A Binge

After figuring out last time that I had read book 5 of the "Gods and Monsters" series, I decided to binge the other 4.

The underlying plot of all the books is that Jehovah aka Yahweh staged a coup and drove all the other pantheons out of, what, metaphysical space and into meat space, which understandably created a power struggle here on earth. There also new gods a la Gaimann's "American Gods", and fictional gods (aren't they all?) a la Cthulhu. Meanwhile, all the father gods seem to have disappeared - and nobody has seen Jebus. Hmmm, I'm glad not to have to read about Jebus, but, maybe a little bit chickenshit on the part of the authors?

All these books are written with the snark dial set to 11.

The whole series is:

1. "Unclean Spirits", by Chuck Wendig, 2013, 417 pages. We meet Cason Cole, who is a grandson of Lucifer and a son of the stag god of nature. Most of the characters in this one are Greek gods.

   This ebook also contains a 2nd novella "Drag Hunt", by Pat Kelleher, which features the great trickster god Coyote, who appears again later on in the series.

2. "Mythbreaker", by Stephen Blackmoore, 2014, 295 pages. The protagonist is Louie "Fitz" Fitzsimmons, who is the only sane prophet alive. Prophets can channel gods and write their stories. Several pantheons are vying to obtain his services.

3. "Snake Eyes", by Hillary Monahan, 2016, 307 pages. The protagonist here is Tanis Barlas, a snakish woman who is a daughter of Lamia. The snake people are pursued by their ancient enemies the Gorgons.

4. "Food of the Gods", by Cassandra Khaw, 2017, 307 pages. Note, I also purchased "Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef", 2015, 99 pages, which wound up being part 1 of 2 in this book. And I notice that part 2 is available as a separate ebook, "Rupert Wong and the Ends of the Earth", 2017, 204 pages. I find this kind of double publication confusing and annoying, and it led me to purchase the same content twice - a ripoff to my reckoning. Ghouls, Chinese gods, Greek gods, new gods, and Lovecraftian gods are now in play.

5. "The Last Supper Before Ragnarok", by Cassandra Khaw, 2019, 222 pages, blogged here. This makes more sense and is more enjoyable after having read the others and getting the backstories on all the main characters.

All in all, lots of fun with mythology, old and new, which I always find enjoyable.

Time for some science fiction, I think.