Below is a transcription of a call that I performed on Tom Scharpling’s Best Show On WFMU. The call takes place about halfway into the 1/25/05 show. I was supposed to be a recording. It was easy, I simply read from a text document, and affected were needed.

Hello

My name is Ted. I’m a representative with The Neo-Medical Thrill-Seeking Bookworm Club

A membership to our exiting club was purchased as a gift to you from Anita Scharpling. We welcome you as a new member, and as a token of our appreciation, we will be sending you a gently worn paperback copy of Robin Cook’s latest New York Times bestseller, SEIZURE

Torn from the headlines, Robin Cook’s Seizure is a cautionary tale for a time where biotechnology pulls us into a promising yet frightening new world.

What could the Shroud of Turin, a conservative senator and an entrepreneurial researcher have in common? Politics, religion and bioscience collide in the latest medical thriller form the master storyteller in this field.
Senator Ashley Butler is a quintessential Southern demagogue whose support of traditional American values includes a knee-jerk reaction against virtually all biotechnologies. When he’s called to chair a sub-committee introducing legislation to ban new cloning technology, the senator views his political future in bold relief; and Dr Daniel Lowell, inventor of the technique that will take stem cell research to the next level, sees a roadblock positioned before his biotech start-up.
These two seemingly opposite personalities clash during the senate hearings, yet the men have a common desire. Butler’s hunger for political power far outstrips his concern for the unborn; and Lowell’s pursuit of gargantuan personal wealth and celebrity overrides any considerations for patients’ well being. Further complicating the proceedings is the confidential news that Senator Butler has developed Parkinson’s disease - leading the senator and the researcher into a Faustian pact. In a perilous attempt to prematurely harness Lowell’s new technology, the therapy leaves the senator with the horrifying effects of temporal lobe epilepsy - seizures of the most bizarre order.

Noted character actor and Robin Cook fanatic Treat Williams says of Robin Cook’s SEIZURE:

“I own 51 copies”

Beginning in 1972 with THE YEAR OF THE INTERN, Robin Cook swiftly began to make a name for himself in the world of neo-medical fiction with such titles as

· Seizure (Macmillan, 2003) Aug 03
· Abduction (Macmillan, 2002)
· Shock (Macmillan, 2001) Pan Pbk Sep 02
· Vector (Macmillan, 1999) Pan Pbk Aug 00
· Toxin (Macmillan, 1998)
· Invasion ( 1997)
· Chromosome Six (Macmillan, 1997) Pan Pbk 1998
· Contagion (Macmillan, 1996)
· Acceptable Risk (Macmillan, 1995) Pan Pbk 1996
· Terminal ( 1993)
· Fatal Cure ( 1993)
· Blindsight ( 1992)
· Vital Signs ( 1991)
· Mutation ( 1989)
· Mortal Fear ( 1988)
· Outbreak ( 1987)
· Mindbend ( 1985)
· Godplayer ( 1983)
· Fever ( 1982)
· Harmful Intent ( 1982)
· Brain ( 1981)
· Sphinx ( 1979)
· Coma ( 1977)
· The Year of the Intern ( 1972)

In April, you will receive a greatly discounted, gently worn hardback copy of Robin Cook’s next thriller, “Tennis Elbow”

Radio personality Tom Scharpling says of advance galleys of Robin Cook’s “Tennis Elbow”:

“I was white-knuckling the arm rest as I tore page by page through “Tennis Elbow” Sure to be a treat for neo-medical fiction fans the world over, “Tennis Elbow” is the greatest book ever written.”

Thank you so much for your time tonight, Neo-Medical Thrill-Seeking Bookworm Club representatives will be in touch soon to follow up on your new membership satisfaction.