Sturgeon Award winner
Nebula and Hugo Award nominee
It is the early summer of 1945, and war reigns in the Pacific Rim with
no end in sight. Back in the States, Hollywood B-movie star Syms Thorley
lives in a very different world, starring as the Frankenstein-like
Corpuscula and Kha-Ton-Ra, the living mummy. But the U.S. Navy has a new
role waiting for Thorley, the role of a lifetime that he could never
have imagined.
The top secret Knickerbocker Project is putting the finishing touches on
the ultimate biological weapon: a breed of gigantic, fire-breathing,
mutant iguanas engineered to stomp and burn cities on the Japanese
mainland. The Navy calls upon Thorley to don a rubber suit and become
the merciless Gorgantis and to star in a live drama that simulates the
destruction of a miniature Japanese metropolis. If the demonstration
succeeds, the Japanese will surrender, and many thousands of lives will
be spared; if it fails, the horrible mutant lizards will be unleashed.
One thing is certain: Syms Thorley must now give the most terrifyingly
convincing performance of his life.
In the dual traditions of Godzilla as a playful monster and a symbol of
the dawn of the nuclear era, Shambling Towards Hiroshima unexpectedly
blends the destruction of World War II with the halcyon pleasure of
monster movies.
