2084: The Year of the Liberal

Even fans of Rush Limbaugh will be disappointed by this appallingly written right-wing ""satire,"" a witless rip-off of Orwell's 1984. John Winston is a man secretly at odds with the liberal-totalitarian Fairland, over which a figure called Big Mama, ""a portly, black, Hispanic, lesbian lady,"" presides. After a nuclear exchange with China in 2033, in which ""John F. Canoli, the first president of Italian descent,"" is killed, it seemed the United States might get back on its feet, as the conservative candidate for president, Harry Pruitt, carried 80% of the vote. Unfortunately for Pruitt, a Haitian named Papa Doc duVallon, who, Hale studiously notes ""was black (a gentleman of color),"" assassinated him and claimed the election, political correctness, the law of the land, impeded any attempt to stop the coup. On the 50th anniversary of the revolution, however, discontent is brewing. Winston, while nominally an employee at the Ministry of Truth, is energized by a radio broadcast of an old Rush Limbaugh show. When John meets Sally O'Brien, he finds not only a lover (no mean feat in a society that perpetuates ""the discouragement of consensual heterosexual agreements and encouragement of the homosexual lifestyle"") but a kindred spirit. Organizing the Resistance, they invade the Love/Hate hour on the state-run Tele-Love network and overthrow the announcer and Big Mama. The book's conservative credentials are 100%, but Hale's writing, which often digresses into long editorializing tirades, betrays little literary talent. (Dec. 1)