Going, Going, Gone

by Jack Womack

Book Overview

Publishers Weekly has called Jack Womack a "futurist wunderkind ... fast-moving, hipper-than-hip." In his latest novel it's 1968, and Walter Bullitt, part-time U.S. government freelancer, stays busy testing new psychotropics on himself and unsuspecting citizens. Walter's conscience never interferes with his work -- until he's asked to help sabotage Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign. The ghosts who've moved into his apartment aren't much comfort...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802138667
• ISBN13: 9780802138668
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

...and it all comes together

Sort of...Womack's style is so unique, I might suggest re-reading each book upon completion. His "vernacular" is so compelling, I actually find myself emulating it in e-mails to my friends (and perhaps his prophetic truncated style of speaking is an extrapolation of "e-mail-speak"). This book (or any of the books in the series, for that matter) are not suggested reading for the optimistic sort. He has as bleak an outlook of post-apocolyptic Earth as any author I've read, yet his vision also seems to be the most realistic. His works reap the seeds that our society is presently sowing, and he does it with STYLE.While our government was fooling around with MK Ultra, Womack's more perverse parallel universe finds an accelerated plan far more sinister, even if it isn't fully explained. No need! He leaves enough room for you to plug in your own worst fears.Sadly, I picked up "Random Acts" for a buck at a book surplus store (It was also, incidentally, an ideal place to start the Ambient series). While it was a great value for me, I find it unfathomable that Womack isn't as widely accepted as Frank Herbert. His vision is just as lucid, and, like Herbert's "Dune" series, I envy anyone who gets to experience it for the first time themselves...

Psychedelic Fun

I never would have thought that I would enjoy a book that contains abundant drug use to the degree that I enjoyed Jack Womack's newest novel. _Going, Going, Gone_ is a witty and psychedelic alternate history/time travel/parallel universe/ghost story all-in-one. The narrative flows easily once the reader becomes accustomed to Womack's out-there jargon.The protagonist, Walter, is a counterculture government freelancer who's hired by the Kennedy family (indirectly) to convince Jim Kennedy to assassinate Bobby. Walter is perplexed by the ghosts floating in his living room and moaning his name. And he's not quite sure what to make of the gorgeous woman and her muscular companion that speak in bizarrely mangled English and who appear and disappear with regularity.As the story progresses the various threads weave together in a surprisingly coherent (given the disparate threads)narrative. This is Book 5 in Womack's 'Ambient' series. It's not necessary to have read the previous 4 to enjoy this one but you'll soon find yourself searching for the other books in the series. Highly enjoyable throughout. Recommended.

A winner!

In 1968 independent researcher Walter Bullit tests new psychotropics mostly experimenting on himself as the guinea pig. At times, Walter accepts a job from the Feds to test one of his products on selected individuals. Perhaps because he is stoned so often, Walter has no remorse about what happens to his subjects.His latest assignment is to insure Robert Kennedy does not run for the presidency, currently encumbered by Henry Cabot Lodge. However, this time Walter runs into problems as ghosts suddenly share his apartment and two strange females (Big Girl and Little Mod) literally abduct him from a concert. Eulie and Chlojo need Walter who is the nexus between two dimensions to save New York City that is two cities of New York, one in his world and the other in the home realm of the two weird women.This book is not for everyone as the hip language will sound foreign to some readers even as it sets the tone and ambiance of the plot in a clockwork rose colored way. The story line is amusing as Jack Womack slices and dices society. Readers who enjoy offbeat alternate history will want to read this novel and the previous "Ambient" series books as Mr. Womack ends his wild ride with a stickball hit that is GOING GOING GONE over the tenement building roof.Harriet Klausner

Jack's back!!

Please, tell me you've been keeping up with all the books in the Amibient series! If you haven't you're just going to have to hurry to catch up with the rest of us. This is a world as unlike ours as it is a carbon-copy. The year is 1968, but it's not the same 1968 you remember (or read about, youngsters.) Walter Bullitt is just another luckless schmoe, trying to survive without having to try too hard. Sure, he's had a good career being a pharmaceutical guinea pig for the government and taking on the occasional assignment. But, this is a job offer he desperately wants to turn down. Too bad things don't work that way.Follow Bullitt on a wild, psychedelic ride through the club scene, encounters with the afterlife, and maybe some brushes with another time. Womack's vision is unlike anyone else's and you don't want to miss your chance to hop on the sometimes deadly conga line.

The end of the Dryco Chronicles....

And so I found myself holding this book in my hands, this book I've been waiting for three years to read, not wanting to start it because I knew it was the last time I'd be entering this amazing universe that Jack Womack spins out of thin air.Yes, I know, I'm a geek. Onwards.The book starts in the alternate world first seen in TERRAPLANE, in 1968. Walter Bullitt is a pharmaceutical expert who puts his knowledge to nefarious use for the government, and spends his spare time collecting 78 RPM blues discs. While trying to avoid accepting his latest assignment, he starts seeing ghosts that he can't ascribe to his extracurricular chemistry experiments. Then he bumps into two females who have been sent by Dryco to...well, buy the book and find out!What can I say, like all the Dryco books, it starts out weird and then just keeps turning corners that you don't see coming until your head starts to spin. Walter Bullitt is now one of my favorite characters from the whole Dryco mythology; his hipster narration makes GOING, GOING, GONE perhaps the most enjoyable read in the entire series. A few recurring characters from previous books appear. It took me a moment to figure out who the ghosts were, but when I did I had to put the book down, I was so pleased. Amazing. The ending of the book was so very unexpected and satisfying. The last chapter, "In the New World," won't make sense to anyone who hasn't read the five previous Dryco novels, but to those who have, you're in for such a treat. ( The bit about ALICE had me fall out of my chair laughing. ) The last sentence of the book -I won't tell you who it is about, but it redeems their life in the simplest of ways. I almost started crying. ( But geeks don't cry, dammit! )So. That's that. Thank you, Jack Womack, for sharing this twisted universe of yours with us. And if you haven't read any of his books, get cracking. In this order: Random Acts of Senseless Violence, Heathern, Ambient, Terraplane, Elvissey, and then this one. Get all of them. Right now. All you have to do is push a few buttons, for Christ's sake. It's painless. Do it.