Well, I read crap, too. This is an old Ace 50-cent paperback by A.E. Van Vogt, printed on lovely acid-rich paper. I remember liking a short story by Van Vogt, where humans outwit some nasty aliens.
The back cover calls this his "rarest novel."
It's pretty poor. The hero is loutish. I think he was ex-Korean war. There's some time travel and attendant paradoxes. The women characters are truly perfunctory. Then the Big Twist is that the hero is god, more or less, playing a game. Definitely not Phillip K Dick.
I wonder if Sci Fi ages less gracefully than other genres; so much depends on the ideas, and the execution.
Nah, it's just not a very good book.
Pete wrote: No real content, just a pointer inspired by your comments on crap sci fi:-
Checked out any Jeff Noon? I've read one and a half... the half ("Nymphomation") so far isn't anything to write home about (but OK), but the book of short stories (Pixel Juice) scores very high on the ratio of new ideas to pages. Sort of a cross between William Gibson and Lewis Caroll on acid.
So not everyone's cup of tea.
Scott wrote: Well, I'll go out of my way then.
Check out Kitchen Confidential. Maybe I'll send a copy home with Patricia. Your view of restaurants won't be the same again, tho' not in a bad way.