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Title: Killerbowl (Doubleday Science Fiction) by Gary K. Wolf ISBN: 038504738X Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: September, 1975 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $5.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4

Rating: 4
Summary: A bleak Sci-Fi Glimpse into Sport on TV.....
Comment: This book flooded back into my memory late last night while I was watching the Superbowl match up between the Ravens and the Giants. I`m a 39 yr old British American Football fan, and I too picked this short paperback up off the shelf when I was only about 13 yrs old. It was published at a time when glitzy effects in Sci Fi movies were just the twinkle in the imagination of the likes of George Lucas and Industrial Light and Magic, and it rolled in hard on the heels of its obvious inspiration, Rollerball. As an avid reader (and poor writer) of fiction, I dont recall this book being a literary masterpiece... but then again, not all novels have to be of the quality of an H.G.Wells or even A Stephen King, to have a profound effect upon its reader. All the ingredients were there to grip the reader in a vision of a world gone mad, where the couch potato sports fan had his ultimate base instincts catered for with ultra-violence and extreme imagery and competition. Set in our near future, it took the premise of "offense & Defense" in a very physical sport, to a logical , if shocking, conclusion. Another reviewer here likened it to the conce[pt of the Roman Gladiatorial arena.... a very good analogy. My memory of the book now lends itself to a crossover between Actual NFL football and the world of Professional Wrestling (or should that be "Sports Entertainment"?) The combatents are larger than life, they pander to our hunger and need for ever more elaborate and outrageous displays of physical and devious prowess in winning any given "game" or competition. If you want a more cerebral insight into the potential dangers of Televised Sports as entertainment, you could do worse than seek out the two short stories penned by Stephen King: The Running Man - Excellent short story, Abysmal film with ARnold Shwarzennegger. (the film bears NO relation to the short story so bypass that) And also, The Long Walk- A truly scary emotional rollercoaster ride of a novel.

I digress... back to this book. Killerbowl was a short story I picked up and read as a child... its a book I still remember some 25 years later as being entertaining and not a little worrying. Its a damn shame its no longer in print, and I intend to hunt a copy down as soon as I can If you find it somewehere, keep it. They SHOULD make it into a movie, and that would be worth watching if they do it justice.

Rating: 4
Summary: Entertaining Science Fiction
Comment: I agree with the review below. I too read this book as a junior high schooler in the late 1970s and found its ultra violent football theme similar to movies such as "Rollerball" and "Soylent Green." Sci-fi was a lot more downcast in those days. Anyway, I remember the book as an exciting read (with a flashlight under the blanket, for it was past my bedtime) that I had a hard time putting down. Actually, its media dominated big brother theme recalls "Farenheit 451" and "1984." For that, its worth searching out.

Rating: 4
Summary: A mega violent 21st century version of football
Comment: I read this book back in Jr. High, and found it had a lot in common with Sci Fi movies of the time like Rollerball and Soylent Green. An ultra violent verson of American football played out in a bleak 21st century world, it shows just how depressing our view of the future was back in the 1970's. The players now have weapons, such as knives, and each team even has a safety armed with a rifle. This book shows a future in which individual lives are so meaningless that watching men kill each other on TV is the principle form of amusement. Not unlike, I suppose, the gladiator fights in the ancient (and decaying) Roman Empire .....