The Empire Menaced: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Dearth Nadir    by Sean Miller Order:  USA  Can Aventine, 2004 (2004) Hardcover, Paperback Read an Excerpt    Reviewed by J. A. Kaszuba Locke Apparently Miller wrote this parody for a Master's course in contemporary literature. The assignment title came from: Text into Film and Film as Text: Towards a Concept of Adaptation. It was intended as aggressive appropriation of a movie. Narrated by Dearth Nadir, The Empire Menaced is a parody in dark humor of Lucas's Star Wars©. Dearth travels on the Dearth Star contemplating his disastrous life - other names in the author's demented characterizations will also be recognizable to series fans. I found the book boring and distasteful, obsessed with profanity and perverted sex scenes. In this version, Queen/Senator Mandala molested young Anykind and the author suggests that their later romance was an act of revenge on his part, that slave-master W'at'O was an 'Islamic jihadist', Chi-Gong had a past with Anykind's mother Shmear, Kobe-San was not the man portrayed, and that Dearth Nadir serves as his own therapist. If you do decide to read this pulp fiction spoof, I recommend keeping a 'Dick-Tion-Airy' close at hand. Though the writing runs smoothly in places, it then turns into a bunch of mish-mash words, which leave the reader asking, "What did Miller say?" In the last section, the book reverts to a kind of psychological and sociological diatribe, charged with dark insight and meaning. I could not help but wonder if there was more than one author, and personally was more amused by the animated grocery store wars spoof circulating on the Net. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more SF books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews