Red Room Where the Writers Are

Part "Days of Wrath" part "Fear and Loathing" and part "Arabian Nights," Moonbeam Highway is a satirical road novel, set in contemporary times, but harkening back to "Morning in America," an era when the Radical Right held sway and all the power was given to "The Man." It set out to repeal the New Deal reforms and set us up for the mess we're in now.

This is the story of a wealthy man whose accounts were picked clean by Wall Street sharpies salvaging their fortunes in the downturn. He's broke and on the road in search of work doing the few things he knows how to do, one of which is cooking a prize winning chili.

Using a CB radio, he spins the legend of a wandering chef whose pot roast chili has aphrodisiacal powers. His bawdy tales of seduction don't deceive the truckers, though, so he he challenges the national chili champion to a one on one cook-off.

His promotional style, however; angers the wrong people at the climax of a general election campaign and the outcome of his chili contest determines the fate of the nation.