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Now Wait For Last Year
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Plot Summary of Now Wait For Last Year
"NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR was written by Philip K. Dick in 1966. Eric Sweetscent has been hired as the private doctor of Gino Molinari, head of the army forces of the Earth. Molinari has the difficult task to negotiate with Earth's allies coming from the planet Lillistar in order to present a common army against the Reegs that look like insects with a brain. In the meantime, Kathy, Eric Sweetscent's wife, is addicted to a time control drug and loses the sense of reality."
Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar

"Under the leadership of UN General Secretary Gino Molinari, Terrans have sided with the powerful, humanoid "Starmen" from the Lilistar system in their war with the reegs of Proxima, antlike beings with an exoskeleton and four arms. (The year is 2055.) The protagonist, a surgeon who specializes in organ transplants named Eric Sweetscent, is summoned to minister to the ailing and dispirited Molinari. Eric's wife Kathy does well-paid work for magnate Virgil Ackerman, locating and purchasing antiques to recreate the 1935 Washington DC of his childhood. (Through medical techniques and organ replacements, Ackerman is 130 years old.) But Kathy becomes instantly addicted to the experimental drug JJ-180, which can temporarily unstick a person in time, and eventually Eric becomes addicted too, and encounters and helps himself during jaunts between the 1930s and 2160s. Is it really Molinari he's tending to? Does Molinari really want to die ... or is he already long dead? And which side of the war would it really benefit Earth to be on?"
David Loftus, Resident Scholar

"The setting is Earth, which actually is a lost colony of our mother planet, at war with an insect life form. An artificial surgeon who is in his wife's shadow gets promoted into the U.N. president's chief doctor. Now his miserable, yet simple, life is complicated with addiction to lethal time traveling drugs, an ailing egomaniac and sick leader, shifting allies and espionage in the war, and getting back to his own time and universe.   He manages to help resolve the problems of humanity on Earth, but he still can't decide to leave his repulsive wife."
Sam Batterson, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Now Wait For Last Year
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 35%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 25%




FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Time Travel: - into past and future equally
Political power play Yes
Political plotlets - factions fight within govt for control - preventing/managing clash/war between govts/kingdoms
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Time Travel story? Yes

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - doctor
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - druggie/wino disease

Main Adversary
Identity: - an entire race
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount

Setting
Earth setting: - near future (later in 21st century) - medium future 22-24th century
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
scientific jargon? (SF only) - an average amount of scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Now Wait For Last Year
Star Kings by Edmond Hamilton
When the Past Meets the Present by John Orizon
Kaleidoscope Century by John Barnes
Millennium by John Varley
A Very Strange Trip by L. Ron Hubbard


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Philip K. Dick Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
David Loftus  

SCHOLARS:
Scott David Mclemore  Robert Hadley  Harriet Klausner  Sam Batterson  Jason Seward  M Gandy  Alexander Babiera  Jesi Bornemann  Future Boy  


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