Laptop of the Gods Book

A first comic-fantasy novel by a writer best known for non-fiction about media excess, Laptop of the Gods has a scenario reminiscent of Tom Holt. Greek, Norse and other gods live in a petty suburban Heaven where, mysteriously, they sing Christian hymns and celebrate Christmas. Weary of human foibles, they've stopped intervening down below, preferring to play virtual-reality games and bicker over garden fences in Arcadia Close while the GOD computer runs everything. GOD, however, contains the ultimate millennium bug, the Beast 666, which will erase the gods and impoverish earthly life at midnight on 31/12/99, unless...Amusing though not as funny as Holt or Pratchett, Laptop alternates between wild slapstick and sombre moralising about the poor spiritual state of deities and earthlings today, before producing a literal deus ex machina solution. Various contemporary issues are satirised, most leadenly in a passage about souls being urged to reincarnate with disabilities so as to lead a cushy pampered-minority life--a feeble poke at "political correctness" which this hearing-impaired reviewer found singularly unfunny. Chippindale's last, best hope for Earth is a return of benevolent gods prepared to do some judicious smiting; more of this in an upcoming sequel. Lightweight entertainment. --David LangfordRead More