Over a God's Dead Body

by Joel Spriggs

Three gods walk onto a college campus looking for a dead body. A bad joke, a bad day, or both? Esmy Hansen is about to find out.

Esmy is stuck in a rut and frustrated by a lack of pockets on women's pants. Meeting Loki ignites her life like a powder-keg. This simple, seemingly innocuous encounter leads her and Jake to discover the college campus's mysterious depths, involving sasquatches, vampires, and much more. In a crudely comedic high-stakes game of maneuvering, Loki's freedom and Esmy's survival come down to a fight over a God's dead body.

Over a God's Dead Body is the first book in a humorous supernatural series! If you like insane action, hilarious dialogue, and gods behaving badly, then you'll love the first installment in Joel Spriggs's magical comedy.

Buy Over a God's Dead Body to start the madcap misadventure today!

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Mythology

312 pages, ebook

Published June 9, 2018

About the author

Joel Spriggs (1982-?) was born and raised in Frankfort, IN. He graduated from Franklin College of Indiana in 2004 with a Bachelors of the Fine Arts in Computer Science and Broadcast Journalism.

Joel's first novel, "Over A God's Dead Body" was published on the Kindle platform in June 2018 and is the first in a planned series surrounding the same characters and fantasy world.

Joel has successfully defended his beard from being stolen 1873 times out of 1877 attempts by his elder brother. On the five occasions he failed, Joel immediately set about growing a new beard and refining his defenses.

Joel lives with his wife and three children in scenic Lebanon, IN. He maintains a website and blog at joelspriggs.com. He is also active on Twitter, @joelspriggs.

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book (via audible), which allowed me to explore other genres I seldom read. The book itself was not poorly written; however, the main plot (including the humor) did not appeal to me.

*** Loki is under captivity of Seth and is sent to a boring midwest town as a quest. In the process, Loki discover his granddaughter. They partake on an adventure together and meet other mythical beings, including necromancer who has duck zombies to bigfoot. What must they do to regain Loki's freedom and for Esmy (granddaughter) to survive?

Here are the positives I noticed in the book:
1. The narrator did a phenomenal job narrating the book.
2. Appropriate humor is applied depending on the mythical being, such as the five duck zombies/necromancer.

To simply state, the urban fantasy book on "supernatural humor" was not meant for me.
*** If you are into urban fantasy books and Loki, this may be the book for you!

[Paul Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The humour came thick and fast, and always hit the spot. Great characters, main and supporting. I really enjoyed the plot and overall story. I am so looking forward to the sequel.

[Priyanka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! It’s not a book one come across every day. A rare, and successful combination of magic, Gods, and humor.

As a young teenager, I was obsessed with all things magic related. In fact, I wanted to practice witchcraft. LOL. I wish had this book then, I would have enjoyed it a thousand-fold more with my innocent and naivety still intact.
The book has everything one can think of and more. It has Egyptian gods. It has Norse gods. It even has Celtic and Haitian gods. It sports some pretty nicely described, almost to the point of convincing voodoo magic. To top it all, it has its own Hogwarts.
Erzulie Loa reminded me of one of the great fairies in the latest Nintendo game, Zelda – breath of the wild.
The satires on both Loki and incorrigible, egotistical Seth is just hilarious. The book is not all jokes, puns, and innuendos. I have learned more about Norse mythology from this book than I ever knew.
The lesser-known entertaining tales of Norse gods will not only crack you up but might even get you to dive deeper and doing your own research on the subject.
For the better part of the first half of the book, I wondered how ever will the author manage to tie up all the parallel running stories; it couldn’t have come along better. The suspense of how the God of mischief plans to trick the God of chaos will keep you turning the pages.
It’s a light, an easy to read book with praiseworthy attention to detail and flawless logic to even the silliest of things. The small elements such as the restaurant owner or Tim Hortons add more character to the book.
By the end of the book, I was desperately hoping for it to be a series and then the author granted my wish. Now all that is left for me to do is wait while Joel works his magic.
Caution: The book is a Satire on Gods and Goddesses of more than a couple of different religions and cultures and has quite some profanities, cursing, and innuendos so if you are religious or sensitive to coarse language, please do not read this book, you won’t be able to enjoy it.

