My New Novel - The Divine Dantes: Squirt Guns in Hades is Published!

The Divine Dantes: Squirt Guns in Hades

(www.AndrewBarger.com/divinedanteshades.html)

My new novel is now published! A heartbroken young rocker. A bunny costume. Former girlfriend in Venice. A literary romp across continents to get her back while meeting the characters of Dante’s The Divine Comedy in a messed-up, modern world.

Eddie is a frustrated twenty-something rocker who is heartbroken after his girlfriend, Bea, left for Venice. This not only ended their relationship, but also their two-person rock band. Eddie’s so down and out he has taken to dressing up in a bunny costume and waving to traffic in front of a travel agency to make ends meet. At Bea’s request, Virgil—their erstwhile manager-cum-travel-agent—guides Eddie to Europe to meet her once again without him being in on the secret. Will Eddie get (back) his girl, settle on a name for the band, and rid himself of the bunny costume chaffing?

If "The Divine Comedy" and "Catcher in the Rye" met on a smoky lawn at a rock concert, "The Divine Dantes: Squirt Guns in Hades" would be it.

Sample Reviews: “[A] lively and good-natured work with a great deal of humor and wordplay . . ..” —Publisher’s Weekly Reviewer

“[R]eminds me a little of the fun I find in Carl Hiaasen or Christopher Moore, but he definitely has his own vibe . . . .” —Breakthrough Novel Award Expert Reviewer

About the Trilogy: THE DIVINE DANTES is a trilogy of comedic—rock—love story novels paralleling The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso of Dante Alighieri’s classic poem,The Divine Comedy. In it the characters of The Divine Comedy are brought to life in modern times through a series of laugh-out-loud events.

Buy today: $9.98 Book $2.99 e-book

The Divine Dantes: Squirt Guns in Hades
(www.AndrewBarger.com/divinedanteshades.html)

Review of The Great Gatsby **Spoiler Alert**

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald

This is the second time I have read The Great Gatsby and it will likely not be the last. The first was for the extreme pleasure that the novel yields and this most recent time was to study how Fitzgerald did it. As a writer I am constantly peeking behind the literary curtain of others writers to see how they did it; how they pulled off the fictional magic trick. In this instance it was to see how Fitzgerald levitated Daisy through this Jazz Age classic novel.

To me, Daisy is the most interesting character in TGG and the most damning. She is infinitely complex and impossible to nail down just like the varied guests that float in and out of Gatsby's parties. Daisy drifts through rooms and people's lives as she does life. It's not a stretch to realize that Fitzgerald based her on his wife Zelda who he called "the first American flapper." Both Daisy and Zelda were from Southern states: Kentucky and Alabama, respectively. They were unrestrained and had a thirst for living a wealthy lifestyle. For Gatsby, he was driven to bootlegging in an effort to quench this insatiable desire by Daisy. Fitzgerald took to writing novels, which after a number of years of writing them myself I can tell you of their many similarities. The difference between writing novels and bootlegging is that one can get you thrown in jail, cause you to drink heavily, and make you become associated with criminals. The other is bootlegging.

It's easy to imagine Zelda and F. Scott flying down some New York back road in their coupe, off to partying another Jazz Age night away. Easy indeed. Fitzgerald can, after all, write a party scene like no one else in the literature. He had lots of practice in his life. In TGG the party scenes never stop, each one is bigger than the last; each gala trying to outdo the other. Still, Fitzgerald wrote even better ones in his short story collection Flappers and Philosophers that is not to be missed.

TGG is unsurpassed in capturing the Jazz Age, one of the most wild and reckless (and fun!) periods in American history. It could only have been captured in the way that it was in TGG by a great artist who had lived it in spades. In my view Gatsby is one of the most sympathetic characters in literature. Why is he vilified? He was just a guy, like millions before and after him, trying to impress his girl. He wanted her unconditional love and never got it. Ultimately she got him killed. Daisy. The one who was guilty of vehicular homicide and love suicide. Daisy. The one Fitzgerald magically levitated like the Zelda of his own life. 

Free eBook Prologue to The Divine Dantes: Squirt Guns in Hades

I've only published one book in the last year. I know, right--slacker! Why? Because I've been hard at work on The Divine Dantes trilogy. To whet your appetites, I'm offering the prologue for free. This is the OTHER modern book based on The Inferno. Synopsis:

A heartbroken young rocker. A bunny costume. Former girlfriend in Venice. A literary romp across continents to get her back while meeting the characters of Dante’s The Divine Comedy in a messed-up, modern world.

Eddie is a frustrated twenty-something rocker who is heartbroken after his girlfriend, Bea, left for Venice. This not only ended their relationship, but also their two-person rock band. Eddie’s so down and out he has taken to dressing up in a bunny costume and waving to traffic in front of a travel agency to make ends meet. At Bea’s request, Virgil—their erstwhile manager-cum-travel-agent—guides Eddie to Europe to meet her once again without him being in on the secret. Will Eddie get (back) his girl, settle on a name for the band, and rid himself of the bunny costume chaffing? Check it out today!

