I’m not finding as many di Filippo stories to read as I would like, which is a shame, but it’s nice to be welcomed by an opening paragraph that tells you that your going to get his slightly-gonzo world view :
“The way Arpad Stroll discovered his unique ability to identify and utilize universal sweet spots involved the unlikely confluence of his unrequited love for Veronica Kingslake, Mrs. Christelli’s physics class, the apelike antics of Willy Squidgeon, half a raisin bagel, an errant shaft of sunlight, a coloured marker, a pair of cheap shoes, and a host of other unquantifiable factors, many of which were unknown to Arpad himself – at least on the conscious level.”
Suffice to say, that Arpad gets the kind of control over events that every pubescent male teenager fantasised about (my unrequited love for V***i L****o remains unrequited almost four decades on..). But the background to him obtaining these powers is a global threat to Earth, and the question is whether he has the powers to do more than satisfying his teenage hormones.
