Laugh Lines

Ben Bova, best-selling and award-winning author of the �Grand Tour� and �Asteroid Wars� series, takes a sardonic look at the humorous possibilities of future technology. � The Starcrossed: Bill Oxnard, a young technological genius, had perfected true three-dimensional television, making ordinary TV obsolete. He thought he would be rich and famous�but he hadn�t realized how deranged the executives running the industry were; nor what sort of programs they were planning to broadcast using the new process in the maniacal quest for ratings. � Cyberbooks: Carl Lewis has a dream�to make books accessible and affordable to every person in the country, and thinks his �cyberbook,� about as large and as cheap as a pocket calculator, will make it possible for anyone to download books directly and cheaply. But he has no idea what he�s about to get into, nor does the lovely but na� Loai Tashkajian. Will they survive this foray into the cut-throat world of big publishing? And just who is suddenly murdering all those nice elderly people on the streets of New York, anyway? � These two full-length novels of twistedly comic, but very possible futures, plus several shorter works, add up to a generous volume of futuristic fun and hilarious high-tech.