Book Review: An Inconvenient Presidency: The Time-Traveling Misadventures of President Al Gore

A hilarious romp of a time travel story

An Inconvenient Presidency by

Eric M. Hamilton

is a hilarious romp: a time loop story, a multiverse story, and a brilliant political satire, all rolled up into a no-holds-barred joy of a read.

I was amazed by how entertaining a political satire could be which takes aim at no party or ideology, but simply celebrates the hilarious gaffes and mannerisms of many of America's famous figures, while telling an enjoyable story. Not to mention, we have the best and most plausible explanation for Al Gore's 2000 campaign I have ever read.

At the time of posting, An Inconvenient Presidency is on sale for $0.99 as part of the Based Book Sale.

The Story

Al Gore, the first president to win every electoral college vote in generations, is given a mysterious device, allowing him to send his consciousness back in time. Soon, disaster strikes, and he is forced to use it. But all is not as it seems, and the device does more than he bargained for.

The Characters

Alternate history fiction always features a plethora of famous figures from our own timeline, reimagined. Al Gore, the titular character, is poignant, fun, and relatable. The figures you'll recognize from our timeline are seen in their full glory, and good-naturedly mocked in ways which make it clear they're pretty much exactly the same people we remember. Of all the alternate history books I've read, this one takes the least liberties with the famous folk or our dimension, and portrays them the most accurately. And it works. Boy does it work.

The World

The world is much like our own, but constantly facing disasters worse than ours. The disasters range from quite realistic to completely off-the-wall, but we're never too far afield from our own reality--all the worlds we visit will feel as familiar to the reader as his own dimension, keeping readers immersed in the story.

Politics

None. Seriously. By being rich in mocking the foibles of various politicians and public figures, Hamilton manages to make us guffaw without bringing a smidgeon of political opinion into the equation.

Content Warning

None.

Who is it for?

If you like time loops, alternate history, or relentless satire, you're in for a fun time. And if you think US politics is ridiculous (and who doesn’t?) you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Why buy it?

I couldn't stop grinning as I read this one. If you're up for a few hours of laughing, smiling, and having a good ol' sideways-in-time good time, this one's money well spent.