Joe's Liver

A young boy journeys into America's abridged heart. "e;Di Filippo is the spin doctor of SF-and it's a powerful medicine he brews"e; (Brian Aldiss). An orphaned boy in the Caribbean named Readers Digest (after the magazine) but referred to mainly as "e;Ardy"e; is deeply inspired by his readings of the stories that appear in his namesake magazine and conceives of a plan to make a pilgrimage to the Digest HQ in Pleasantville, New York. He embarks on an odyssey to what he envisions as the most important symbolic beacon of the wonderfulness that is America. A simple trip turns complicated and Ardy meets an endless stream of very odd and unusual characters as his journey progresses to an unexpected finish.