[Trey Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won a free audiobook of this book by Joel Spriggs, and couldn’t wait to review it. I listen to quite a low of audiobooks, when I walk to and from work, at work, and usually at the gym, so I’m always happy to have more stuff to listen to.

This book is about… Gods. Mythological gods. Think, American Gods meets Harry Potter. Our main god (and one of the protagonists, among some mortal people) is Loki. The book follows him as he meets up with some ‘relatives’, and try to find Seth, the Egyptian god of chaos, on a university campus. Because shit is going down. Shit Loki wants to stop. And it’s absolutely hilarious.

Its not often I laugh out loud from reading (which is weird, because I laugh a lot), but this had me spit-laughing more than twice, which made working out really weird at times. But it’s such a well-written, funny book. It’s light, it’s fun, it’s entertaining. Spriggs has a way with words that pulled me in instantly, kept me invested, and made me want to keep reading. Maybe a few characters seemed a bit too quick on the uptake at times, (they seem awfully chill with the whole there-being-gods-and-magic in the world), but it’s still damn good fun.

And the production of this audiobook is really good as well, I have to say, the narrator did a great job (though I can imagine maybe a few Irish people will disagree with me). Makes me want to look into making audiobooks of my own stuff.

I can see this being a new big thing. In a few years I imagine this is a hilarious Netflix series, a mix between Community and Supernatural. Or like I said, American Gods meets Harry Potter. However you want to look at it, it’s awesome.

If you’re interested in finding out what kind of hell Loki and other gods from various mythologies could get up to at a college, you should definitely check this out.

[James Kemp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over a God's Dead Body is the best urban fantasy story I've read this year. There's a cracking flow to the narrative and some superb imagery. As well as being a grittily realistic there are also laugh out loud moments. It's a hard mix to pull off, but Joel Spriggs manages it really well in Over a God's Dead Body.

The story has an American Gods feel to it, mixed with the human observation that Terry Pratchett has in his discworld series. The basis of the story is that Loki has been enslaved by an Egyptian god and is obliged to steal the dead body of another god. Being Loki he isn't being entirely straight, and is doing his best to wriggle out of the obligation. The other main characters are twins that turn out to be Loki's descendants and a voodoo priestess. So we have a collection of different pantheons in play, Norse, Egyptian, Haitian and also some other supernatural creatures (there's a bigfoot and a vampire to name two).

I really enjoyed reading Over a God's Dead Body and there were all sorts of threads that Joel Spriggs managed to weave neatly together into the denouement. We had a thread with a talented young man with an unfortunately painted mural on his van of a wizard and a unicorn. There's a girl scout cookie selling thread, which turns out to be the voodoo priestesses kids and her friends, Seth (the Egyptian god Loki is obliged to) and some of the faculty at Baldur college, we also follow Esmy and her brother who are descendants of one of Loki's amorous encounters on earth.

It all comes together with a plan to steal the body and a distraction that involves a shape-shifting purple dinosaur and the "rusty metal suppository of doom made the shocked dinosaur roar in sudden pain".

Go read it, you'll enjoy it!

[MostMagenta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately this book was not for me. I didn't like it from the start. It just had a very trying-too-hard-to-be-cool-and-edgy tone.

[Jennifer (bunnyreads)]

Esmy has started noticing things around campus but only catching them from the corner of her eyes, things she’s never noticed before – doors that weren’t there, stairways that go where there is only a wall etc. After asking around, it turns out there is a preternatural department at the college and they offer classes. She’s interested.


This was a hard one because this is definitely not my type of humour which was a little too bawdy for my likes – I tend to lean towards dry, sarcastic, and maybe even a bit morbid. It didn’t help that the story felt to be worked around the best way to showcase that humour either.
I admit to being pretty hard to please in that department and couple that with a school/possibly instructional type setting – it really had to impress me to keep me interested.


So, a few thoughts on the bit I read. A plethora of characters are introduced in the first 25%, so many that I was not even sure where this was going story-wise or which characters were going to be the main ones, without checking the summary.

