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The Afternet #1
The Afternet
Unbeknownst to the living, St Peter has downed tools and gone fishing, leaving the entrance to eternity in the hands of a computer system, The Afternet. When the system begins to misfire under the workload, the ill-equipped representatives of God and the Devil tasked with managing the process are given an ultimatum. Fix The Afternet or go back to your previous afterlives. They begin an odyssey through the hordes of souls awaiting judgement and the oblivious living in search of a solution. Rich in comic detail and populated with characters real and imagined from throughout time, their quest is never going to be straightforward…
214 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 11, 2011
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63 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 23, 2014
Death is not the end......in fact it's not even the beginning of the end in this hilarious and irreverent story about the disastrous attempt to computerise the "final judgement" The Afternet, having been overwhelmed with information it cannot process, has broken down and now the dead from all periods of history and even mythology are rubbing shoulders together in an ever growing limbo. Fans of Douglas Adams, (The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul) Terry Pratchett (Mort) and even CS Lewis ( The Great Divorce The Last Battle ) will find much to entertain and ponder on in this clever story and I for one will be buying the sequel.
November 26, 2013
St Peter has had enough! He walks out and leaves the Pearly Gates unattended. To remedy the situation, The Afternet is created. A computer that processes the recently dead and decides their eternal fate.
The basis for this story is pure genius and it is delivered hilariously page after page as you follow the adventures of Geoffrey and Marcel, the clueless representatives of God and the Devil, who are charged with monitoring the timely process of the lost souls awaiting their fate.
If you have read and likes the Mercury series by Robert Kroese, you will definitely love this book. The writing and story also reminded me of Douglas Adams.
Do yourself a favor and don't pass this one up!
The basis for this story is pure genius and it is delivered hilariously page after page as you follow the adventures of Geoffrey and Marcel, the clueless representatives of God and the Devil, who are charged with monitoring the timely process of the lost souls awaiting their fate.
If you have read and likes the Mercury series by Robert Kroese, you will definitely love this book. The writing and story also reminded me of Douglas Adams.
Do yourself a favor and don't pass this one up!
September 11, 2024
Pretty good, very original sco fi
June 28, 2016
Stephen King once said "Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach you than the good ones".
The best way for me to review this book is to share the lessons I took from it: 5 things the book has helped me with.
1. To vary the length of my sentences. Most sentences in this book are long, have no rhythmic variety, and convey too many thoughts for my tiny brain to process.
2. To understand genre and how to market it appropriately. I thought this book was comic fantasy or absurdist fantasy, but it's better described as creative writing: the forms attract two completely different types of reader.
3. Research. Research. Research. I fell for a classic advertising ploy! The back of the book has a great blurb that sucked me in and told me how funny I would find it. I relied on the glowing reviews and missed those that talked about the book's need for a good edit, its clunkiness, and its stuttering language. And I didn't click the 'look inside' button that gave me a sneak preview (of more pages than I lasted through in my own copy). Also, I would have found the same book for sale on Amazon for 10% of the price I paid.
4. Wordiness. I resolve to be less wordy from now on.
5. In-jokes. I didn't get them. I love a book where I don't get all of them, but what's the point of not getting any of them?
All in all, I think the author had a brilliant concept - and perhaps has a brilliant book - but it's not meant for people like me. The blurb uses clear, easy to read terms, like 'downed tools' and 'can't cope'; while page one alone uses 'bemused,' 'droit de seigneur,' 'mitigation,' and 'inter-familial'. Sure, these are all terms I understand (ok, I had to look up the droit one) but combined with lengthy phrases and sentences, they make for a literary piece, not genre fiction.
The best way for me to review this book is to share the lessons I took from it: 5 things the book has helped me with.
1. To vary the length of my sentences. Most sentences in this book are long, have no rhythmic variety, and convey too many thoughts for my tiny brain to process.
2. To understand genre and how to market it appropriately. I thought this book was comic fantasy or absurdist fantasy, but it's better described as creative writing: the forms attract two completely different types of reader.
3. Research. Research. Research. I fell for a classic advertising ploy! The back of the book has a great blurb that sucked me in and told me how funny I would find it. I relied on the glowing reviews and missed those that talked about the book's need for a good edit, its clunkiness, and its stuttering language. And I didn't click the 'look inside' button that gave me a sneak preview (of more pages than I lasted through in my own copy). Also, I would have found the same book for sale on Amazon for 10% of the price I paid.
4. Wordiness. I resolve to be less wordy from now on.
5. In-jokes. I didn't get them. I love a book where I don't get all of them, but what's the point of not getting any of them?
All in all, I think the author had a brilliant concept - and perhaps has a brilliant book - but it's not meant for people like me. The blurb uses clear, easy to read terms, like 'downed tools' and 'can't cope'; while page one alone uses 'bemused,' 'droit de seigneur,' 'mitigation,' and 'inter-familial'. Sure, these are all terms I understand (ok, I had to look up the droit one) but combined with lengthy phrases and sentences, they make for a literary piece, not genre fiction.
