Time-traveling alien Pom Trager has used the gullible denizens of Earth as fodder for his practical jokes throughout the ages, with the pyramids, Picasso, and several US presidents among his more modest pranks. Why does he do it? To boost the ratings of The Prankster, his home planet’s most popular reality show.

But when a system 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 only allies are the hapless assistant he just fired and an Earth woman who lends a hand against her better judgment.

With a relentless sheriff hot on their heels, the unlikely trio must drive from Santa Fe to San Francisco within two days. Otherwise their one chance for rescue will vanish—and Trager will be stuck in a backwater world of his own making.

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