Rock Gods & Messy Monsters
"Everything Everywhere All at Once" meets "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
(...in a 1990s record company!)
Aliens hatched a rockstar. Brain extractions, falling body parts, and blood-vessel explosions are the norm. Alex's dream job has turned into a nightmare.
What should she do?
It's the 1990s. Alex arrives at Acht Records, her improbable blonde hair streaked stress magenta and anger black. Her first duty is to wipe blood off her boss's walls. It goes downhill from there.
Rock Gods & Messy Monsters is a humorous story about life inside a record company. Yet between the lines of satire and nods to science fiction, the book is a thought-provoking female narrative and social commentary on the corporate world.
Join Alex as she weaves through a comedic cast of characters and down crazed corridors of power, where her boss attempts to thwart her at every turn.
The 1990s New York City music scene never seemed so alien, yet so familiar.
"The novel is so perverse it causes one to laugh out loud at the deranged storyline and detailed descriptions. This is truly satire at its best." - US Review of Books
- Finalist, 2022 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award (Adult Fiction Humor)
- Recommended Review - The US Review of Books
- IndieBRAG Medallion 2023 Honoree
- Top 30 Impressive Indie Books of 2022 from Independent Book Review
- Most frequently wish listed book on BookBub (Dec 2022)
- #1 Hot New Release Amazon Kindle in Absurdist Fiction, Pop Culture and Pop Culture Music (Sept 2022)
- Starred Review, Independent Book Review (Oct 2022)
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"Satirical, zany, hilarious-a gut-punching commentary about the inner workings of the music industry, its power complexes, and power plays." -- The BookLife Prize
"The novel is so perverse it causes one to laugh out loud at the deranged storyline and detailed descriptions, offering an easy-to-read yarn for those looking for something different. This is truly satire at its best." -- Carol Anderson, US Review of Books
"Modern creative writing classes looking for discussion points in experimental literary styles will find Rock Gods & Messy Monsters promises many lively debates about the elements of social examination and the impact of truly creative writing." --Midwest Book Review
"Rock Gods & Messy Monsters by Diane Hatz is a bullet-hell critique of corporate and mass culture by way of Theodor Adorno filtered through the whimsy and humor of writers like Terry Pratchett and Kurt Vonnegut....The best kind of absurdism; the kind that wears a veneer of the surreal while having the grisly guts of reality right underneath." -- Independent Book Review
"Once readers orient themselves with the idiosyncrasies in Hatz's darkly whimsical--yet ultimately relatable--novel, they're in for a fast paced, entertaining comic treat. Character-driven, this loopy satire is a droll examination of the corporate-music world. -- Kirkus Discoveries
"The novel is so perverse it causes one to laugh out loud at the deranged storyline and detailed descriptions, offering an easy-to-read yarn for those looking for something different. This is truly satire at its best." -- Carol Anderson, US Review of Books
"A fast paced, entertaining comic treat." -- Kirkus Discoveries
The best kind of absurdism; the kind that wears a veneer of the surreal while having the grisly guts of reality right underneath. RECOMMENDED - Independent Book Review (Selected as Top 30 Impressive Indie Books of 2022)
"A gory experimental piece and a powerful illustration of dreams that move into the arena of nightmares. - Midwest Book Review
"Satirical, zany, hilarious - a gut-punching commentary about the inner workings of the music industry, its power complexes, and power plays." - The BookLife Prize
"It's difficult to really pin down Rock Gods. You could take it at face value and chalk it down as pure abstract surrealism. You could also decode comma and quotation mark for deeply written philosophical wisdom. I think it's a little bit of both." - The Lit Refinery
"A compelling and highly satirical look at the music industry of the 1990s. A FINALIST and highly recommended!" - The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
