The Paradox Paradox

YouTuber Hardcastle (Fuck Yeah, Video Games) shakily melds sci-fi and offbeat humor in his quirky fiction debut. Osheen Shupple, “one of the most trusted scientists” in the “galactic utopia” known as the Affinity, has made it his life’s work to decipher the meaning of a message sent from outside centuries earlier: “Kill Austin Lang before he wipes out the universe.” His efforts lead to a potential breakthrough in 2783; the time machine he’s invented could allow a select, if eccentric, team of four to travel back to trace the source of that communication. The complications of time travel are suitably mind-bending, and Hardcastle deploys a rapid-fire barrage of space opera tropes, including violent deaths, a mole hunt, and a race against time, Though the potential destruction of the universe is on the line, the persistently jokey tone undermines the stakes and dilutes the drama. The humor is occasionally satirical, but more often it’s zany for zaniness’s sake, as when the narrative digresses to discuss “neo-new-age,” a new genre of music that’s performed by “baby butterflies,” or a quiz show champion aided to victory by “two chickens he’d trained to spot anagrams of famous rivers.” This aims for Douglas Adams territory but doesn’t quite hit the mark. (June)