The Clarkl Soup Kitchens
by
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The terrible rash of lawsuits has somewhat abated, but the company continues to save every scrap of correspondence. Fannies need to be completely covered at all times. Even this minor fanny.
A message on the videorecorder from Lucille. All is well in Folsom. She took the kids up the hill to
I wish I could be there with them. We never had much money for little tours when I was a child in
I admire neat handwriting, and I try to write as tidily as I can. I think a readable signature shows the disposition of an ordered mind and the courtesy of a person who wants to communicate effectively. The great John Hancock taught us all that a readable signature will last for the ages.
The seismic activity in
I am here in
When
The news broadcasts are filled with pictures, but there is only rushing water to be seen. The lists of the cities now under water includes Folsom, with an estimate of thirty feet of water over the old prison. That means our little house, just west of the prison, is under about thirty-five feet.
I can only regret I was not there to die with Lucille, Anthony, and Allegra. I have a computer full of movies of them, and that will have to last me a lifetime.
How happy we were! Both the children were out of diapers and were becoming great fun. We had enough money to enjoy life but not so much that we agonized over investment decisions. The grandparents visited, but not too frequently. It was as if the Universe had given me eight glorious years, with love and contentment.
The people at the
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About the Book
Clarkl is a planet of cold days and even colder nights. Although Clarkl’s star is not visible from Earth, Clarkl’s advanced technology allows its natives to visit Earth and take Earthlings back to Clarkl for work.
In the early 2070s, the American government entered into a contract with the people of Clarkl to manage and staff farms and kitchens to feed some of the large numbers of Clarkl natives who are faced with the planet’s ever-present famine. The American government received certain critical minerals from Clarkl, and the Clarklians received the services of farmers and cooks.
This novel presents the diaries of five Americans who went to Clarkl for work in the dining rooms. They left troubling problems on Earth to go to Clarkl for a guaranteed monthly income and a decade of hard work.
The diaries discuss the ugly Clarkl natives, with all seven sexes described.
Three imaginative illustrations by Lance Jackson show these natives.
Carmen, Mary
THE CLARKL SOUP KITCHENS
AuthorHouse (277 pp.)
November 2004
ISBN: 1-4184-8031-2
The cold planet of Clarkl, a place of .few comforts and extensive famine,. serves as the
backdrop for this humorous, pseudo-allegorical tale.
Clarkl is the last-ditch option for the rag-tag recruits of two competing Christian missionary groups in the late-21st century.at least one of which consists of disgraced Catholic prelates.who run a food-for-uranium exchange between Earth and Clarkl. Carmen.s darkly comic saga of interspecies miscommunication is told through the diaries of four Clarkl enlistees who have little interest in Christianity and even less understanding of the hungry creatures for whom they must constantly cook. They are middle-aged, greedy, needy, and unnervingly selfabsorbed, showing very little interest in the fantastic landscape in which they live and work. Though they are on the strangest planet in the galaxy, they remain only mildly curious about Clarkl and the mysterious lives of its inhabitants. In short, they are the ugly, xenophobic Americans of the next century. For their part, however, the Clarklians.with their multitiered social structure of elitist Monarchs, intelligent Seekers, bully-like Batwigs, Carriers and Slinkers, and bottom-rung Drones.more than match the Earthlings. religious and cultural disinterest. In fact, aside from their zeal for repopulation, they only seem to be wildly enthusiastic about the oddest trifles: pancakes with pineapple syrup, broccoli, pumpkins, Christmas music, and hot tubs.
Carmen may have set space travel back a millennia or two with this forbidding look at the future.and she certainly spins a wafer-thin allegorical yarn.but her bold, imaginative tales are enough for a memorable escape to a planet far, far away.
--Kirkus Discoveries
Kirkus Discoveries, VNU US Literary Group, 770 Broadway,
discoveries@kirkusreviews.com
About the Author
Mary Carmen is a management consultant based near
Ms. Carmen has worked as a computer programmer, programming department manager, systems analyst, and technical writer. Before studying computer programming, Ms. Carmen taught English in a public school in
Ms. Carmen received a B.A. degree in journalism from