In a novelistic romp that is by turns hilarious and brilliant, 'Coming Soon!!!' is the tale of two writers: a retiring novelist setting out to write his last work and his protege, a young writer of hypertext. They race each other to write a novel about a floating opera, inspired by their view of a replica showboat that is sinking in the bay as a hurricane and the millennium approach. Their accounts reprise the fictional mentor's first novel, Barth's own debut novel, Edna Ferber's literary monument 'Show Boat' and the musicals and films it spawned.
In their rivalry, the writers navigate - and sometimes stumble over - the fault-lines between print and electronic fiction, mentor and mentored, postmodernism and modernism. 'Coming Soon!!!' is an extraordinary addition to, and in many respects a commentary on, Barth's distinguished oeuvre - a series of books that has shaped contemporary literature.
