by Blaine C. Readler
Full Arc Press

"Ending up here with a clear path and desire is like closing your eyes, walking randomly for months, and ending up in Hawaii."

Jordan is a young engineer engaged to Kirsten, who has slipped into a coma-like state after taking a sleeping pill. Professor Burney Clintock convinces skeptical Jordan that she is really in a mystical dimension separate from mundane reality which Jordan must also travel to in order to re-join Kirsten's spirit to her flesh. Jordan turns out to have an innate ability to make the journey between realms rather easily, and this comes in handy, for he finds himself pitted against power hungry spirits like Napoleon Bonaparte and Jim Jones who are control freaks with ideas of using Kirsten for their own ends. A series of madcap adventures ensue, with deceased personages like John Steinbeck coming to Jordan's aide as he battles with these afterlife tyrants in order to save his fiancé. As the stakes between spirits builds up, Jordan realizes his role in changing the face of heaven, as it were, is more important than he first thought, and is soon fighting for a more democratic afterlife. Sic Semper Tyrannis is the rule of the day, or in this case, twilight.

The author has a light and easy style that moves quickly, letting the non-stop action unfold without encumbrance. His talent for characterization allows for realistic dialogue and even his more outré characters are made palpably visible to the mind's eye. The plot is pure adventure, and while skirting on the metaphysical and even religious, it never slows down into undue heaviness or preachy exposition. Themes of life, death, and the afterlife are somehow made central without being "new agey" or pompous. His use of science fiction and adventure tropes are partly responsible, but methinks the author's own temperament precludes him from assuming any "know-it-all" posturing. The result is a light-hearted romp through the big questions of existence (and what comes after) that is funny, outrageous, and inventive. Some may read a questioning of hierarchy and freedom in-between the lines, and it is surely there, but the writer's main purpose is entertainment. He succeeds.

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