César is a playwright and translator who has fallen on very hard times due to the global economic downturn; he is also a mad scientist hell-bent on world domination. On a visit to the beach he intuitively solves an ancient riddle, finds pirate treasure, and becomes a very wealthy man, but even his sudden riches can't shake his determination to conquer the world. César hurries to attend a literary conference to be near the world-renowned Mexican author Carlos Fuentes, whose clone he hopes will lead an army to victory. A comic science-fiction fantasy of the first order, The Literary Conference is the perfect vehicle for César Aira’s takeover of 21st-century literature .