We get a sasquatch, Esmy and her brother, professors, a Canadian, a cop, a voodoo priestess and Loa’s (this one I was excited about Loa’s are not commonly seen in fantasy), Egyptian Gods (again excited), Loki, a meeting of the entire head (or what felt like it) of the preternatural department of the college, and these are just the ones I can remember. It was a little overwhelming. Some of these scenes/characters felt unnecessary and like I mentioned before, only there to set-up the joke and nothing else, though I may be wrong I am drawing conclusions at 25% read.

I will say that the characters had enough differences that I, the queen of not being to remember a name, was able to keep a good half of them straight – though only by their oddities. But that’s a kind of a big deal with me, so points for that.

Some editing is needed to catch the wrong/misspelled words – lay for ley lines and that sort of thing, and to clear up any confusing or unnecessary scenes.

I am sure there is an audience that would appreciate this book and its humour but for me, I’m going to have to say goodbye.


spfbo score 2/10

[Assaph Mehr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in the mood for some humorous fantasy, and this novel fitted the bill perfectly. If you're a fan of American Gods and College Humour, this is for you.

What to Expect

A crazy tale of cluey and clueless humans and far-less-than-perfect gods, struggling over a small college town in Indiana. Old gods and supernatural creatures converge on the town as part of grand schemes, and local residents discover the supernatural world (and most of what you knew or thought about those old gods was wrong).

Told from multiple viewpoints, events come to a head in a grand finale battle royale that will leave you in stitches with a few scenes stuck indelibly in your memory.

What I liked

Spriggs constructs an excellent plot and good characters. Hilariously random trivia becomes important later, view points shift to make you care about all participants, and I'm still not over the bits with the goats and dinosaurs.

What to be aware of

Plenty of college humour in the novel, from discussions of mythical species phalli to weaponised zombie ducks. I won't even touch what happens to the goats. I found it cringe-worthingly hilarious, but your millage may vary.

The first edition of this novel was in desperate need of editing, which thankfully has been addressed in the second (note the subtle change in cover - update your copies if you have the old one). While still not perfect, I find it wasn't enough to seriously detract from an otherwise excellent story.

Summary

This is the College Humour version of American Gods. If you're in the mood for something zany, a light and funny read that still engages, this book is well worth your time.
--
Assaph Mehr, author of Murder In Absentia: A story of Togas, Daggers, and Magic - for lovers of Ancient Rome, Murder Mysteries, and Urban Fantasy.

[Susan Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky and fun.

I asked for recommendations on Twitter in April from indie authors with the intent of buying a few and supporting some fellow authors.

Joel Spriggs responded and his book, Over a God's Dead Body, was one that I selected. It was a quick and enjoyable read. I got through it in a few days commuting to the city for work. Irreverent and quirky, this book won't appeal to everyone but it definitely entertained me.

[Chris Durston · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a lot to enjoy here, for the right reader. I love a lot of the quirky little peculiarities that happen, both the big ones that affect the narrative and the little ones that are just sort of there for fun, but I can see why the humour won’t work for every reader. I like it, though.

The plot is... not that complicated, I think, but not always the easiest to follow. Characters are interesting and amusing, but sometimes a little hard to keep track of; the prose is often really good, with some great and funny turns of phrase, but the main thing I would suggest is that this book would really have benefited from a good editor. There are a lot of typos, tense mistakes, verb disagreements, and generally awkwardly-worded sentences; I think Sprigg has a really nice natural way of writing, but hope he’ll enlist the help of a copy editor to help him polish things up for his future works.

If you can get past the somewhat unpolished state of this book, and if its often out-there jokes are up your street, you’ll find a lot to enjoy here.

[C.S. Latu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hysterical! Smart! Inventive!

This book is quite unlike any I've ever read before. The story is a blend of magic and myth. It's weaved together with concepts like Sasquatch and dinosaurs. There's also vampires, zombies, and voodoo. I laughed during several parts while reading-laughter that bought tears. I highly recommend the audio book as it give the story a little extra kick and life to all the different characters you meet.

[Louisa Dwyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original, gripping and funny

I so enjoyed this book! There are elements of dark humour and satire reminiscent of Pratchett but I found the plot original and colourful throughout. I loved the mixture of different mythologies and rituals. Highly recommended!

[Cory Cravens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story really surprised me. I liked the way it covered all the different "gods." The story is irreverent and fun

It pulls you into its glow. I can't wait to read more stories about this magical universe. Give it a shot. You'll like it.

