Reviewer Top Pick: Heavenly Pleasure by V. Mark Covington

PAGAN & PEN REVIEW

Title: Heavenly Pleasure

Author: V. Mark Covington 

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Publisher:  Aspen Mountain Press

Genre: Contemporary, Urban Fantasy, Humor

Length: 279 pgs.

Pagan & Pagan Elements: No/Yes

Reviewed by: Violet Harper

About The Book: Strange things are happening on Perilous Parkwood Avenue, where the inhabitants include Kali Sen, exotic dancer and potential savior of humanity, Eve Savage, quantum-physicist and inventor.  Ted and Eric run Heavenly Pleasure, a little Christian adult bookstore that will be the next battleground in the eternal war between good and evil.

And just who is the Ice Cream Man, peddling such weird flavors as Wicca Wild Berry, Holy Mary Cherry and Zen Zinger that do a lot more than satisfy your sweet tooth?  Then there’s Angel, a new arrival to the community who has been sent to make sure things happen according to the grand design, but all she’s been told is “she’ll know it when she sees it”.

This time the forces of dark and light are facing off over the next jump in human evolution, universal bliss and the end of terrorism, road rage and fighting over the remote control.

The Review:

Fantasy stories have traditionally been about, at their heart, the battle between good and evil. The best stories, fantasy or not, have protagonists that aren’t completely altruistic and antagonists that are complex. This makes everybody interesting and it removes predictability from the story. I loved hearing the Devil’s take on Dante’s circles of Hell, especially since they came during the Reverend’s sermon and they were delivered to a scandalized, pious young snake charmer fated to fill the role of the Antichrist.

In Heavenly Pleasure, Mark Covington has created a riveting cast of characters and has woven a masterful, intricately-detailed tale. I loved the author’s sense of humor, an important device when dealing with fate-of-the-world issues. I laughed out loud—real laughter, not just little chuckles—several times. His humor strips events to the bare bones, laying dogma naked and removing all apologies. He skillfully uses a host of literary devices, including allusion and irony. He mocks his own imagery. He portrays the dregs of society in a completely human and humorous light. He makes us see the people behind their appearances and labels.

Covington’s ability to handle multiple characters and multiple viewpoints while maintaining a cohesive plot is amazing. I felt as if I knew each one of them, and I liked them, flaws and all. The cast of characters—Eve the inventor, John the chronicler, Kali the ‘Mary’ figure, Clay the antichrist, Angel the angel, Ted and Eric the sex shop owners, Theiron/Poole the vampire, God the ice cream man, Devil the consultant—each of these people play critical parts in the fight between good and evil, which turns out to be more of an ideological disagreement. 

However, it’s an ideological disagreement at the heart of all dogmatic battles, and that’s what appealed to me. Like Mikhail Bulgakov’s literary masterpiece The Master and Margarita, Heavenly Pleasure takes aim at what’s wrong with society using God and the Devil as literal interpretations of a metaphorical critique. Covington’s God doesn’t care about organized religion. He doesn’t care about religion at all. Behavior matters. Morals matter.  Choices matter. At the heart of the Pagan belief system, we throw away all outward trappings of dogma to concentrate on what really matters—who we are, what we do, and how we treat life around us. Heavenly Pleasure speaks to the heart and soul in a way few things ever can.  

Pagan Elements: The central ideas of positive and negative energies, the focus on community involvement, and the theme of living by a moral code that respects life around you are all important to the various Pagan belief systems. Even though this depicted a Biblical fight, it had more Pagan mores than many Pagan novels. There’s another irony for you. 

Cover (Rated 1-10): 3—It made me think of a children’s book or something mainstream contemporary (except for the title). I probably wouldn’t have picked this up based solely on the cover art.

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