What do unrivalled pranks, body swapping, and omnipotent gods (or are they aliens?) have to do with each other? Why, exploding pigeons and a police investigation, of course!

Such are the ineffable connections permeating the humorous romp that is Adventures in Godhood by Arlene F. Marks (Brain Lag).

Demonai is a higher-dimensional being whose mighty powers extend through time and space. He, in as much as any non 3D being of his ilk has a gender, has been studying humans for eons. This omnipotent being has come to the conclusion that we should be saved from the whims of our creator, Olle’set the Aggregator.

Demonai wants to convince Olle’set that we are a form of intelligent life. “In five-dimensional space? Impossible!” is the Aggregator’s reply. The problem is, Demonai can’t save us from his superior’s apathy without employing a heavy dose of trickery.

The Trick Thickens

God-like Demonai selects three unrelated, and unsuspecting, representatives to prove humans are intelligent enough to figure out the impossible problem he’s created. And what a problem it is!

James Hollinger is a successful lawyer, powerful and private. Dr. Garrick Boehm has just had the funding pulled on his research project. Somewhere on the success ladder between them is Claire Amory, whose job editing porn isn’t paying her bills or breaking her writer’s block.

Each has a burning desire which Demonai decides to grant… by switching their bodies. What follows is an unpredictable inter-generational series of events involving exploding pigeons, washing machines with extra-dimensional spin cycles, and a nurse with incredible self-defence combat skills (if I do say so myself).

All Roads Lead To… Toronto?

Marks left one little nugget of information that I felt needed more page time. Demonai alludes to beings who, in turn, study lesser beings. I’d like to have seen more about his supposition, but that might have been too complicated a plot thread to add to an already twisty-bendy story.

Adventures in Godhood weaves through layers of time. This is a bit of head-bend until you subconsciously fall into the groove of Demonai’s omnipotent causality. Marks’s seamless writing guides you through what seems like disconnected events until they all come into focus. And I challenge anyone who reads the book not to find comedy in the many turned-tables situations the trio endures, and the high stakes that come with them.

Did I mention the voices in the washing machine? I wonder how gods do the ironing?

An enjoyable tale, definitely worth reading.

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Full disclosure: I received a copy of this book prior to its release by Brain Lag. I know Arlene Marks (and her publisher) personally, and I respect their work.

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