THE APOCALYPSE OF BILL LIZARD

Roger Gregg, an American actor living in Ireland, created his dimension-crossing hero, Bill Lizard, for Irish radio. So it's no wonder that the picaresque serial contains numerous references to Celtic folklore, in addition to all the other esoterica pertaining to mythology, mysticism, obscure religions, and world literature. If you don't get those jokes, don't worry. Like A HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, to which this romp owes a considerable stylistic debt, it can be enjoyed on several levels. Detective Lizard and his sidekick, an oft-pixilated Irish pookah (as in Shakespeare's Puck and Mary Chase's Harvey), are hired "by the Unspeakable to search the Unknowable to find the Unthinkable." The end of the world is at stake as the heroes brave monsters, wizards, goddesses, and alternate realities. The comedy comes thick and fast as delivered by a fine troupe of players. Not much logic obtains to the events, which seem nothing more than whatever popped into the author's head as he wrote. Crowd scenes are sometimes confusing on first hearing. To my particular delight, Gregg writes eloquent dialogue--spirited, graceful, even poetic at times, full of character and bubbling with sly good humor for literate adults who are not too grown up. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 02]