What’s not to like in this book? An all male cast filled with one dimensional stereotypes. A major failing of the Bechdel test. A serial killer sub-plot that goes nowhere. An evil house that does nothing. A story about evil where the only person who dies is a suicide, and that’s on page one. A story about a ghost where the ghost who finally shows up just wants to have sex…but “off screen,” of course. Wouldn’t want anything to actually happen in this book, would we?

In a book of dull and offensive characters, only Mark Underhill stands out as a decently memorable person. His uncle is a “famous writer,” which means he needs no other personality traits, ever. His father Phillip is a walking steroetype of a racist and msyogonist who can’t stop thinking of himself longer than five minutes. There’s the stereotypical tough talking cop, the plot device super-private detective friend, in case Tim the famous writer needs an answer without actually performing any investigative work, the over confident but really stupid rich white male serial killer in his thirties, Mark’s best buddy Jimbo, and Jimbo’s equally annoying drunk dad, Jackie.

There are only two female characters who have more than a scene or two of dialogue, one of whom commits suicide, Mark’s mother. She rarely talks in the flashbacks, and her presence in the book, even in flashbacks, serves no useful purpose. The other female bit character, Jimbo’s mother, serves as a sex symbol for Mark, and a sidekick for grilling Jimbo with Tim. She coos and says nice things to Mark, and then when Tim needs Jimbo too talk, she wags her finger sternly and repeats the same lines over and over: “Now Jim, you tell Mr. Underhill everything you know!” But otherwise she stays barefoot and in the kitchen like a good little woman. There is also supposed to be a female ghost, but she is only mentioned in passing…having sex with one of the guys.

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This is my first Gina Ranalli story, but it won’t be the last. Suicide Girls in the Afterlife is a fascinating and fast paced look at the tragic afterlife of Pogue, a young woman who supposedly commits suicide under fairly bizarre circumstances and arrives in the afterlife during “renovations.”

Put up in a hotel, Pogue teams up with another suicidal arrival named Katina, and soon they are trying to stage a revolution in the afterlife to protest the random and arbitrary rules. Most of this behavior seems to be heading somewhere completely different, and once the reader realizes what’s really happening at the end, the beginning takes on a whole new meaning.

A brilliant story with interesting characters and a unique interpretation of the afterlife, I give Suicide Girls in the Afterlife 4 stars and recommend it to all fans of bizarro fiction. You can find the ebook at Smashwords for only $1.99

Above Ground is vaguely like Alice in Wonderland in reverse. Instead of Alice falling down a hole, Lilith emerges from the caves that humanity has been living in after an unknown cataclysmic event sends everyone scrambling away from the surface world like house cats avoiding a long overdue bath.

The surface world now belongs to the affected (or the infected if you ask a human), people who have been tainted in various ways, resulting in mutations. Lilith is traveling to the surface with a human tour group to see a “parade of the affected,” at a local theater. But early on, a sabotaged sideshow requires Lilith to flee for her life with the help of a werewolf and part-time sideshow performer named Silver.

What follows are the calamities during Lilith’s first few days above ground. Lilith can’t seem to get it through her head that she can’t get home, and so most of the trip, she is constantly second guessing herself and whether she can trust the werewolf pack escorting her.

Given the extreme circumstances, I found Lilith’s behavior to be consistent and realistic. However, this did not stop me from occasionally smacking my forehead and groaning, “Oy.” Not because she does something dumb or thinks it, but because she makes the same choices over and over even knowing she’s about to make a mistake. If not for the kindness of strangers, this is the type of woman who might trip head-first into trouble every single time. Which is both highly entertaining, and also just a bit annoying. It’s like a guilty pleasure, like scratching that fresh mosquito bite even though you know you’re supposed to leave it alone.

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