The Rewards of Virtue

De: Tom Goss

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

The best description of this novel can be found in its forward, otherwise known as The Reader Advisory:
In case it is not readily apparent, readers are advised that this novel is not only a fantasy, it is also a joke, a joke comprised of other jokes. The title is a joke, the chapter titles are jokes, some of the character’s names are jokes, even the illustrations are jokes. The effect the author intends here is one devoid of any serious treatment of any serious themes. Readers with the sensitivity, creativity, and intellect to detect any such treatment are to be commended for their imagination as no such content was intended by the author. However, such readers are asked--nay, implored--to keep such ideas to themselves.
Astute readers may catch an oblique allusion to Mark Twain’s introduction to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in that paragraph, and while I can only aspire to his accomplishments, our two tales are only similar in that they both deal in a “hero’s journey.” My hero, however, is an embittered and angry middle-aged never-was who only discovers his identity and powers through the intervention of angels. The premise of the story is that the myths of gods and goddesses have a basis in fact, and that such deities are still among us, but demons prevent them from realizing their full potential. Restored to his powers as a deity, our hero, one Larry Trotter by name, is enlisted in a campaign to overthrow the demons and restore all deities to their proper roles in human history. This he reluctantly agrees to while dealing with the consequences of his failed professional and personal lives. He eventually learns that not everything is what it first appears to be, and only then can he bring his journey to a successful conclusion.
In writing this novel, I fully embraced absurdity as a schwer motif as it were and played as many situations for laughs as I could. I stole shamelessly from Groucho Marx, Mel Brooks, Chuck Jones, Abbott and Costello and yes, J.K. Rowling--unleashing shotgun blast after shotgun blasts of jokes as if I were a literary version of the Zucker brothers.