Locus on The Good Humor Man

Here's Farren Miller's review of The Good Humor Man in this month's (print version) of Locus:

In the parodic future dystopia of Andrew Fox's The Good Humor Man (whose influences include classics like Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and a lot of mid-20th-century popular culture/kitsch), there's a major government clampdown on all fattening foods, which naturally generates both a thriving black market and a force like sanctioned vigilantes dedicated to stamping out such villainy.

First-person narrator Dr. Louis Schmalzberg, a former liposuctionist and founder of this movement, ironically dubbed Good Humor Men, has begun to lose his faith in their brutal raids on ordinary citizens who just happen to have a sweet tooth. He also feels some nostalgia for the lost days of Fat America: jumbo cars, supersized meals, McMansions, singers like Fats Waller, Fats Domino and, toward the end of his career, Fat Elvis. Fallen out of grace and blackmailed into trying to retrieve a family heirloom - remnants of belly fat from the King himself - Louis's adventures introduce him to a wild group of new allies and enemies, in a 21st-century update of the old clash between grim Puritans and extravagant Cavaliers.

Going beyond the wonderfully irreverent parodic horror of his 'Fat White Vampire' books into new realms of farce and social satire, Fox also tackles the SF thriller mode with panache. Can Elvis's belly fat save the world? Read it and see!