The infinite future

"An exhilarating, original novel, set in Brazil, Idaho, and outer space, about an obsessive librarian, a down-at-heel author, and a Mormon historian who together go on the hunt for a mystical, life-changing book--and find it. The Infinite Future is a mindbending novel that melds two page-turning books in one. First, we meet three broken people, joined by an obsession with a forgotten Brazilian science-fiction author named Eduard Salgado-MacKenzie. There's Danny, a writer who's been scammed by a shady literary award committee; Sergio, journalist turned sub-librarian in São Paulo; and Harriet, an excommunicated Mormon historian in Salt Lake City, who years ago conducted a correspondence with the reclusive Brazilian writer. The motley trio sets off to discover his identity, and whether his fabled masterpiece--never published--actually exists. Did his investigations into the true nature of the universe yield something so enormous that his mind was blown for good? In the second half, Wirkus gives us ... the lost masterpiece itself, the actual text of The Infinite Future, Salgado-MacKenzie's wonderfully weird magnum opus. The two halves connect in surprising and delightful ways to form a totally unique reading experience. Part academic satire, part science-fiction, and part book-lover's quest, this wholly original novel captures the heady way that stories inform and mirror our lives"--