Science fiction and history are great things, historical fiction doubly so, and there’s probably nothing better on earth than historical science fiction. Martin Amanshauser’s new novel “Alles klappt nie” is just that - set in the year 2020, it describes an Austria where Frank Stronach owns everything and Markus Rogan is a medical doctor, and there’s a space hotel, an old Soviet spionage sattelite gone haywire, a half-Asian model with violent daydreams, and a romantic, sesirive Peter Westenthaler. Everything I never dared to dream about.

Tonight, this book is shown to the world at the Phil, starting at 19:30, complete with a reading by the author and spacesound by DJ Grenzfurthner.

I won’t go into detail describing the book, because that has already been done by the Falter and Martin Blumenau, but I read it from cover to cover within 4 hours. 234 pages of insane fun and madness and lovely austriacisms. Also, even if you’re one of the thousands of practical analphabets in this country and someone reads this article to you, you should come over for the sheer pleasure of seeing Mr. Grenzfurthner on the decks.