Time-traveling alien Pom Trager offers used the gullible denizens of Earth as fodder for his useful jokes through the entire ages, with the pyramids, Picasso, and many US presidents among his more modest pranks. How come he do it? To boost the ratings of The Prankster, his house planet’s most popular reality show.

But when something snafu lands Trager in the wrong place, he finds himself at the mercy of the very species he’s made into a galactic laughingstock. His just allies are the hapless helper he just fired and an Earth girl who lends a hand against her better judgment.

Having a relentless sheriff hot on the heels, the unlikely trio must drive from Santa Fe to San Francisco within two days. Usually their one opportunity for save will vanish-and Trager will become stuck in a backwater globe of his own making.

In The Prankster, award-winning author James Polster hilariously skewers our cultural obsession with self-importance and entertainment.