Mortality Bridge

Decades ago a young rock & blues guitarist and junkie named Niko signed in blood on the dotted line and in return became the stuff of music legend. But when the love of his damned life grows mortally and mysteriously ill he realizes he's lost more than he bargained for - and that wasn't part of the Deal. So Niko sets out on a harrowing journey from the streets of Los Angeles through the downtown subway tunnels and across the red-lit plain of the most vividly realized Hell since Dante, to play the gig of his mortgaged life and win back the purloined soul of his lost love. MORTALITY BRIDGE remixes Orpheus, Dante, Faust, the Crossroads legend, and more, in a beautiful, brutal - and surprisingly funny - quest across a Hieronymous Bosch landscape of myth, music, and mayhem; and across an inner terrain of addiction, damnation, and redemption. Winner of the 2011 Emperor Norton Award for best novel by a San Francisco Bay-area writer. REVIEWS Through unusual turns of phrase, violent and bloody imagery, heart-rending introspection, and mythic tone, Boyett explores themes of betrayal, redemption, and personal sacrifice in a tortured landscape of bedlam and pandemonium. -Publisher's Weekly (starred review) A mad mixture of Orpheus, Faust, and Dante. Expansive, gonzo encounters, all of which are vividly rendered. It ends with a killer-diller final sentence. The language is all. Mortality Bridge is, you should only excuse the expression, a Hell of a read. —Sci Fi Magazine Niko's race through Hell is one of the greatest supernatural adventure stories of recent memory. It is not a mere allegory about sin and redeption, cowardice and nobility: it's also a damned good story, which sets it apart from almost all existential allegories. —Cory Doctorow I knew I was probably going to like this book. I wasn't expecting how much it affected me. This is the good stuff, folks. Don't miss out. —John Scalzi, Whatever Brilliant. An unforgettable tale of one man's journey to Hell. The writing is filled with vivid sensory detail. I was pushed to my limits by this one. Immeasurably sad. Moments of transcendent joy and beauty and compassion. A very well-written book that made me feel intense emotion. I recommend it. —Fantasy Literature Mortality Bridge has something for everyone: Great characterization, vivid description, pulse pounding action. It's a story of human weakness and redemption that's even older than the myths the novel draws upon, a story we can all relate to. An incredible, touching, exhilarating work that I wholeheartedly recommend. —SF Revu