“Dirk Snigby’s Guide to the Afterlife” by Aaron McCarthy
Aaron McCarthy takes a look at a rather amusing, and surprising short story.
Recently Cloud Of Think held a competition to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge. We were tasked with identifying the films from which the quotes (which had been translated into Irish) had originated. Fortunately I won and the prize I got was a book of short stories. Now, here’s a little secret: I probably wouldn’t go out and buy a book of short stories. Yet that’s the reason this prize was so great. It was something different and, as it turns out, something incredibly enjoyable.
The first short story I’ve read from “Next Stop Hollywood“, edited by Steve Cohen, is a short story written by someone with an incredibly famous literary surname – E. E. King. Like the famous King who writes stories (Stephen King, if you haven’t clued guessed by now), E. E. has that rare ability to produce an entertaining read that flows extremely well, jumps off the page and has a few tricks up its sleeves.
Her story is called Dirk Snigby’s Guide to the Afterlife and is an incredibly funny tale featuring a PR rep (we all hate them, right? Wrong! Dirk, as it turns out, is quite the character). Near the start of the story Dirk is called upon by someone who, it transpires, is called Lucifer…that’s right, he’s the devil. Now – in quite an ingenius twist – Lucifer asks Dirk to sell the concept of the different Heavens, because he’s fed up of so many people going to Hell. Therefore Dirk sets out on an odyssey which entails drawing up a five-star rating system for the different Heavens. These ratings are very clever, draw funny references to real-life religions, and act as a gentle breath of fresh air. My favourite character in this story has to be the guardian angel who, as it turns out, might not be so much of a guardian. Extremely seductive, she and Dirk end up…doing some business…which ultimately leads to a tragic, though intensely amusing, climax.
The story is the first one that I’ve read from the book but it will definitely not be my last. E.E. King is an incredibly talented author, she has a wicked sense of humour and reading this story was, well, heavenly.