Corey Deitz

Disclaimer: Corey Dietz is my favorite radio personality; he and Patrick Beam co-chair the morning show I listen to in Little Rock, Arkansas so my review may be even more biased than usual. This book is a collection of essays Dietz wrote for Radio.About.com and they are irreverent, sarcastic, wise-cracking, spit-out-your-drink funny. If you ever wondered what the various executives at a radio station do… chances are you will still be wondering after this, but will be adequately warned to avoid them because chances are they are drunks with criminal records. Since the essays were obviously written at different times, they are a bit repetitive, but still laugh-out-loud funny nonetheless.… (meer)

Disclaimer: I ADORE Corey Dietz -he is my favorite radio personality, so I’m giving this book one star more than it deserves and you should take my review with a grain of salt. I’ve read a couple of Dietz’s non-fiction books, “The Radio Ate My Brain” and “Cash Cage” and frankly, I enjoyed them more and think he should stick with non-fiction.

Was that too harsh? I don’t want to be a jerk, but there is practically no character development… Father Franklin Ulysses (F.U.) Shmit is a collection of smart remarks, bad puns and one-liners. The multi-media aspect of the book is interesting, I enjoyed the pictures and video links. But the celebrity jokes are already dated. Sorry Corey!
… (meer)

This novel is about your average parish priest, who is given a special assignment directly from the Pope.

Father Shmit suffers from Tourette's Syndrome. Naturally, it manifests itself at the most inconvenient times, except when he is conducting an exorcism. Some priests give wonderful and inspiring sermons week after week, and some priests are best at one-on-one contact. Father Shmit's talent is in exorcisms. His methods can charitably be called "unique," but no one can argue with his success rate.

He is called to the Vatican, and meets privately with Pope Benedict. Father Shmit is told that God is being held hostage by Satan, and that his special talents are needed (no, He is not chained to a chair in an abandoned warehouse). Father Shmit travels to the site along with a computer hacker friend (his plan involves God's e-mail address). Do they succeed? Is God freed from captivity?

As you may have guessed, this is a satire on Christianity. Those who take their religion seriously, and feel that Christianity should never be satirized, will probably skip this book. That is a very bad idea, because it also has some really good writing on the nature of God. Is He a cosmic puppeteer, controlling every bit of our lives, or is He more like a bowling alley reset machine, setting up the pins for humanity to knock down? It's normal to ask why a loving God would allow things like 9/11 or African famine to occur. Take a step back, and look at the bigger picture. For every Adolf Hitler, there is a Martin Luther King, Jr. For every Joseph Stalin, there is a Nelson Mandela. Overall, throughout history, things have gone pretty well for humanity. Atheists want their non-belief to be respected by society. Is there some reason why they can't return the favor, and respect those who do believe, especially around Christmas?

A really open mind will help when reading this book. Get past the satire, and the foul language, and this is a thought-provoking, and funny, story that will keep the reader interested.… (meer)