"Crayons!" book news; space trippin'
Here’s me donating a copy of “Eva here in Latroben & Elle”to my friend Tracy Trotter, director at Adams Memorial Library here in Latrobe. I have so many happy memories from there.
Want to read the first chapter? Littsburgh is excerpting it this week. Click here …
Amazon now says it has the book in stock and can have the book in your hands in 2 to 4 days. Note, for every book of mine Amazon sells it pays me $1.08. Please support this struggling writer and buy direct through www.ChrisRodell.com. I sign ‘em all, too.
I’ve been thrilled with the reviews the book is earning on Amazon and through word-of-mouth. This one by Jim Wexell, author of the outstanding “Polamalu The Inspirational Story of Pittsburgh Steeler Safety Troy Polamolu,” and other Steeler books, is so good I almost felt compelled to run right out and buy my own book. I re-print it here in its entirety …
Hilarious romp through Heaven, Hell and Latrobe, PA
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2022
I haven't finished this book but I had to stop to write this review since it's just so damn good.
The writing. And the story. But mainly the writing. It's a modern-day romance, and by modern-day I mean they met via Facebook through a hack by Russians in Hell.
Evan is in Hell and, like the rest of us, playing on Facebook when he's bored. The Russians hacked Elle, who's in Heaven, and she doesn't know this at the time because she's golfing with Arnold Palmer, who "forbade his partners from checking their phones until they got to the parking lot."
Elle, of course, falls in love with Evan for the first Heaven-Hell romance in eternity, which sparks an investigation.
Yes, it's a great premise, but it's mainly the clever writing from the fertile mind of author Chris Rodell that keeps me reading. I know Chris, and I'm a writer, and I'm in awe of Chris' work:
"If fans of the Grateful Dead are called Deadheads, what did that make those who revered the book Moby Dick?"
Yeah, maybe I should be back snickering in high school, but what fun!
I just love the pop culture references, and by pop culture I mean the deep cuts in pop culture, not Madonna, Brittany, etc. nonsense. Like when Elle called George Harrison to tell him she wouldn't be able to attend that week's sitar lesson. After an exchange about Fake news on Facebook, Harrison makes Elle promise not to ever "hint you're even bigger than Jesus."
There's Plato hanging out in Heaven favorite pub, The Dog, where he, Socrates and Aristotle are talking with normal dude Paige Turner, and Socrates gets into a snit about the pretzels and argues that "You think you can tell time. Time tells you! And who the heck is hogging the pretzels?"
There are great references to The Kinks, there's The Has Beans coffee shop, true dreamers who fly kites with no strings attached, and Evan's roommate in Hell, a bully, loudmouth, racist, homophobic Red Sox fan who was there for child abuse - Evan's father. That day's entertainment in Hell was 469 consecutive playings of Paul Anka's "Having My Baby." The previous day it had been Muskrat Love, and then something by Justin Bieber and something else by Billy Ray Cyrus. It's a glorious tribute to real art and perpetual shaming of America's crap.
Just one great line after another and I can't put it down. Well, I had to put it down to write this review, but just rollicking stuff. Definitely worth your time and money.
All right, enough about the book. Let’s go trippin’ in space …
PLANET/SPACE TRAVEL
• Wonder how long it’ll be before the number of earthlings living in space outnumber the number of earthlings living on earth.
• Calculate the age you feel based on other planets from around our galaxy. For instance, if you’re 45 here on the third rock from the sun and feel youthful, tell people you’re about 24 in Mars years. That’s the earth equivalent of how long it takes the red planet to poke around the sun. But if you’ve slept poorly and wake up feeling weak and fatigued, tell people you’re feeling Venusian, or about 73.
• As way of both meeting potentially friendly ETs & getting while getting's good, I propose Earth erect a really big For Sale sign.
• Astronaut Scott Kelly is today the most interesting man on the planet because it's been one year since he's been on the planet.
• NASA deserves ridicule for saying there are 8.8 billion Earth-like planets. Wrong! None of them have Trump!
• What do they call earthquakes on other planets?
• NASA probes continue to scan the cosmos for evidence of planets with life-sustaining water. Life-sustaining? Listen, I'm not going anywhere until they find a planet with life-sustaining pizza.
RANDOMS …
• Nearly reached peak internet boredom. Yes, I was thisclose to clicking on a link that promised to inform me of the identity of the one guest Johnny Carson couldn’t stand.
• Optimists understand phrase "familiarity breeds contempt" is not absolute. Sometimes familiarity breeds family.
• The science behind the theory may be flawed, but the 5-second rule is to me the greatest parenting advance in my lifetime.
• Rumors of centipede infestations have real legs.
• How you aspire to live is your bucket list. How you aspire to die is your kick the bucket list.
To order “Evan & Elle” or any of my books, the best way is to visit www.chrisrodell.com or send me an e-mail to storyteller@chrisrodell.com
Book is for sale on amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and locally Second Chapter Books (Ligonier), Youngstown Grille, Pat's Hair & Nail Place, Greater Latrobe-Laurel Valley Chamber of Commerce, Eclectique, 512 Coffee & Ice Cream; in Greensburg at DV8 Espresso & Gallery. Lastly, I’m rarely more than 20 feet from a copy just in case.
Thanks to those of you who recently showed your support for by sending cash or the equivalent to me at PayPal, Venmo, 874 Solomon Temple Rd., Latrobe, Pa, 15650).
All Chris’s books can be purchased through www.ChrisRodell.co