Ramping Up for NaNo

So, as I am in the planning stages for National Novel Writing Month as evidenced by this last post, I am continuing to catalog my ideas so that I can select the very best one. This next one is a bit of a re-post, but as I didn't select it for last year, it's still a viable option.

I have wanted to write Soul Food for years. I see it as a Sci-Fi novel about an astronaut who bungles a mission in space, falls into a coma, and wakes up twenty years later. He sees the changes happening on Earth all around him and realizes that they are a product of something he saw on his final space walk. Just prior to his slipping into his coma he sees an alien force or being. He realizes that he has seen the reason for all the negative changes that have occurred in society and culture during the 20 years he was asleep.

As an astronaut his projects were all about "off Earth" living, but after his coma he sees that surface dwelling capabilities have exploded, religiosity is a new, overwhelming fad, and there have been great leaps forward made in ensuring contentment in old age as well as longer living. It is only because he has as an alternate perspective due to his coma that he begins to see that all of these advancements are a product of the alien entity and he surmises that the alien is harvesting human souls for food. (How the hero discovers that Aliens prefer the taste of human souls, particularly older souls, thus the advancements in senior living, senior medical care, etc) in a manner similar to human's like kobe beef is still a bit of a problem in my outline.)

The original title was Soul Ranch. Soul Food is more tongue in cheek but far more catchy. Could be a comedy in the vein of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but sadly I have no comedy writing experience. It's a pretty nebulous topic for a novel. Hard to write believably. Plus, what would the ending be? I know I've butchered the synopsis above, but that just tends to make my argument for me that this would be a tough one to tackle. But there are so many fun themes, the Rip Van Winkle-ism of the character's life, religion keeping the herd docile, the ability to increase population in a manner similar to a cattle ranch being taken over by new ownership and being turned around. All fun, but tough stuff to get across easily.