Book Tour: Deus TEX Machina

DEUS TEX MACHINA:

The Second Calamity of
QED Morningwood
by Rob Witherspoon

Science Fiction / Humor / Satire
Pages: 163
Publication Date: June 13, 2022

QED “Kid” Morningwood is back with big plans to create a death tourism industry. Working with his old Metaphysics professor from Texas Alchemical and Metaphysical University, he delves the purgatorial realms gathering data for his venture. Standing in their way is university president T. Smedley Stalwart and his band of religious zealots – the Ancient and Loyal Order of the Holy Armadillo. FBI agents Flockham and Morales return to infiltrate and monitor ALOHA.

With the help of brilliant metaphysical engineer Yong Mi Hernandez, safety inspector Conrad Dopplebock, and guided by the wisdom of Cotton Widdershins, the Deus Tex Machina is a success. Sort of.

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Rob Witherspoon was born and raised in rural Texas. He earned a BA in Physical Education, UT Arlington 1985 and a BS in Aerospace Engineering, UT Arlington 1990. He lives in north central Texas with his wife and youngest daughter and has spent much of his life in rural communities and on the ranch.

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The first few pages of this oftentimes hilarious book introduces the two central characters, Cotton and QED, otherwise known as Kid. They are as different as any two people on opposite ends of the earth can be, but they are immediately likeable, as is the tongue-in-cheek way of setting the scene in the mercantile. Cotton has come listen to what he refers to as “trash talk” since “old men don’t gossip, they ‘pass stories.'”

So we’re all listening to those old men, and in comes Kid with his latest wacky business idea. He wants to build a machine that will let people travel someplace that he refers to as “the purgatory of your choice.” Then he can sell seats, sort of like space travel, to folks who can afford to pay a hefty fee to visit their afterlife.

This could be any general store in any small town in Texas, and having been to a few myself, I might have see an odd character or two with wild stories and wild ideas. However, I never heard an idea quite as “out there” as what Kid brings to the table.

I enjoyed so much of this funny, funny novel when it focused on the characters and scenes where they were actually doing the experiments that sometimes went woefully awry. The scenes were tight, crisp, with laugh-out-loud moments, but the momentum of the pacing slowed when it came to all the details of building the machine. However, true sci-fi fans may enjoy those passages more than I did.

Throughout the book there are some wonderful descriptions that make the reader stop and smile. This one that I highlighted was such a refreshing and unique way of describing freckles: “Freckled like he had stood too close to the screen door when Uncle Henry painted it red.”

This, dare I say crazy, idea that Kid has to start a business that would transport people into the afterlife and then bring them back to consciousness, is so bizarre, yet I found myself rooting for it’s success.

All of the exotic places that kid travels to when he agrees to be the first human test subject, are hilarious! I laughed out loud when meeting the people who belong to the Ancient and Loyal Order of the Holy Armadillo. ALOHA. What a perfect bit of satire about cults and the blind faith of some people who follow a leader no matter what.

This was really a fun book to read. Rob Witherspoon has a sharp wit and a great way of presenting satire that just works perfectly. Grab a copy and see for yourself.

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