Heaven's Brides by Jessica Mandella

Television MegaChurch Pastor Max Johnson has a big problem with the little lady. Most husbands would hire a private investigator and a top divorce attorney. Max would lose his sponsors. The Good Conscience Independent Bible Church is a business, so the IRS can’t tell him what to preach. The sponsors, that’s another story. Firebrand Steakhouse and Patriot Ammo are two of the biggest chains in the nation. Their customers would boycott over the pastor encouraging his wife’s ongoing affair with a woman. Max is on his own for this one, spying on his wife in this dark, crowded club. Dressed as a heavy metal guitarist in a long blonde wig, he doesn’t look like a preacher.

Waking up, Max remembers seeing lightning all over the club walls, then seeing Jesus. Somebody spiked his drink with ecstasy, and he died for fourteen minutes. It seemed like an eternity, as he got his assignment from the Lord. Max put up a big rainbow sign on the church and signed new gay friendly sponsors. He’s scheduled to preach the ‘Sermon Heard Round the World’. Since the death threats, ‘Deadly Dykes’ have provided armed protection. They’re the bikers with that slogan: ‘Mutilate this, bitch’.

It’s show time. “This two-hour special is brought to you by the TransGender Alliance. If you’re tired of pretending, give them a call. And now, let’s welcome Pastor Max.”

“Dearly Beloved, much of what we thought we knew, was not from God’s word.”

   

I guarantee you, Heaven's Brides is like no other book you have read before. If there were any justice in the world, this would stand alongside . . . no, forget that . . . it would stand above Hubbard's Dianetics in being the text book for a new kind of religion, and Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land in being a blueprint for a new cultural paradigm.

This is spiritual, metaphysical erotica that embraces love and acceptance as its core virtues. Narrow minded readers might accuse it of being blasphemous, especially with the visions of a rainbow-clad Jesus urging Pastor Max Johnson to deny centuries of human error and Biblical mistranslation, but what Jessica Mandella preaches is beautiful - with an LBGTQ-positive, sex-affirming "Sermon Heard Round the World."

With that said, this is not a preachy book, not by any means. You do not need to fear that you will be beaten over the head with demands to change your ways. Instead, it is a story that teaches by example, showing us how true, deep, spiritual love can transform the world . . . and give us superpowers. Yes, this is a story that gets beautifully imaginative and wonderfully trippy, with telepathy and telekinesis arising from the bonds of love, to the point where the characters are able to share sexual experiences, transform themselves, and (in one shocking moment) snuff out the lives of dozens of violent, hatred-fueled terrorists with a thought.

Heaven's Brides merges polyamorous erotica, fantasy wish-fulfilment, a science fiction sense of wonder, and near-apocalyptic horror in a story that is as well-written as it is well-conceived. You may - I dare say will - stop and wonder what you are reading on more than one occasion, but you will do so with a perplexed kind of smile, eager to dive back in and see just what wondrous surprises are coming next.

Kindle: 310 pages
Published: October 25th 2017
Published by: eXcessica