At the Dirty Duck

This witty and absurd sci-fi satire from the pen of Michal Jelínek tells the story of a Master of Philosophy who returns from a research trip to the Nordic region of Dalsland with a slight hangover, a missing pair of boots, and a serious suspicion that the world is no longer what it used to be. Literally. On the borderline between parallel universes, research institutes, hungry orangutans and the bureaucratic Office for the Stability of the Omniverse (ÚPSV), a story unfolds full of irony, philosophical questions and absurd interdimensional accidents. “U Špinavé Kachny” is a literary cocktail that mixes a Pratchett-esque sense of humour with the distinctly Czech absurdity of Hrabal's suburbs and academic pettiness. For sci-fi fans who have a sense of hyperbole – and for scientists who have ever lost a grant.