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-divine-dantes-a-prologue/id641931615?mt=11

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-divine-dantes-andrew-barger/1115218783?ean=2940044494510

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Divine-Dantes-A-Prologue/book-SeGo-JVQnUKGB2s3CsR_IA/page1.html?s=JxTTjmKmBE-bNTsv7IVuSw&r=1

Kindle ($.99): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CCGF41A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00CCGF41A&linkCode=as2&tag=bottletreeboo-20


Website: www.AndrewBarger.com

Thoughts on Amazon Buying Goodreads

Let's set aside, for the moment, the huge miss Apple, Sony and Kobo made in not buying Goodreads if for no other reason that book reviews are scarce on those ebook sites apart from bestseller books. The two nagging questions I have relate to Google Books (now called Google Play) and the different review systems on Amazon and Goodreads.

Reviews on Google Books are populated by reviews on Goodreads. Expect this to end shortly. Did Google not go after Goodreads because it felt there was no need given the automatic porting of reviews? Wow.

What's of greater long term interest is that reviews are posted differently on Amazon and Goodreads. Currently on Amazon, the review with the highest number of likes (minus dislikes) sits in the top review spot. On Goodreads, the latest review gets top billing regardless of the number of likes. Watch for this to change. I also expect Goodreads will be adding a dislike button to its reviews in the near future. Here we go.

Review of "Gormenghast" Book II of the Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake

Mervyn Peake

(1911-1968)

Gormenghast is the second book in the fantastic Gormenghast trilogy. In it, Mervyn Peake has managed to make the sprawling, never ending castle of gray and stone, one of the main characters. Death is everywhere, lurking in dark corners and worn stairs and crumbling archways. Furtive and building horror sans blood and guts. As with the first book in the trilogy, Peake doesn't let up and cements his trilogy as one of the great Gothic texts of the twentieth century.

Robert Smith and his band The Cure were heavily influenced by Gormenghast. "A Forest" and "The Drowning Man" draw on Gormenghast and the ghastly doings that happen within it ever moldering walls. A must listen and a must read!

Another Year of Nothing from the Salinger Estate

Today marks the sad, third year anniversary of J.D. Salinger's death. And it also marks another year gone by without word from Salinger's estate whether any unpublished books were uncovered at Salinger's house.

That's 1095 days - 26,280 hours - 1,576,800 minutes - 94,608,000 seconds.

Buy hey, whose counting?

Review of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis - Posted

I have an inkling that C.S. Lewis could have (should have) given his readers much more in The Screwtape letters where Screwtape, a senior demon, writes to his underling about undermining the Christianity of his "patient" on earth. I was disappointed to find that only the letters of Screwtape are included. There are no letters from the underling demon or narrative regarding the moves of the Christian patient. Rarely does the reader know what the patient is doing on earth. The Christian is, after all, the unseen, unknown protagonist of the novel. What work of fiction stands on solid legs under that guise? 

Still, the premise of the The Screwtape Letters is imaginatively presented and unique in the literature on which I always place a premium. The voice of Screwtape is less evil than calculating and that is likely a realistic portrayal of the demon. In the end, the novel left me wanting more; not more of Screwtape but of the junior demon and his Christian patient. For these reasons I was left feeling that I received only half a novel, or just a third. It had so much potential.

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Review of The Raven Movie Starring John Cusack

The Raven movie starring John Cusack is out on DVD this month and I have finally gotten a chance to see it. Overall, I loved the Goth cinematography and the storyline (serial killer acting out Poe's horror stories) works, for the most part. I recommend it.

The trouble with the film is the portrayal of Edgar Allan Poe. After writing Coffee with Poe: A Novel of Edgar Allan Poe's Life, I have a preconceived notion of what Poe was and how he acted in public. It is far removed from the raging alcoholic he is portrayed in the film who is always quaffing other people's drinks when they are not looking. I would've liked to see some background as to how Poe met Emily, his fiancee in the movie. The Raven did not have to have so much gore. There is hardly any gore in Poe's short stories.

Still, the movie is worth seeing if for nothing more than seeing Cusack as Poe on the Big Screen. 

Brief Review of HP Lovecraft Short Stories Book Posted

H.P. Lovecraft

(1890-1937)

Lovecraft is often portrayed as the successor to Poe in the genre of short horror stories, but after reading Lovecraft's stories (and editing Edgar Allan Poe Annotated Short Stories), I can tell you that he is no Poe. Lovecraft is much less a pioneer than Poe in both character and Gothic atmosphere. Lovecraft gave us the Cthulhu Mythos of cosmic horrors, of ancient horrors lying dormant, of horrors that transcend space and time and dimensions. He holds his rightful place of high esteem in horror literature for this and must be remembered as a result. 

Lovecraft studied Poe. He worshiped him and rightly so. He wrote "The Outsider" in apparent homage to Poe. But the similarities stop there. Let's not forget that Poe wrote 80-100 years before Lovecraft, too. Lovecraft also used the word "foetid" more than any other writer that has ever lived by a factor of ten, but that's another article. Plus, he looked downright creepy, too. Although Lovecraft was no Poe he gave us some great stories and these are my favorites:

"The Call of Cthulhu"
"The Colour Out of Space"
"The Dunwich Horror"