A novel by Jack L Chalker, George Alec Effinger and Mike ResnickPublisher's WeeklyIn designing their book as around robin, Chalker ( The Return of Nathan Brazil ), Resnick ( SecondContact ) and Effinger ( When Gravity Fails ) seem to have been moreinterested in presenting the next author with a challenge (''Write yourway out of this!'') than they were in continuity, plot or character.Millard Fillmore Pierce (most names are pseudo-significant, such as thebattleship Mahatma Gandhi, captain Nathan Bolivia) appears in fivedifferent guises, each a member of a different species from a differentparallel universe; all of them speak English and most of them intend totake over the human Pierce's galaxy. That none succeeds is largely dueto red tape: so many forms must be filled out in order even to fire ashot that battleships carry hundreds of bureaucrats to support eachsoldier. What could have been light entertainment is defeated by theauthors' arch, feckless comments to one another--with discussions onwriting the book included as part of the book. Only a blindly dedicatedfan will be pleased with this collaboration.