November 15, 2016
Inventive, Mellow Amusement
Sometimes authors just try too hard to be antic and clever. Recently I've read a lot of books that involve either God quitting or Lucifer quitting, or some combination of angels and demons going on sabbatical, and the main feature that distinguishes the good from the less good is whether the author allows the story and the characters a little room to breathe and relax. That's by way of noting that here we seem to have a nice balance.
For a change the absent heavenly figure this time around is Saint Peter and it's the Pearly Gates that have fallen into confusion. All of the poor marooned souls are milling about and it's time for Heavenly IT to fix the system. What we end up with is a huge school of fish, all of whom are out of water. The characters who've been chosen to fix the problem are not competent. The lost souls are from every era and every circumstance.
As a consequence we get to follow the heroes as they bumble their way to a solution and we get to observe the lost souls as they bumble into each other. The first makes for slapstick comedy, the latter offers a boundless opportunity for sly commentary about just about anything that has ever happened on Earth. The author makes good use of these opportunities, and if any one bit doesn't fully work, well there's another amusing bit following right behind it.
So, it's cheerful; it's smart; it's engaging and it's entertaining. A nice find. (Please note that I found this book a while ago while browsing Amazon Kindle freebies. It is currently a kindleunlimited choice. I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
Sometimes authors just try too hard to be antic and clever. Recently I've read a lot of books that involve either God quitting or Lucifer quitting, or some combination of angels and demons going on sabbatical, and the main feature that distinguishes the good from the less good is whether the author allows the story and the characters a little room to breathe and relax. That's by way of noting that here we seem to have a nice balance.
For a change the absent heavenly figure this time around is Saint Peter and it's the Pearly Gates that have fallen into confusion. All of the poor marooned souls are milling about and it's time for Heavenly IT to fix the system. What we end up with is a huge school of fish, all of whom are out of water. The characters who've been chosen to fix the problem are not competent. The lost souls are from every era and every circumstance.
As a consequence we get to follow the heroes as they bumble their way to a solution and we get to observe the lost souls as they bumble into each other. The first makes for slapstick comedy, the latter offers a boundless opportunity for sly commentary about just about anything that has ever happened on Earth. The author makes good use of these opportunities, and if any one bit doesn't fully work, well there's another amusing bit following right behind it.
So, it's cheerful; it's smart; it's engaging and it's entertaining. A nice find. (Please note that I found this book a while ago while browsing Amazon Kindle freebies. It is currently a kindleunlimited choice. I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
February 9, 2021
Third re-read! Far Fetched Funny Fantasy
Way underappreciated author in one of my top ten comedic fantasy series. It's definitely British humour, that snarky/satirical way that is similar to Robert Rankin and Robert Kroese. There's few series I re-read in Life After Death comedic genre; along with aforementioned authors, Nina Post's Last Donut Shop of the Apocalypse, Eirik Gumeny's Exponential Apocalypse and (Grant/Goody's Clovenhoof except the last). It's Douglas Adams funny.
I read a lot, maybe 500ish books a year, but only about 10 are series re-reads; Empringham is one of them.
Note: There's no particular religious/political bent, thankfully!
Way underappreciated author in one of my top ten comedic fantasy series. It's definitely British humour, that snarky/satirical way that is similar to Robert Rankin and Robert Kroese. There's few series I re-read in Life After Death comedic genre; along with aforementioned authors, Nina Post's Last Donut Shop of the Apocalypse, Eirik Gumeny's Exponential Apocalypse and (Grant/Goody's Clovenhoof except the last). It's Douglas Adams funny.
I read a lot, maybe 500ish books a year, but only about 10 are series re-reads; Empringham is one of them.
Note: There's no particular religious/political bent, thankfully!
September 4, 2014
A thoroughly enjoyable romp through almost heaven and hell. Some nice asides which may not be caught by non-UK based readers or even some UK ones, but it doesn't interfere with the tale of a failure in St Peter's processing system at the pearly gates.
A motley collection of ill matched characters then has to resolve the crisis with some nice set piece scenarios. Of course the ability to bring virtually any character from history into the story adds to the fun as they have all been hanging around outside the gates waiting for judgement.
Enjoyable fun!
A motley collection of ill matched characters then has to resolve the crisis with some nice set piece scenarios. Of course the ability to bring virtually any character from history into the story adds to the fun as they have all been hanging around outside the gates waiting for judgement.
Enjoyable fun!
December 29, 2015
Finally finished reading The Afternet. Came close on a couple of occasions of giving up but persevered to the end. Glad I did. The idea is very good but needs some serious editing to make it much more punchy. The characters are good and you do grow to like them.
Having read it I will read the sequel at some stage. But not just yet.
Having read it I will read the sequel at some stage. But not just yet.
August 4, 2014
The idea was interesting and original, though the writing was occasionally a bit clunky. I enjoyed it enough to read the whole series, so it was a worthwhile read for me.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews