by Dennis Copelan
Apricot Springs Publishing
book review by Kate Robinson
“The role of Cupid, the Roman god of love and desire… should have been easy.”
Satire reaches heavenly heights in this humorous, literary mashup. The narrative features eight earthly romance cases concerning the fate of angel-in-training, Cupid-1637. The accused is charged in Paradise City, Heaven. with violating Cupid’s Oath in June 2063. Pixel Millet, a social worker in Paradise City’s Department of Discipline, Mythological Gods Division, is appointed to defend Cupid-1637’s unorthodox handling of his clients’ romantic misadventures. The possibility of being flushed to lower realms hangs over the heads of both Cupid and Pixel. The social worker has represented only one other Cupid, and watching him getting flushed wasn’t pretty.
As Pixel’s allotted one-day reading of the thick red file progresses, and the disciplinary hearing begins, he begins to suspect that Cupid-1637 is being set up by the judging panelists—a trio of conspiring, imperfect angels bent on corporate domination. Then B.G. (the Big Guy upstairs) ends his thousand-year silence to make a surprise voice appearance in the hearing room. The subterfuge becomes readily apparent when B.G. makes it clear that Cupid’s Oath isn’t kosher nor sanctioned by him or the Genesis Corporation.
This snappy Bangsian fantasy barely contains a misplaced word. The poignant romance story themes and southern California settings are made fresh again with Copelan’s comic abandon and familiarity with the Golden State’s film industry. The vivid characters, scenarios, and settings flow past with cinematic clarity, reminding readers of the masters of quirky fantasy such as Thorne Smith, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Christopher Moore, Neil Gaiman, and others. Readers looking to kick back with a lighthearted but well-written rom-com romp in the afterlife will delight in Copelan’s offering.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review
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