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A review by Sandra Scholes
For those who like to delve into the realms of the unreal and offbeat, this is a really good one. What
other cover has a severed hand on it wearing green nail varnish? This is as good an indication as any that what's
inside is a fun read -- not just the blurb on the back. It is an unusual novel that has several influences
from some of the most notable horror fiction writers around, H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King and dare I
say, Douglas Adams, but as far as horror goes, it ends up going more along the lines of comedy as
David Wong is the pseudonym of Jason Pargin, the editor of Cracked.com.
In John Dies at the End it is interesting that David Wong uses his own name for the main character in
this novel. His best friend is John, and according to the title of the novel -- dies at the end, but that
is far from all. His friend and he are involved in a series of related and unrelated events that seem like
they should be in an indie movie if the scriptwriter happened to be Weird Al Yankovic. John and David
witness the most comical occurrences known to man, not knowing who to blame, only that they keep on
happening. Strange spider episodes, weird phone calls from a girl friend and the trouble they are to
have in the future. They have no answers to what is going on, but there is something that could help
them if they take it -- soy sauce -- the drug of the future:
"In those first hours after you take it, your brain is tuned in like nothing you can imagine. Eyes
like the Hubble Telescope, sensing light that's not even in the spectrum. You might be able to read
minds, make time stop, cook pasta that's exactly right every time. And you can see the shadowy things
that share this world, the ones who are always present and always hidden. It'd be like if a doctor
could walk around with miscroscopes strapped to his eyes all of the time, so he could just look and
see the sickness crawling around inside us."
Soy sauce opens a portal to another dimension so the user can experience life differently, and also
see into the future. But this future they see isn't enlightening, wonderful, or in any way bright
as it's a lot like Hell, apparently, and if the two of them have come to save the world, then they
have to be very quick about it. There are others at work who want to prevent them from doing
this -- the Korrok and the invaders of the world as we know it.
In Book II: Korrok, John and David find a part from Dr Marconi's book on the alien fiends who seek to
terrorise and enslave man, Page 192 of Science and the Beyond by Albert Marconi makes out that an Egyptian
god called Kuk was a frog-like deity who was steeped in darkness and chaos:
"Haleine, however, believed he had stumbled upon a cult that worshipped his rash and destructive
son, Kor'rok. This god was represented symbolically by a man punctured by two spears, one in the mouth
and one in his groin, the twin centres of desire for mankind.
In the cult's mythology, Kor'rok was a reckless and cruel slave master, who used men's bodily desires
to lure them to their destruction for his own amusement."
It is interesting to note that David Wong uses some of the ideas for his god from Egyptian mythology,
one in particular that surrounds their chaos god, Seth, only in his own version he is made to be that
much funnier by his strange, if unusual antics. David's grasp and use of myth alone prove to be just as
comical in the text from Dr Marconi's book, as it goes into great detail on two pages as to why the god
was this way, and what others did to try and suppress its appetite for destruction. Wong's character
mentions the reference to Korrok's symbol being the same one which also appears mysteriously on Molly's foot:
"Another day of travel took me back to the village. I arrived in such a state of excitement that the
priest had me restrained by several strong men and forced me to drink a potion to "cool the embers
in my head." After some time I got alone with the priest and asked him about Koddock and the symbol.
The symbol, he told me, was a representation of the god Koddock himself. Koddock was a young god,
he told me, hot-headed and prone to fits of rage if not pleased. The vertical line was his body. The
top horizontal line was a stream of vomit; the second horizontal line was a stream of urine. For, you
see, the tribe believed Koddock liked to drink to excess, and when he was intoxicated he interfered
with the affairs of man and caused great destruction."
One of the funniest moments in the book is in Chapter 13: The Chat Transcript where more is found
on the aliens who serve Korrok as Amy watches what happens during the chat itself as she sees the
ensuing madness unravel around her. A Korrok minion sneaks onto the chat and tries to convert a
human, with tragic consequences. Readers will be shocked at the many names Korrok goes by in this
novel, though Korrok the Famished will make the reader think the god is eternally hungry.
Copyright © 2011 Sandra Scholes
Sandra Scholes enjoys many pastimes, painting, drawing, writing short stories and when she's
busy as hell she writes for Active Anime, Quailbell magazine,
The Chronicle and Love Romance Passion to name a few.
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