[D.W. Plato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I don't have quite a twisted enough sense of humor for this book, lol... I literally felt my jaw drop in several places. There were times I was a bit lost with the plot but it does come together. Supporting IndieApril.

[G.M. Nair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over a God's Dead Body is a comedic urban fantasy that draws from the likes of Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, producing an absurdist take on a universe in which deities and cryptids from human mythology exist - albeit relatively hidden - in the real world. Basically, this book is what would have happened if they'd collaborated on American Gods instead of Good Omens.

The book delivers on a lot of interesting and humorous concepts, and is pretty well-written, but it tends to lack focus and jump around between various different narratives without a sense of flow that doesn't sort itself out until the back half of the book. Additionally, most of these different narratives feature an inordinate number of scenes where a character is explaining something (either factual or mythical) to another character, so there is a lot of telling rather than showing. For instance, toward the climax of the book, what could have been an entertaining scene involving a slushee machine is merely described to other characters. Despite this, I felt like the book spent more time explaining events and concepts to characters than it did explaining the plot to the audience.

The humor will not be for everyone as it bounces between being bawdy, random, and modern-meta. It is an interesting combination that produces a few running jokes that are really funny, but others that just did not land for me.

All that being said, the plot is clever and a lot of the out-there concepts that are introduced during the course of the story do impact the final resolution in neat ways. The world-building is thorough and gives us a good look into the history (both real and fake) and machinations behind various gods, which suggests some good research.

Over A God's Dead Body is a solid tale that could use some tightening in story structure and character interactions. But if you like Pratchett & Gaiman, give this book a shot.

[Catherine Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laugh out loud funny
After reading the first few pages, I was certain that I would love this book. It gave me a real "Dogma" feel and I couldn't help but picture the faces from that movie as characters in the story. I enjoyed the clever plot, the author's voice and the tone of the book.
However, a few chapters in, I began to get a little lost. I found all the switching between the characters a bit jarring and thought it was hard to follow in places. But I read to the end and was not disappointed with the outcome.
So, all in all, if you're not easily distracted like me, and like Urban Fantasy and ensemble casts, definitely give this book a go.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An uproariously funny daring foray into the world of ancient gods and what they are doing now. A gender fluid Loki, couple with his ruffian child battle to stop one god’s batch of semen from harming the world as we know it. Other gods, weaponized zombie ducks and a cast of Sasquatch leaving you rolling on the floor with laughter. I have never gotten my laughs or such an ab workout from a book. I highly recommend this to anyone searching for a bundle of laughs wrapped around and excellent story.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my kind of book! Humorous, quirky, and...well, let's just say the author has an interesting imagination.What makes it even better on audible is the fantastic narration by Daniel Vuillaum. He gets the story perfectly! Which makes the whole experience so much fun! I highly recommend this book. Especially on audible!

[Judy Ferrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Norse God's are real!

They really are! And they have made lots of trouble through the years. This incredible book is a delicious story of one of them. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to more. This was an easy read in that I got so involved. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did!

[Rachel Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sooo confused by the first scene! It kind of reminds me of American Gods on chaotic pacing and scene changes. But it makes up for that with the story and increasing hilarity. I was reminded of Buffy and more recently The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina with this. Some of these characters deserve a sequel. The humor is very adult and raunchy at times. This book doesn't take itself seriously, and it's listed as a comedy, so remember that! I enjoyed the read and would recommend it to people who don't mind this kind of humor. My only issue were the grammar and typo errors. I felt like these sometimes took me out of the flow of had me confused about a scene. If Joel has time, I'd suggest that he go back over it or get an editor to do so and that would fix this one complaint. I'd still recommend it.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did enjoy this book. I listened to this book on Audible. Narration was fine, no complaints there, my only issue was that I do wish the book was sorted a bit more. I didn't have a hard time keeping up with it necessarily, but with all the characters featured, I did have to think a bit harder to keep everyone in order. That is an issue with books that have a larger ensemble, so I get it.

The best thing about this book is that I actually bought it a long time ago and I still remember everything about it! My favorite characters and the situations were so funny and crazy that it's hard to forget. This book is great for a laugh and the characters are really fun and dynamic.

