Atomik Aztex

In the alternate universe of this glitteringly surreal first novel, the Aztecs rule, having conquered the European invaders. Zenzontli, Keeper of the House of Darkness, is visited by visions of a parallel world run by the Europeans, where consumerism reigns supreme. Aztecs armed with automatic weapons, totemic powers and blood sacrifice conquer and colonize 1940s Europe, as ghosts of the world wars emerge to haunt contemporary Los Angeles. Atomik Aztex is a hilarious read. A potent concoction, with influences from graphic novels, along with Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo, the paranoia of Philip K. Dick and William Burroughs, and an outrageous cyber-Aztlan mix reminiscent of Guillermo Gomez-Pena. Sesshu Foster is the author of the critically acclaimed City Terrace Field Manual.

About the Author :
Sesshu Foster taught composition and literature in East L.A. for over 20 years, and at the University of Iowa, the California Institute for the Arts, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. His work is published in The Oxford Anthology of Modern American Poetry, Language for a New Century: Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond, and State of the Union: 50 Political Poems. His most recent novel isEladatl: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lineswith Arturo Ernesto Romo, published by City Lights. His previous books include the novelAtomik Aztexand the poetry collectionWorld Ball Notebook, both with City Lights, as well asCity of the FutureandCity Terrace Field Manual. A celebrated writer, his literary awards are numerous: Sesshu was awarded the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award in Poetry forWorld Ball Notebook; the Believer Book Award forAtomik Aztex; an American Book Award for Invocation LA: Urban Multicultural Poetry; and finalist for the PEN Center West Poetry Prize, as well as the Paterson Poetry Prize, forCity Terrace Field Manual. Sesshu is based in Alhambra, CA.

Review :
"… a graphic, hilarious and violent chronicle of multiple realities that could emerge … an amazing exercise of radical imagination."—Guillermo Gómez-Peña "… this is an ambitious, energetic, and fiercely intelligent novel."—Bookforum "A fine example of alternative fiction with a strong social theme; recommended for most collections."—Library Journal, January 2006 "Atomik Aztex is hip, bloody, occasionally baffling and often piercingly brilliant."—Cherie Parker, Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 15, 2005 "Hilarious, poignant, and at times devastating, Foster has crafted a fine … cocktail of sublime anarchy to toss into the machine."—Rubén Martínez, author of The New Americans: Seven Families Journey to Another Country "The prose is an electrifying, eclectic phantasmagoria of Groucho's marxism, dadada, surreal and naturalcombined with double-edged intellectual/historical hysteria."—Rick Harsh, author of the Driftless Trilogy "This is one mad neighborhood carnival roller coaster ride through Aztlán, the underground, the QT … Oddball, hilarious—deep."—Marisela Norte, author of East L.A. Days/Fellini Nights "A book so heedlessly imaginative it often seems ready to burst its pages like a comic-book POW."—Emily Barton, Bookforum, December 2005 "… puts his finger on a particular nexus of World War II-era racism, factory life and the landscape of Los Angeles"—The Los Angeles Times, January 2006 Atomik Aztex was chosen the Winner of The Believer Magazine Book Award 2005!!—The Believer Magazine, March 2006