmingly picaresque journey that begins when an artifact of the alien Krim lands in the University of Chicago library and starts abducting people. Few of the artifact's victims return alive, and some do not return at all. Among those abducted into a Krim-twisted version of the ancient Mediterranean world are street-smart university custodian Lamont Jackson, biologist Elizabeth De Beer, paratrooper sergeant Anibal Cruz and, most crucially, mythological scholar Jerry Lukacs. Weedy and absent-minded, Lukacs is the only one who can advise the exiles on how to outwit Odysseus (who has the ethics of a junk-bond dealer) or win the good will of Medea (much maligned, but accompanied by two dragons who need a lot to eat). Assembling allies from different mythologies as they go along, the exiles must strive to undo the Krim's corruption of the Olympians before they can hope to effect a return to their own world. The novel is full of historical, mythological and folkloric erudition, as well as wit (usually laced with puns), coincidences, broadly painted characters and a vast profusion of the verbal equivalent of sight gags. Since the individual parts are sufficiently entertaining, the reader won't worry much about the whole's lack of integrity. (Oct.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.