Review: New ideas from a new author - and very welcome at that!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2014
British author Chike Deluna seems to have as much a sense of humor as he has a mastery of gothic horror. According to some bio notes he states, `I've been hospitalized in Nevada, robbed in Phuket, lost in Marrakech, and mildly inconvenienced in Mumbai, and yet the manuscripts survived, and the tales continued to grow in the telling. I'm author of 'The Mistress of the Web series' and 'The Pornographer's Party & Other Stories', a collection of horror shorts guaranteed to get under your skin. I write Gothic Sci-fi & Epic Fantasy, and Horror with lashings of tragic romance. I hope you're tempted to sample my work, just a nibble, I promise it won't hurt much when the hook sinks in. I believe in karma. I believe whatever I write in this life I'll wind up reading in the next. That's a sobering thought.'What we do find on opening the pages of this very hefty book is a style of writing that is quite unique. Not only are the characters Deluna creates wildly imaginative, but also circumstances into which he places them are equally outrageous. It is a fantasy but it does have a linear storyline despite the wild excursions our main character takes on his delusional concept that he is an accidental messiah! As one has described the story, this is `a mad hairy beast of a novel with teeth the size of carving knives!' But a book of this length and complexity is best summarized by the author himself: `He can change the world, one foot massage at a time. A savagely funny look at the modern world through the eyes of an accidental messiah - lucid dreaming, illegal tramp fights, modern alienation, and orgasmic foot massage, The Cosmic Foot Masseur pokes fun at everything from conspiracy theories to the sex lives of strangers. A man called No-One (aka Paul Mill) wakes up in a rundown Bombay hospital.   No past.   No name.  No memories.  But he has this gift; he can heal the sick and dying through foot massage. Deported to Britain and set adrift on the streets of London Paul soon makes a name for himself amongst the city's legions of homeless, but when it is discovered his talents come with an unintended side effect; the ability to produce orgasms of mind-numbing intensity, the rich and famous are soon beating a path to his door. Governments, gangsters, occultists, hedonists and billionaire vampires, suddenly everyone wants a piece of The Cosmic Foot Masseur - branded, marketed and packaged as a sex guru of near-messianic proportions Paul may not have a past - but he's got one hell of a future.'As much as the tendency to overlook this genre turns many people away, there is little doubt that stepping beyond the hilariously ridiculous topic of the book one fins an author of immense promise. The pacing of the story, the language blending expletives with some rather jolting philosophical ramblings and social commentary makes this book well worth the investment in time. It is in many ways an escapist novel - and the need for `escape' in the global situation in which we find ourselves today is becoming increasingly popular - if not necessary! Grady Harp, March 14