Mendoza in Hollywood is the third
novel in the "
Company"
series by
science fiction author Kage Baker. The series deals with the lives and adventures of certain operatives of
Dr. Zeus, a
24th Century Company which rescues people from
death, turns them into
immortal cyborgs, and sends them on
time travel missions to restore art and extinct lifeforms.
In "
Mendoza In Hollywood", we return to the point of view of
Mendoza, whose early years are described in the first novel of the series, "
In the Garden of Iden". The
novel is set in the second half of the
19th Century, in what will later become
Hollywood (which is, incidentally, where the author grew up).
Mendoza is one of a half dozen
immortals stationed at a fake coach stop in what was then the rawest part of the "
Wild West". They are there to study the
flora (
botanist Mendoza), and to work on wildlife and do anthropological studies of the period, one (
Imarte from "
Sky Coyote") by posing as a
whore to get her clients to talk.
It's hard to say much about this
novel without spoiling any of the earlier books, but some brief points ... The
story is
brilliant, especially when the
cyborgs, who know what will happen in the future, talk about
Hollywood's "
future", referring to the wilderness around them as "
Harrison Ford's porch" and "
Sunset Boulevard". More of the dark secrets of the
Company (and its origin?) are hinted at. Fans of the spunky
Mendoza character from the first novel will get some nasty shocks as well.