The Writer's Afterlife begins jarringly and plainly: "I died typing mid-sentence in a T-shirt and boxer shorts in front of my computer." The unusual opening sets the tone for Richard Vetere's philosophical, self-aware and darkly funny novel.
After dying at 44, Tom Chillo finds himself in the Writer's Afterlife--a special heaven where imagination rules supreme. In what is perhaps a nod to Dante's Inferno, people in this next world are divided into a hierarchy based on their levels of fame. The most well-known reside in the realm of the Eternals, while Tom, who is not quite famous, must wait in the Valley of Those on the Verge. Though his existence there is pleasant, he is haunted with an acute anxiety that will follow him until he either achieves fame or leaves for the "non-artist" heaven. He has only one chance to influence his fate: return to life for one week and do whatever he can to advance his work. After that, he will have to surrender his future to the living.
Vetere is an accomplished playwright, screenwriter, poet and actor. His experience informs The Writer's Afterlife--the quick pace is reminiscent of television, while the punchy dialogue is easy to imagine on a stage. Thematically, the entire novel is a sort of homage to the literary world, with cameos from Shakespeare, Keats, Dickinson and other famous figures, all cavorting blissfully with their fictional creations. It is both an incisively critical look at writers' neurosis and a celebration of literature's transcendent power. --Annie Atherton