Earth was a planet of incompetents, but Simmons was the greatest loser of all. It seemed as if the powers of the Universe were concentrated on grinding his small soul into ultimate insignificance, until the aliens came. To them, Simmons was the most important human on the planet–for only through his mind could they overcome this world.

Screen is Barry N. Malzberg’s daring and controversial debut novel about a man who can only obtain sexual satisfaction by projecting himself into fantasies evoked by the cinema.

In the tradition of Vladimir Nabokov, Malzberg draws his readers over the precipice of rationality into a realm where dreams are real—a realm in which the hero, a humble investigator for the New York City Welfare Department, finds himself married to Sophia Loren, seducing Elizabeth Taylor, and seduced by Brigitte Bardot—all in one tortured weekend.