With Mr. Spaceman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler
has created a magical and humorous contemporary fable that captures the
state of humanity at the cusp of a new millennium--as seen through the
uniquely sensitive perspective of an empathetic extraterrestrial. The
night before the turn of the millennium, a tour bus bound for a
Louisiana casino is suddenly beamed inside a spaceship hovering high
above Earth's surface. As its 12 passengers emerge nervously from the
vehicle, they come face-to-face with the being who has brought them
aboard, a 16-fingered, zoot-suited alien named Desi. Over the course of
the next 24 hours, Desi will seek their help as he readies himself for
the final phase of the mysterious mission he has traveled across the
galaxies to fulfill.