Changing the past Author:Thomas Berger Walter Hunsicker, chief copy-editor for a major publisher, has been given the opportunty to remake his life --and learns the horror of having one's wishes come true. In his latest work, Thomas Berger touches on that most alluring yet ultimately terrifying fantasy, "What would my life have been like if...? Through a mysterious but seemingly cha... more »nce encounter, Hunsicker is given the power to change the past and -- if he dosen't like it -- to change it back again. But, like Sinbad, Hunsicker fails to understand the dangers inherent in the genie's gift.
Successfully seeking wealth and power, he changes his name name to Jack Kellogg and immediately reaps the opprobrium due a lascivious slumlord; aching for populartiy, Kellogg takes on the wretched life of a standup comic, fighting for recognition, achieving superstardom, and eventually struggling through a career -- and life -- on the skids. Venturing next into the realm of artistic fame, he gains intimate knowledge of the isolation and frustraition of an author's despair. Finally deciding that perhaps the route to satisfaction in an alternative life is in helping his fell man, he decides to do just that -- with disastrous results. The advic he dispenses as a radio psychologist brings him celebrity but ruins lives. His nationwide follwing helps to elect his wife the first woman President -- but prompts an angry listener to turn assassin.« less