The Billionth Monkey is the hilarious new weird fantasy novel from Richard Kaczynski.
In this blog, I will walk through the book and, post by post, explore its clues, Easter eggs, and references to popular and nerd culture. Some references are obvious, while others are what Mystery Science Theater 3000 might call "1% jokes."
SPOILERS AHEAD. If you haven't read the book yet, you may want to explore the other pages in the nav bar below.
One
challenge in the prologue was how to spread my urban legend to the Deep Water Lemuria. I had originally
envisioned one of the crew receiving some tracts at mail call, but that wasn't very exciting. Plus, I don’t know whether drilling platforms even have
such a thing as mail call.
The solution: Missionaries.
Having
missionaries show up unannounced at the rig…now that's funny! I don't identify their
faith, because that detail is really irrelevant. The humor is in the absurd circumstance,
and how people react to door-to-door proselytizers of whatever persuasion. Whence the popular "Excuse me" meme:
An example of the "Excuse me" meme, source image here.
So I dished up a vague mix of elements from groups known for doorbell-ringing—a common Mormon
name here, a Jehova's Witness magazine reference there (Arouse!
rather than Awake!)—without singling anyone out. The result is something that I think people on
both sides of the door can laugh at.
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