Classics are sometimes labeled so purely for their age, cult classics are labeled so for their cult factor, but seldom to denote any particular level of quality. Think about it, scroll down your mental rolodex, most cult classics are essentially crap, but, you know, neat. They have a very specific appeal, special interest, limited market as it were. Self referential, wink wink nudge nudge sort of clever and/or funny at times, a conversation maker, sure, but definitely an acquired taste. And so C

Classics are sometimes labeled so purely for their age, cult classics are labeled so for their cult factor, but seldom to denote any particular level of quality. Think about it, scroll down your mental rolodex, most cult classics are essentially crap, but, you know, neat. They have a very specific appeal, special interest, limited market as it were. Self referential, wink wink nudge nudge sort of clever and/or funny at times, a conversation maker, sure, but definitely an acquired taste. And so Cosmic Banditos is very much a cult classic. In all those respects. A world of Bananas, Banditos, Contrabandistas and Dope Lords…and quantum physics. Yes, you read that right. This zany adventure follows a man on the mission to understand the subatomic composition of the fabric of the universe essentially, but in an utterly wacky fashion. And he’s also pretty much consistently high or otherwise elevated by tequila, peyote or really an entire list of fun substances. Basically a chemically altered mind trying to educationally alter itself. The science is real enough, but the book very much reads like it was written high and meant to be read likewise. Not acid trippy per se, but definitely trippy. That wasn’t meant to be a pun, actually, despite the many trips in course of one main quest of the book. The author does warn you about this, sort of in a lengthy foreword, with footnotes. You sort of get the idea of what to expect, but then again…a stubborn and inquisitive mind may choose to persevere. I did. Despite the footnotes...and I despise footnotes. They are sort of standard with nonfiction, but with fiction it’s just too tedious. Meant to be cute, but ends up being just precious. Apparently before its reprint, this one became a collector’s item fetching as much as $300 back when that was a decent amount. Then came digital publishing and I actually got this one for free at some juncture, manly attracted by the title. So if the author was given a chance to add a foreword and afterword, he probably also had the opportunity to clean up some racial and homophobic slurs also and chose not to. Interesting choice. Not to be all tediously PC about this, but seems like such an easy thing to do and all it would take to update the text, which otherwise is just weird enough to work timelessly. Anyway, this was a quick quirky idiosyncrasy of a book and one that definitely has its audience out there. I’m probably not it, but it was just about entertaining enough to merit the time. And the physics were actually kinda fun.