A Pagan's Nightmare: A Novel [Paperback]

Ray Blackston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2006

Ray Blackston presents a tongue-in-cheek look at contemporary culture as seen through the eyes of an unwary pagan screenwriter who writes a hit about the last unbeliever on Earth navigating in a thoroughly Christian world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After penning several humorous novels about Christian singles (Flabbergasted), Blackston swaps publishers from Revell to Warner Faith and tries his hand at a dual–story line comic allegory with mixed results. Larry Hutch is a novelist who has a fashionable manuscript about an apparent "reverse rapture": the Christians are left behind, along with a few random pagans. Larry's protagonist, pagan Lanny Hooch, spends his allotted pages trying to find out what has happened to his girlfriend, Miranda, who has disappeared. As Lanny teams up with a pagan disc jockey, they attempt to avoid Christian zealots who are hot on their trail to capture and convert them. There are some attempted humorous looks at what the world might be like as an intentionally over-the-top, all-Christian society: Devil's Food Cake becomes David's Food Cake; the Beatles sing "I Wanna Hold Your Tithe"; and McDonald's staff all wear gold crosses on their sleeves instead of golden arches and serve fries called "McScriptures." But the humor falls flat, and the alternating chapters between the novel's plot and Larry's discussions with various people who are all eager to read his work in progress (and can't put it down once they do) feel like an attempt to persuade the reader that this is good stuff. Even Blackston's fans will be hard-pressed to find the humor here. (Oct. 25)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Lanny Hooch, a construction worker, and Ned Neutral, a DJ on "Fence-Straddler AM" in Orlando, find themselves thrown together in a comic apocalypse, or "reverse Rapture," in which they are the only unbelievers left on Earth. The clueless pair flee evangelical bounty hunters from Georgia to Florida to the Bahamas, hoping to find Lanny's girlfriend--whom believers have kidnapped. This episodic tale is actually a screenplay, introduced to the reader by a narrator who is a Baptist literary agent with a chronic need for a sale and a tirelessly moralistic wife who objects to Lanny and Ned's irreverent story. If this sounds confusing, so is G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday, which Blackston's frantic tale rather resembles. In any case, the wide-ranging satire is a breath of fresh air, poking fun at smug evangelicals as well as the bizarre ideas "unbelievers" entertain about them.

John Mort
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Warner Faith (October 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446579599
• ISBN-13: 978-0446579599
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,863 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 Stars...Satirical Beef, May 8, 2007

By 

Eric Wilson "novelist" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Pagan's Nightmare: A Novel (Paperback)

There are dreams and there are nightmares. In the case of Blackston's writing, this nightmare is a dream. How often do Christians show a willingness to laugh at themselves? How often, in any sphere, do humor and intelligence mix?

"A Pagan's Nightmare" follows Lanny Hooch and Ned Neutral, two men on the run from the religious zealots who have been left to rule the earth. Lanny and Ned are the minority, while disciples of Marvin the Apostle are everywhere. Eventually, only the faithful will be able to buy and sell products with special currency, while the unbelievers will be forced into conversion by sheer survival instincts. As the story continues, Lanny is focused on finding his missing girlfriend (has she been brainwashed, captured, or taken from the earth?). This search leads him to strange friends, stranger enemies, and a stint aboard Fidel Castro's yacht--don't ask, just read the book!

Although there are some jumps in logic regarding Lanny's and Ned's freedom of movement in their fugitive state, this is fun reading. I expected to laugh out loud more than I did--simply because Blackston has had me belly-laughing in previous books--but I did find myself wearing a wry grin through this entire story. I was reminded more than once of Maxx Barry's decidely non-Christian, but brilliantly pointed "Jennifer Government." This is religious satire, masquerading as a post-apocalyptic comedy, disguised as social commentary. And it offers a thought-provoking possibility as to the truth behind its neo-pagan scenario.

Blackston, in final analysis, pokes fun at all sorts of sacred cows, serving up some of the best satirical beef I've ever tasted.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Humorous view of what the future holds, January 11, 2007

By 

Christina Lockstein "Christy's Book Blog" (Oconto Falls, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Pagan's Nightmare: A Novel (Paperback)

A Pagan's Nightmare by Ray Blackston is not for Christians with a low tolerance for humor. Larry has written a new book and presents it to his agent Ned to sell to the movie studios. Larry's book is a bit controversial in its view of Christianity and the hereafter. In alternating sections we read Ned's struggle to sell the book and the book itself. Ned's wife Angie, a Southern Baptist, is so offended at the book's content she tries to burn it and then organizes a protest outside of her own home. Is the book really that upsetting? It depends on how you look at it. Blackston's tone is dead-on for a wry commentary on legalism in the church. He pokes humorous daggers at the attitude without attacking the faith behind it. Blackston's writing style isn't always fluid, and transitions are rough in spots. Some of his characters (especially the ethnic ones) seem a bit stereotyped, but that may be part of his scheme to get the reader to think wider than just the story he's telling. The book seems to tell the story of a reverse rapture (unbelievers are taken, believers are left behind to create their own Paradise), but it's misleading. Try to avoid reviews that offer spoilers, because while they may make you more comfortable reading the book, the uncomfortable squirming that comes before Larry's explanation of what the book is really all about can help you find the legalistic areas in your own life. This is not the book for your Southern Baptist grandmother (unless she has a great sense of humor), but it's a fun read for believers and non-believers alike. It treats both Angie's faith and Larry's agnotisicm with equal respect.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read While Wearing Steel-Toed Boots., January 10, 2007

By 

Kelly Klepfer (Iowa) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Pagan's Nightmare: A Novel (Paperback)

Ray Blackston has crafted a skewed and entertaining novel in "A Pagan's Nightmare."

Some day, I'd like to meet this man -- Ray, not Larry, or Lanny, or Ned. Well, maybe I'd like to meet them, too.

This story within a story is both rich in humor and surprising in it's spiritual depth.

Warning...you may experience deep crunching sensations accompanied by sharp pain in your toes as you read. Ray hits a little too close to home when he paints some unflattering yet realistic pictures of "the sky is falling" theology.

If you like your Christian fiction without pablum or platitude - this is your book. If you want a fun read and you can laugh at yourself or if you are wearing steel-toed boots, give it a shot.

If you want by-the-rules Christian fiction, you may find yourself frustrated, but do try to get beyond that, this is a mind-twistingly good read.

Thanks, Ray.