It's the end of the world. Hang loose!

IT BEGAN with a never-ending cigarette and an orangutan on a bicycle. It ended up somewhere hasbeen singer-songwriter Scott Cantlay could scarcely have imagined, even during the most fevered days of the long-gone 1970s. For an unlikely adrenaline-addicted, cloven-hooved visitor reveals that Planet Earth is doomed to a bizarre fate. More surprisingly still, Scott may be central to a desperate plan to save it.

There's a major catch, however. For reasons he's less than clear about, this plan involves assembling a band of young musicians and organising the biggest music concert in the history of the world - with barely any warning, during the climax of the world-renowned Edinburgh Festival.

Shadowy forces, meanwhile, seem hell-bent on ensuring Scott and his newfound friends do not succeed. As if achieving the apparently impossible were not enough, he must also deal with alien assassins who think they're in a Guy Ritchie film, simian doppelgangers, terrifying zombie chickens, condescending cats, band frictions, the disapproval of his long-suffering girlfriend, and the wrath of a war-veteran cook who is now his demented manager. All while enlisting the help of his ex-agent - the same man he has accidentally subjected to an inhuman ordeal. It's enough to turn any musician to drink. And Scott Cantlay needs little help in that regard.

One thing is certain. If Scott and Planet Earth's inhabitants are to have a hope of survival, they'll all need to take up surfing in a BIG way!