New Book Alert: The Plot Against Heaven by Mark Kirkbride; Intriguing Premise and World Building Undone by Short Length

 

New Book Alert: The Plot Against Heaven by Mark Kirkbride; Intriguing Premise and World Building Undone by Short Length

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Some novellas benefit from a short length. The story is best told in a short manner to the point so that the characters encounter the monster or solve the mystery without any unnecessary subplots or padding. Then there are ones that falter because of their short length.

Mark Kirkbride's The Plot Against Heaven is one that is way too short and would greatly benefit from expansion. It offers an intriguing premise of a widower caught between the battle of Heaven and Hell so he can be reunited with his deceased wife. It also has a brilliant sense of world building on how Heaven and Hell are written, in fact almost too good. The problem is because of the 68 page length, the premise and world building aren't as incredible as they could be.

The story is similar to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which a musician goes to the Underworld to get his deceased wife only to lose her when he disobeys Hades's command not to look back at her until they get out. It's sort of a variation of the myth with modern twists.

Paul Desuthe, a jingle writer/poet is in Heaven to plead his case before God that his wife, Kate, was taken too early and wants to have her back. When he finds the Big Guy isn't there and appears to have not been there for some time, he becomes irate and denounces God. Well anyone who has ever read or seen Faust, The Devil and Daniel Webster, the legend of the Flying Dutchman, Oh God You Devil, or another encounter between Heaven, Hell, and mortals know that when someone denounces God, someone else is listening. Down Paul goes to Hell and encounters Satan. Satan appears friendlier than God's staff and says he will bring Kate back to life if he does one tiny favor for him. See Satan and God will soon be engaging in the Big War, Armageddon, and Satan needs a good writer like Paul to be his pitch person and advertise Hell in a way that is contradictory to the traditional view.

The Plot Against Heaven does some really unique things with how Heaven and Hell are written. Heaven is a composite of a sterilized urban metropolis and a police state. The buildings are all skyscrapers with God's being the biggest of all. God himself gets driven around in a limo, and the only glimpse that Paul catches of Him is a large brain. 

There are fighter planes constantly flying up and down Heaven's skies and there are plenty of soldiers and suited business types asking their newcomers any questions. There are also billboards and signs warning people to follow all rules and that they never know who might be listening. This version of Heaven is ready for war at anytime and has none of the joy and Paradise in which it is usually associated.

By contrast Hell looks more like Las Vegas or any type of party town with casinos, games, loud music, and plenty of good looking men and women just for the asking. It is bright and colorful and without the rigidity of Heaven's existence.  While Hell is enticing, there is a superficiality that suggests that the good times are all surface and a means of entrapment. Similar to the Rolling Stones' song "Sympathy for the Devil," Satan is definitely "a man of wealth and taste." He watches over his kingdom with a smug sophistication, satisfied that by giving his people what they want, then they are completely in his power.

Heaven and Hell are so brilliantly written that it is such a shame that we are given so little time inside them. Heaven only apears in two chapters before Paul takes his downward plunge. Hell is covered pretty decently but more could be added. 

While the war happens between the sides, we see very little interaction between Paul and the other denizens. We aren't given enough of a build up before War is declared nor are we given much of a chance to get to know characters before there are casualties.

The thought of Heaven as a police state and Hell as a casino are so intriguing that there should be more chances to explore these settings in great detail. There are plenty of ripe moments for satire in the presentation that don't get too land because of the brief length.

The climax also needs to be better explored. There are various twists on top of the other. Some are pretty clever but they contradict each other and one revelation only makes sense if the other plot twist didn't happen. It produces an ending that is more puzzling than satisfactory.

The Plot Against Heaven is a great idea, but without more depth invested in the work an idea a sketch is all it is. Kirkbride could and definitely should explore this milieu in a longer work. This idea certainly deserves it.