I'm probably the last person out in the blogosphere to read Robert Ferrigno's "Prayers for the Assassin." Where Syne Mitchell's "The Last Mortal Man" (see below) describes an intriguing future that can make you a little uncomfortable, Ferrigno's "Prayers for the Assassin" is a future that is a heckuva lot scarier.

Ferrigno's adventure takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where the Mossad has nuked Washington, D.C., New York City and Mecca. The American South retains its Bible Belt character, Nevada remains a modern day Sodom and the Mormons control Utah, but the remainder of the United States becomes an Islamic Republic. Ferrigno does an excellent job of melding Islamic theocracy with American culture to create a world which is familiar yet very alien at the same time.

The book opens with noon prayers being completed -- at halftime of the Super Bowl. The cheerleaders run out -- all of them men.

Ferrigno's America is not a world which could reasonably occur, but it is a place that many Islamists probably see in their dreams -- for that fact alone it's a story worth checking out.