Possessed of an imagination that rivals that of any of our edgiest fantasists, steeped in the detritus and ephemera of three decades of pop culture, Mick Farren has crafted in this new novel a bizarre and compelling fantasia. Jim Morrison's Adventures in the Afterlife is just that: the story of Morrison, the dark yet naive Lizard King, as he hurtles through a purgatory-like afterlife in search of some way to bring his soul to peace. Along the way he finds Doc Holliday -- and together they find themselves chasing the restless fire-and-brimstone evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, whose soul has broken after death into two warring halves. McPherson's sexier half becomes the object of Jim's obsession, and as the two struggle to find each other in this disordered land, their wild, careening chase through a dozen dystopiae recalls imagined worlds as diverse as Burgess' A Clockwork Orange or Terry Gilliam's Brazil. This is a daring, hilarious romp through the landfill of millennial society -- the Inferno we deserve.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Counterculture figure Farren (The Time of Feasting) offers a daringly outlandish premise in his fanciful novel, trotting out fragments of erudition with an autodidact's glee (a phrase in classical Italian, an explanation of the origin of coffee, snippets of Egyptian mythology) and an all-star cast including Moses, Jesus Christ, Dylan Thomas and Doc Holliday, in addition to protagonists Jim Morrison and evangelist, now sexpot, Aimee Semple McPherson. Spirit Morrison hobnobs with countless dead celebrities in a strange, afterlife limbo. He's looking for eternal peace, but what he finds is an incoherent whirlwind of a love adventure with McPherson, whose soul has been split in two. The characters, varied as they promise to be, seem cut from the same cloth. The high-energy action devolves into a series of orgies and ambitious philosophical discussions encompassing and skewering everything from religious doctrine to human values, cosmic forces to science fiction. McPherson is forced into a tryst with the god-dog Anubis, while Morrison has a m?nage ? trois with two queens of the galaxy, Epiphany and Devora. Throughout, Farren hemorrhages a sort of metaphysics of the afterlife: Necropolis is a dog-eat-dog worldAand, though dead, residents may still suffer the worst fate of being thrown onto the "Great Double Helix" of karmic rebirth. The afterlife is populated by such unlikely figures as gun-toting cherubs, serial killers and a rum-and-coke-swigging Moses. With impressive patches of vivid invention, Farren does prove himself to be a strikingly confident world-maker, and among the many flat, self-indulgent jokes, there are a few good ones. The River Styx is mined during the Barbiturate Wars, and soul-selling is the foundation of Hell's economy. Rock star, radical '60s editor and wildly diverse fiction writer Farren's 16th novel is as maniacally uneven, jagged and flashy as his fans have come to expect. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
A riotous fantasy in which rock-star novelist Farren (The Time of Feasting, 1996) imagines Jim Morrison wandering through the shades of hell looking for a way out. Don Juan had it comparatively easy in hell. To begin with, he knew where he was and why he was there, while poor Jim cant even remember his name. Sometime, someplace, someone had royally flamed his memory, though he couldnt recall where or when . . . All he knew about himself was that he had once been a poet and that, at least for the time being, he would be forced to live absolutely in a highly specialized moment where even the mundane appeared strange and unexplored, and reality checks could only come via the benevolence of the passing crowd. Talk about a bad trip. The first thing that strikes his consciousness is the rather vivid orgyreplete with golden calfthats taking place around him. A spoilsport with a long beard and two stone tablets breaks up the party, but by then Jim has met Doc Holliday, who tells him who he is and what, more or less, is going on around him. The two set off on a leisurely tour of their domain, which includes ghost towns inhabited by alcoholic dogs, nuclear firework displays, a (very) low-rent district called Gehenna, and a poet-guide named Virgil. Theres also the bifurcated ghost of Aimee Semple McPherson, split into the opposing spirits of Aimee (who has grand spiritual ambitions and manages to impeach Jesus on a trumped-up charge) and Semple (who is most at home in her role as a Nazi dominatrix). Semple becomes the object of Jims quest, but he has to fight off a host of demons worthy of Hieronymus Bosch before he can reach her. Fortunately, Doc Holliday has the magical Gun That Belonged to Elvis, so everything is bound to turn out right. Right? Hilarious, mad, and fast: Farren is probably one of the first writers since Baudelaire who in fact would be right at home in hell. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
keeping it real,
By Dan Smith (usa) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Jim Morrison's Adventures in the Afterlife (Hardcover)
I guess the author has some good friends who are willing to write good reviews for his book.
I am not one of them. I don't know the author. So here it is: This book sucks. It sucks for Morrison fans. It sucks for non-Morrison fans. After finishing reading it, I wished I could un-read it. The End.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious and introspective,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Jim Morrison's Adventures in the Afterlife (Hardcover)
I've rarely read a book that made me laugh out loud, but this one did...over and over and over again. The juxtaposition of anachronistic characters onto surreal settings with a fine undertext of spirituality made for a quick, interesting read that kept me laughing and ultimately startled me by capping entertainment with a thoughtful statement. From the moment Jim Morrison rides a boat with Doc Holliday through the gates of Hell to hire Virgil as a guide through the brothels and casinos of the commercialized fire and brimstone, I knew this was a book I'd always remember and have to read over and over.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sci-Fi Fantasy and Wit,
By My Pen Name "not me" (nowhere) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jim Morrison's Adventures in the Afterlife (Hardcover)
Despite the title this book is about a rather Hell-ish Afterworld, not Jim Morrison. The Door's aficionado looking for a book about Jim Morrison will need to look elsewhere.This amusing and very readable book has A LOT in common with the Riverworld Saga by Philip Jose Farmer which began with the Sci-Fi novel: "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" , written sveral decades ago. Or early Vonnegut (especially Slaughter House 5). Don't expect deep ruminations of cosmic signifigance. This is a book filled with sarcastic wit, a complex plot, a sense of humor. It isn't about Morrison, or Doc Holiday or Aimee Semple McPherson. (However ASMcP's doppleganger "Semple" is one of the more amusing characters I have encountered in American fiction in the last 20 years. If you were able to read "The Hitchhiker's guide to The Universe", or any Vonnegaut novel, you may enjoy this novel. The humor is certainly a notch above watching re-runs of Seinfeld. It is a light-weight novel.. a great summer read. You'll score no points with the literati, but it worth reading. ESPECIALLY if it leads you back to the PJ Farmer "Riverworld" saga. You don't need to be a SF buff to enjoy this book.
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