I would recommend this title.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for everyone!

This was a fun read. It felt like a hilarious acid trip, but there is subject matter that might offend some. If you have issues with depictions of mythical bestiality, sir this one out.

[Spark · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF
The characters and story line are really interesting. There are times where the pacing is off, and there are enough typos and mistakes that I just couldn't finish it. I would definitely recommend it to someone who isn't bothered by mistakes like I am, but it really wasn't for me.

[Carrie Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book kept me laughing the whole way through. It is a well written and executed dark comedy full of otherworldly creatures and Norse Gods. I found this an intriguing and exciting read and would highly recommend it to adults looking for something unique.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite enjoyed this one!

Well done. Enjoyed the set up and hope to see more in the series soon. Poor Snarler though... kinda made me sorry for him the old goat.

[Sahreth Bowden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Admittedly, a driving factor for me reading this was to figure out what was up with the duck (which depending on which version you're looking at, is the cover of the book), though the title drew me in too. I've read/viewed both comedic and serious stories centered around gods and their involvement with our modern world so while it is a favored premise, I go in each time unsure how the author can make it any different or better. I was not disappointed in the slightest with 'Over a God's Dead Body.'

The humor ranges from crude to clever and overall is pretty unique to itself with likeable characters all around. I saw someone liken part of the plot to Hogwarts, but to be fair, I only saw the similarity in that there was a school where you *could* learn magic (but only if you knew the right people). That being said, this magic had a loose scientific feel to it in an almost Wonderland type of way. The candor in which both students and teachers approach these studies is humorously relatable. I mean would you follow rules or would you be learning how to wreak fun havoc like the Weasley twins?

A little off the wall in the best of ways. Vampires with body image issues, gods who are little more than very old children, questionable unicorn murals...and don't forget the ducks. Oh my god, the ducks. If it were a movie, I'd be putting it on frequently. Curious to know what this endearing universe has in store next.

[Kim Harnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still not exactly sure what I just read...

A discarded banana, a dinosaur suppository, and the need for bigger pockets--Joel Spriggs fills this book to the brim with so many unexpected layers that overlap in a way that's almost genius. The comedy (although it felt forced in some places) kept me turning pages, and even laughing out loud.

Though I enjoyed the story, I did only give it three stars, as for me the main scenes at the end became jumbled with too much going on, too many characters, and in too little time. Also, with multiple typos, grammatical errors, and redundancies, it could have really benefitted from a good editor.

And Spriggs never did answer the one question about the Sasquatch...

[Mindy Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF
Made it a little over 20% in, and the long staff meeting about things we already knew as the reader just finished any hope I had. The premise is interesting, the characters are... fine, but nothing with this much going on should be so boring. I likened it to living through a pandemic and continuing to go to work everyday. There are a bunch of mythical characters and beasts but they are just going through normal days: school, work, unsatisfying marriages and possibly sexual offender PE teachers. Being mythical beasts didn't change their lives in any way, which really seems like a failure of world building. The use of "edgy" sexual humor was supposed to make this fun, but it didn't really hit for me.

[Maryann · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can you not adore a book that has a vampire discussing how he does not get a listing of a person's cholesterol or triglycerides on a unit of donated blood.

Then there's the arsonists who pays for the gas because he didn't want to do something illegal because torching a building isn't.

Another great quote "That is why real witches do NOT ride Rubbermaid."

Duck zombies, become weaponized Duck zombies. There is just so many reasons to read this book that well, what more can I say. 

Let us not forget the Sasquatch

There is moment when you realize that this book is so worthy of everyone's attention. Read it you will not be dissapointed. 

[Jamie Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some genuinely funny moment, like the vegans being sprayed with goats blood. And I liked the humour about loki learning about the internet and asking are people now super clever, no they aren't they just look at cat videos. That was good. Plot was, bit pointless? But I guess it was just like a fun book with humour and dipping into the supernatural. It's defo different to hitchhikers but defo inspired by.

I'm not sure id read anymore if Joel did write them, but maybe I would? Who knows.

I did find I really wasn't in the mood for this sometimes. Took me longer to read that I thought. But it was funny tbf even if a lot of the characters felt the same.