Michael Barker

The Improbable Tale of How I Saved the Universe Michael Barker

Tam Husband isn?t the world?s greatest journalist. In fact he?s probably one of the worst. And when he gets an article rejected by Doorstop Bulletin he knows the clock is rapidly ticking on his newswriting dreams. But when he makes an ill-advised trip to Antarctica in the hunt for a career-saving scoop, Tam instead becomes embroiled in a vengeful alien race?s dastardly plot to destroy the universe. Duped, manhandled and misled by shadowy organisations vying for power, Tam sets off on a hilarious journey that takes him everywhere from the secluded iron planet Fiz-Yelda to the mysterious Valley of Frozen Souls. Not to be put off a task just because he isn?t quite sure why he?s doing it, Tam pledges to fight the threat with a band of misfit comrades including a Gunrunlian engineer who once modelled for Munch?s The Scream, a wafer thin Datzik princess who holds the key to the Valley of Answers, and a mysterious brunette security chief whose true loyalties are constantly called into question. Taking in some the most unlikely, breathtaking and mind-boggling locations imaginable, this is above all a tale of friendship, love and the determination of a small group of individuals to succeed in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. A breathless, first-person space comedy, The Improbable Tale of How I Saved the Universe reached the final 14 science fiction books in the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards.