The Gas Pump - Critical Review

Reg Morson's latest novel, The Gas Pump, will prove to be a delight to the most devoted fans of his "Gas Pump" series of novels. In The Gas Pump, as with the rest of Morson's novels, two attendants at a gas station compare penis sizes and then fall in love. However, the newest novel offers a few twists.

Many critics feared reviewing this latest work, for several reasons. Firstly, most of the novels in Morson's "Gas Pump" series have in fact been called The Gas Pump. There is also the problem that a good number of the novels have been extremely similar. Many critics are willing to accept a certain amount of "writer's formula" in the novels they review, but few are willing to condone the exact same plot, characters and settings over and over again. Morson took much criticism particularly for such novels as The Gas Pump, Gas Pump Love, The Gas Pump, Gas Pump, What Happened By The Gas Pump, The Gas Pump, Gas Pump Novel, Gas Pump of Love, The Gas Pump, The Gas Pump, Love and a Gas Pump, Gas Pump and The Gas Pump, which many critics were quick to point out were all exactly the same, without even a word changed. Most strongly criticized was his work The Gas Pump, which critics felt was even less original than all the rest.

Morson has responded well to such criticism. He prefers to let his novels be his only defense, and has instructed his critics to "read them in order". Indeed, Morson has attributed much of his failure as an author to the fact that people don't read his novels in order. "I hardly ever release two novels which are EXACTLY the same one after another," the author claims. Morson reports that he does not feel defeated by the fact that his novels no longer sell, and says he rests comfortable knowing that most of his fans are probably saving a bit of money by just re-reading one of his old novels each time a new one comes out.

In his latest novel in the series, The Gas Pump, Morson again retells the story his fans treasure so dearly, of two gas station attendants arranging to meet behind a gas pump and compare penis sizes, and then, pleased with the results, falling in love. As usual, the characters are named Mike Crane and Al Grocette, and also as usual the setting is the small Florida town of Laruta, however here the similarities end. Fans will be quick to notice that this time (almost a first, Morson assures us) Al wins the sizing contest, and the results lead to pure storytelling magic. (Pumpbooks, $12.95)