Gestapo Mars

Sci-fi yarns don't get much wackier than the latest from Gischler (Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse), starring wry bio-engineered operative Carter Sloan. The irreverent approach is evident from the opening: "The first thing I did when they opened the chamber was puke on the guy's shoes." Sloan is revived after being frozen for over 250 years and learns that Earth has been destroyed and the Third Reich, now based on Mars, dominates most of the solar system. Since he's been out of circulation, the Nazis believe that he's the perfect person to send into deep space, disguised as a member of the Vatican secret police, to find the daughter of the head of the Gestapo, a man known as the Brass Dragon. Along the way he partners with an heiress, whose family business produces pills to make bowel movements fragrant, and aliens that look like "four-foot-tall piles of snot." The body count is predictably high, and Gischler tosses in a fun Star Wars shout-out. Fans of darkly humorous space operas will be pleased by this foray. (Sept.)