Customer Reviews

The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fun book. Take four spicy redheads who inadvertently survive the deaths of their hapless husbands and inherit their jobs...as the new Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But Butterfly hates the bugs that come with being Plague-Pestilence, and Sara Lee is not cut out for Famine, Bunny would rather make love than War, and Zoe looks pasty in black...but it's whats expected of Death. What's a girl to do? Scheme for a way to take over the Boss' job. Who will be Satan's successor? Only time will tell.

These four ladies have written a series of intertwining plots that will leave you laughing and thinking that maybe Hell wouldn't be that bad a place...to visit. Spend some time there with them.

Guess what happens when you marry a hell-lord and DON'T read the prenup? You might end up with a job you just don't want. At least that's what the Four Redheads find out when their Horsemen of the Apocalypse husbands all die in an accident.

Stuck taking over the late-husbands' duties, these four wildly different women are competing for the chance to ditch the new jobs they hate. The competition is on to take over Satan's job when she retires (come on, you knew in your heart Satan was really a woman, right?). The winner takes all and the losers can go to... their offices to sulk.

The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse is composed of four seperate stories by four different authors. Each story explores the madcap missteps and unique approach each of the Redheads brings to their new and unwanted jobs.

This one is a definite buy folks

This is a very funny book about what happens when the wives of the four horsemen must take over their job after an ice fishing accident. The best one gets to take over satan's job, only the redheads aren't exactly the best women for the job. Go figure! Very funny!

This is a great read! I am looking forward to the sequel.

This book is an tall glass of gaffaws with a chaser of twisted humor! I always knew redheads were a menace, but never realized we had them to thank for the Apocalypse (or lack thereof).

The horsewomen in these stories are unique and fascinating. Their (mis)adventures in handling such enormous responsibilities is rediculously ironic.

The main problem with the book is that it's far too short and begs for a series of sequels.

Oh, and one last thing, if you're looking for a great, inexpensive gift for a birthday or holiday, THIS is IT!

Words cannot begin to describe how funny this book is, I could not put it down! Rushed to purchase additional autographed copies for Christmas presents while still chuckling loudly over WAR. Wish that it was available on tape or cd for certain vision impaired friends & relatives. Very much looking forward to the sequel!

This chapbook is a marvelous mixture of writing and performance art, with pictures of the writers standing in for pictures of their characters, and working together to meld four fun stories and prologue and epilogue into a terrific short work.

The premise is that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (who apparently weren't the sharpest tools in the box) died in an accident and the contract binds their widows to take over their husbands' jobs (does it really surprise anyone to learn that Hell has a first-rate legal staff?) And the one who does the best job has the opportunity to take Satan's job while she (again, does it surprise anyone that Satan is a woman?) retires to a little volcanic island.

So the new face of War is Bunny, whose plans, such as they are, tend to be defeated by their own flaws. Butterflye, the new Pestilence-Plague, is businesslike but squeemish, not a happy start for someone whose clothes are constantly emitting an army of bugs. Zoe, the new Death, is the only one who seems to have a real aptitude for her new calling but is almost as squeemish as Butterflye, and Sara Lee is to famine what George Bush is to comedy.

This is a very funny little book. The only problem I had was whether to give the book four or five stars. This little volume did its job -- to entertain the reader -- with verve and panache. On the other hand, writers like Zelazny and Crowley raise the bar for everyone, but I had no problem at all with giving it four stars, not can I disagree with those who gave it five.

4 Stories all woven into one. Even Hell has rules you can't break! The 4 horseman fall under some bad luck and their wifes must take over to keep things running. How would you handle an apocolyptic job with no experience? I couldn't put the book down! I am waiting for the sequal.

The Four Horsemen (Death, War, Plague, and Famine) have died. As next of kins, their wives must now take on the duties. Problem is that these four redheads (well, one is blonde and colors her hair red) have absolutely no clue how to do the jobs! Satan wants to retire, but cannot until she finds someone else to take over her position. (Yes, Satan is female. No man can be bitchy enough to do the job well. Trust me on this.) So Satan not only hands the four women their new duties, but also hands over a contest. Whichever of them does the best job in their new positions will have Satan's job and all its perks when she retires.

(First story is War's, written by Linda L. Donahue.) Bunny is the new "War". Since Bunny is at a disadvantage with the other ladies, Satan gives her a bit of help in the form of an unlimited expense account and a bit of advice: No matter how it starts, no matter how it ends, a war is a war. All you've gotta do is start something. So Bunny goes Earthside and crashes the UN Security Council Meeting in progress. Unfortunately, Hell's accountants are less than pleased with the results.

(Second story is Death's, written by Rhonda Eudaly.) Zoe is the new "Death". If nothing else, Zoe is the busiest of the four. She has to show up, on schedule, to collect the dead. When she fails to show up to a huge car wreck, everyone (miraculously) survives! To say that the Grim Reaper, Zoe's Chief Minion, is upset is putting it lightly. So Zoe becomes determined to get better and win Satan's job! She is sick to death (pardon the bad pun) of having to deal with dead people. Reaper can have the job once she gets Satan's office!

(Third story is Plague's, written by Dusty Rainbolt.) Butterflye Plague-Pestilence is the new "Plague". She had been an attorney back when she was actually alive. So you would think that Butterflye would have read the fine print on her document before marrying Ossy. Alas, she did not. To make matters worse for her, Butterflye has a fear of bugs! Every time a cockroach rubs against Butterflye's leg in a show of affection, she cringes! This gives her extra motivation in winning the contest. But it is hard to get things done when her minions keep quoting rules and regulations from the various Unions they belong to. She finally decides to create a modern day plague, a computer virus unlike any before. The results thrill Bill Gates!

(Now comes Famine's tale, written by Julia S. Mandala.) Sara Lee is the new "Famine". She never had a weight problem until she became Famine. Now she has constant hunger pains and, if she is Earthside, everything she touches turns to dust. Sara Lee's minion is a too perky and cute little girl named Debbie who is constantly handing Sara Lee sugary snacks. It seems that every time Sara Lee comes up with an idea to spread famine Earthside, it backfires. Worse, often the backfires seem to HELP the other three Horsewomen.

***** I found this to be an over-the-top comedy with the quirky flavor of a Mel Brooks film. I highly enjoyed it! There are many pros and cons for this novel though. As for the cons, the book is less than a hundred pages and it is all in fine print. The cover art shows all four women with champagne glasses (and I could tell which woman was which Horsewoman by what is within the glass) but I had to look closely because the black and white photo makes it hard to tell what the item within each glass is! Lastly, this book is not bound by glue. Instead, staples hold it together. Yet the price is still high. As for the pros, each story is so hilarious that I could not help laughing long and loud while enjoying it. The bad puns are so good (pardon my oxymoron pun) that they would make Mel Brooks proud! My husband read the short blurb on the front of this book and told me to be sure to give it to him when I finish reading it. One of my co-workers, who happens to be a huge fan of Mel's, wants it after my husband is finished. The people who asked for it after that were told (nicely, of course) to go get their own copy. Also, if you happen to be lucky enough to know the author/publicist Selina Rosen, then you will enjoy Satan's character. I kept picturing Selina as Satan while reading and was tickled when I later found out that Selina is exactly whom Satan's character was based upon! (Kudos to me!) All-in-all, I highly recommend this short novel to all fans of comedy who are over the age of seventeen. Killer story! (Groan. I did not just say that!) *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.