They should have known better. I figure if three authors want to write a book in turns while getting pissed and trying to screw each other by writing the next into a corner, sure. They're big boys, right? Just don't go around and RELEASE the damn thing. Oy. This is bad. Painfully bad. If I'd paid for it instead of being given it by a friend, I would have probably been angry instead of just dissapointed.

Three science fiction masters each take turns trying to write the other two into a hole. An epic space opera revolving around a bewildered human, several various and assorted aliens, and a buxom space cowgirl named Marshmallow are pawns, riding the edge of one cliffhanger after another as Chalker, Resnick and Effinger move them about an absurd verbal chessboard.

A truly unique concept in novelization, and completely unconcerned with conventional storytelling, this is one of the funniest (and strangest) books to be written by an American in recent memory.

This book is a terrific collaborative work. Effinger, Chalker, Resnick take turns writing chapters, each more imaginatively absurd than the last. Hilarious!

this is one book i regret reading with its contrived tale of a shipwrecked sailor in a harem and the stories of the inmates and little or no characterisation. i strongly suggest giviing this book a go by.

Illustrated by six different artists: three black and white illustrators who do okay, one crayon scrawl quality color chapter, one okay colored chapter, and one colored chapter that's cleanly drawn but seems amateurish (art school student - some skill but no flavor). George Herbert's book is an 1890s era (or so) Victorian Erotica peice; which means explicit sex was it's only real interest. The ladies recount their "first times" and "first loves" - and five are Eurpoean dolls. Indeed, it's a selection of women from around the world, not a moorish Harem in itself. And they come across as ordinary women with unusual tales to tell. My main interest was the quality of artwork, and the lower quality of some of it (the colored versions were even amateurish in places) left me wondering if the second edition would be decent - and is probably why I've never seen a repeat of the concept. Besides the limited scope of the subject matter. Rather than grossly graphic, the sex is often staid and somewhat more classically illustrated.

Please I beg you do NOT read this book!! It's disgusting and will give you nightmares...we do not need to hear every detail of how life was in George's house of horrors. Not for anyone interested in Beth Short and not for anyone who has a weak stomach. AGAIN LEAVE THIS ONE ALONE. Hey can we burn the remaining copies now???

Why couldn't I have read the reviews on this before I tortured myself. I was praying there would be something at the end that would tie in all of the "evidence", um, not quite.
PLEASE, do yourself a favor and don't read this, unless you have a taste for horrible manuscript. However, if you do decide to read it, you won't believe how incredibly stupid and farfetched it is i.e. the references to Jan somehow resembling "Aunt Betty", please.
Worst book I have read in years.

This book is not a book I would suggest to a reader who is squeamish. It has many unnecissary scenes of explicit sexual abuse and mutilation. Janice shows very good evidence in making her sexual, physical, and vocal abuse as a child believable. This book seems more of a auto biography rather than an allegation of the murder of the Black Dahlia. Janice Knowlton and Micheal Newton put much more emphasis on the horrific experiences she is put through instead of specifically addressing the issue at hand. I believe that one of the worst downfalls to this book is the very detailed accounts of what Janice experiences,that in some cases did not pertain to the Black Dahlia case.
Because of these things I can understand where some speculation would be brought up. I do not doubt at all the account of any abuse that occured in the Knowlton house. Many people doubt her accounts because of the fact that they are repressed memories. She has many points in the book that support these memories though, such as Janice have authorities dig up a skeleton of a family dog that had been shot and buried by George during one of his spells of rage. Overall, this book is a pretty good book but I must say is is definately a gruesome account of her life.