An Ungodly Child
Posted by Jean Roberta | Filed under Book reviews
Title: AN UNGODLY CHILD
Author: Rachel Green
Publisher: DA Diamonds, an imprint of Discovered Authors, 2008
ISBN: 978-1905108640
Rated: 4 Stars
Genre: Supernatural
NOTE: Whilst this book is written by a lesbian the book itself does not contain any lesbian material.
As an unpublished manuscript, this novel won a regional prize in the Undiscovered Authors competition in 2007. It is easy to see why.
In the opening chapter, or preface (Chapter 0), three angels watch a screen that shows events in the mortal plane. They see a mortal woman enjoying sex with an incubus while she is already pregnant by the Devil. The angels look forward to the birth of the antichrist, who will presumably start the apocalypse. The angel Senoy says:
“‘She’s definitely carrying a boy, and to be the opposite of Big J [the anti-Christ] you’d have to be a girl.’”
Sansenoy responds: “‘Whoever heard of the antichrist being a girl?’”
Senoy explains: ”It’s a sign of the times, isn’t it? Women are getting to be as powerful as men these days. Look at England. They had a woman Prime Minister in the eighties, and look at what she achieved: the destruction of British socialism and a minor war.’”
This conversation looks like a prelude to a plot about global chaos instigated by a powerful woman, a more clearly infernal version of Margaret Thatcher. The mention of Adam’s missing first wife, Lilith, seems promising.
Despite these hints, there is no antichrist of any gender in this novel, and Lilith is never found. There are not even any lesbian characters, despite the author’s polyamorous lesbian lifestyle.
Harold, the baby boy who is born to demon-loving Ada, is a likeable child with a kind of inborn capitalist desire to collect things and make a profit, but no other infernal qualities. He is lovingly raised by his mother and Uncle Frederick in the fictional town of Laverstone, in commuting distance of London.
In a blog on Laverstone, the author explains: “Like a spider’s web the magical energies snake across the British Isles, and at the centre of the web lies Laverstone. It is no coincidence that the town attracts so much supernatural activity–entities gravitate to it.”
Harold grows to manhood, watched over by angels who are far from protective. While running his curio shop, Harold is approached by an attractive customer, Jedith the Angel of Pestilence, whose brief touch gives him a rare, fatal disease.
This crisis prompts Ada (who seems as ordinary as her son, although she is part-fairy) to give him a gift from his father, Louis C. de Ferre (Lucifer), a magical book of spells. The plot heats up as Harold summons a demon, Jasfoup, to help him find a cure. As it turns out, Jedith is Jasfoup’s ex-wife.
Just as different supernatural beings can cross-breed in this fictional world, Jasfoup and the minor demons that Harold contracts to do his bidding are better company than the angels who plot destruction. The demons’ taste for human blood (which binds demonic contracts) is matched only by their British love of tea.
With Jasfoup’s help, Harold is able to take a shortcut to Milan (through Hell, which resembles a train station) for a fashion makeover, and back in time to the Garden of Eden, where he meets his half-brother, Cain.
Along the way, Jasfoup explains the author’s cosmology:
“‘Italy is full of them,’ he said. ‘Angels that meddle in the affairs of mortals and honest demons alike. It’s all very well having an ‘ineffable plan’, but the trouble with it is that it needs constant tweaking to make sure that everything goes your way. You have the white-suited chaps running all the church religions, sowing seeds of diversity as they go so that everyone benefits from the healthy competition, then they have to run to Satanist churches, which are really Christian under another names, and then–’
‘Hang on,’ interrupted Harold, ‘How can angels be running the Satanist churches? Isn’t that a bit out of their jurisdiction?’”
Through a series of leading questions, Jasfoup gets Harold to admit that war fuels “an increase in technology and invention, and a re-interpretation of the social and political mores of society as a whole.” This explains the desire of the angels to cleanse the earth through an apocalypse.
Jasfoup continues: “‘But what if the other side doesn’t want to have a war?’
Harold is catching on. He answers:
“‘Then you have to invent an enemy, naturally, just as the Americans did in the sixties.’
“’And if there is no enemy that you can put the blame on?’
“Jasfoup could see the change in Harold’s face as realisation dawned. ‘Then you have to rename part of your own force as the enemy, even though they’re really your own troops underneath the different uniforms.’
“Jasfoup nodded. ‘Thus we have The Fall. What happens to the splinter group thus created?’
“’They become cut off from their home, disillusioned and eventually become the enemy you invented in the first place.’
“’Quite so.’ Jasfoup tapped his claws on the table. ‘For your bonus point, then, what happens if your people are apathetic towards the war and no longer believe in the enemy?’
“Harold guessed the conclusion he had been cleverly led towards. ‘You start up factions of the enemy amongst the common populace, engendering confusion and vilification and shock value to rally the people to your own cause.’
“’Thus we have the people upstairs starting and running the Satanist churches.’
“’Wow.’ Harold was amazed. ‘I’ve never reasoned it out like that before.’”
When Jasfoup tells Harold that the Pope is from Hell, this comes as no surprise. And when a renegade putto (an angel who is tired of appearing to be two years old for eternity) reveals the “secret” that God is both gay and a woman-hater, this is no surprise either.
The author’s droll wit runs throughout Harold’s adventures, which include violent encounters with would-be assassins both from Above and from Below. In a kind of supernatural bar, however, Harold and Jasfoup never drink anything stronger than tea, and the sly references to body parts, which run throughout their dialogue never lead to a more sexual relationship than an eternal bond of damnation. Harold is incurably straight, and is pleased when Jasfoup snags him a cute vampire girlfriend.
Rachel Green has continued Jasfoup’s adventures in several blogs
(www.leatherdyke.blogspot.com, www.leatherdyke.co.uk) and a series of short videos in which he appears as a hand puppet with a deep, manly voice supplied by the author herself. Her fictional world is so vivid and complex that it seems unlikely to end with one novel, so this reviewer plans to keep watching for signs of a sequel or three. The female antichrist might well be on her way. And like Lucifer and his minions, she might have all the best lines.
Buy link: http://tinyurl.com/5rxve6
REVIEWED BY JEAN ROBERTA
Kissed By Venus is a web site for the discussion and promotion of lesbian literature. We publish lesbian fiction, articles, book reviews, and interviews.
February 9th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
What a lovely review of my debut novel. Thank you.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Superb critique, very well written and thought through. Thank you!