good mix of Dark and Light, with some colour thrown in as well.
This short novel is called 'Guardian Angels'. But these are probably not the angels you envision. Fairbanks angels have glowing pink eyes, and gossamer non-bodies. They float through Time and Space. They speak into one's brain or Self, with or without spoken words. These guardian angels don't do much guarding; they are quite incompetent when it comes to averting disaster. They watch; they support. They know.
Guardian Angels is dark in places, but is also bright and gay, enchanting. It is philosophic, but it is also frivolous and fun. Love. Tragedy. A single red rose. Show-time! Fate. And yes, Death too. And, the forbidden topic: Suicide! The Afterworld. Murderer's Mansion. The Wailing Walls!
A child-star is born, and blesses the world. From the Theatre and stage and film studios of Melbourne, to the Cannes International Film Festival! London! and Hollywood! Back home again to Melbourne. The novel follows the story of a little fatherless boy who becomes a bigger boy, who becomes a bigger boy, a teenager, and becomes a young man. A star - a shooting star!
There is a wide range of interesting characters in addition to the main boy/young man character: Robbie's hero-Mum Beryl whose transgender partner Everett was once a street-working woman named Eva; Vasi the Clown; Georgio the film-producer, Benito Burelli from Hollywood; the school bully Cyrus and fat-boy Solly; Butthead! Ball-Buster! The guardian angels Yangtze, Yintl, and Yubo. And the love interest, Kismet-Fate! A whole host of characters to enjoy!
This novel is not for the religiously convinced. It deals with Death and the AfterWorld, but not from a conventional perspective. Mad crows cawwwing! Guardian angels with pink eyes. 'Prepared rooms' in the AfterWorld- be they wonderous or tortuous.
It is also about Life. About Beauty. Show time!
And it makes you wonder: What are those little pink lights you sometimes see out of the corner of your eye?
