The Supersonic Phallus
Both funny and tender, The Supersonic Phallus sets its LGBTQ+ love story against the backdrop of UFO sightings.
In Steven Key Meyers’s jaunty novel The Supersonic Phallus, the 1947 flying saucer craze is seen through the eyes of a truth-seeking journalist.
On July 4, 1947, more than eight hundred people across the United States, including a rancher in Western Colorado, report sightings of unidentified flying objects. Sam, a journalist, and his handsome colleague Dean are sent to investigate. Over the course of the following week, the men witness a flying saucer firsthand and uncover a scheme designed to incite anti-Russian panic. Meanwhile, Sam’s attraction toward Dean grows, and their late-night stakeouts provide the perfect opportunity for a romantic tryst.
Ribald humor mixes into the unpretentious, irreverent prose, which includes quirky sentence fragments (“Swaggered back to the office”; “Kissed him and left him there”) and piquing phrases like “the rocketry of his groin” and observations of cadets’ “buttocks snapping in unison.” Its descriptions of sex are variously lowbrow and tender. In attending to its historical setting, though, it becomes more detailed and elevated, noting postwar cultural habits that give additional shape to the centered flying saucer craze. For example, the end of the wartime sugar ration means the welcome return to doughnuts in the office, and a pregnant women drinks alcohol and lights a cigarette on a night out.
Though Sam narrates, he proves less active than Dean, who is the one who ends up making a passionate case for truth-telling. Indeed, Dean commands attention as he argues against censorship and earns the most interesting story beats. And the book’s extended cast, which includes a millionaire cowboy, an attractive society writer, and a reluctant family man, enlivens the story throughout.
While there are intermittent moments of tension, the book’s conflicts are often defused in a matter of sentences. A lovers’ spat resulting from Sam’s poor choice of words amounts to nothing; a missing person reappears hours later with a valid excuse; and Sam and Dean’s love affair, which develops with speed and with little discussion, is implied to be risky but has few true consequences. A mild plot twist arises, but it proves to be not much of a surprise. Still, Sam’s continual search for truth within his country and within himself is compelling.
In the lighthearted historical novel Supersonic Phallus, reports of flying saucers across the US background a story about journalistic integrity and forbidden love.
Reviewed by
Hannah Pearson
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
