![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themysticalunderground.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/REINCARNATION-BLUES.jpg?resize=333%2C499&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Once a week or so, I head over to Barnes & Noble to cruise through the aisles and take a look at new books. If a cover looks intriguing, I pick up the book, read the back cover. If the copy on the back captures my interest, I open the book and read the inside flap. If I\u2019m still interested, I open the book to the first page. If it seizes my attention, off to the register I go.<\/p>\n
But a couple of weeks ago, I saw Reincarnation Blues<\/em> by Michael Poore on a display table and wondered why the cover and title were familiar. I was pretty sure I would remember reading a book that mentioned reincarnation in the title, but checked the back cover to be sure:<\/p>\n \u201cMilo woke up by the water, as he\u2019d done almost ten thousand times. Death was there with him, sitting cross-legged. She was always there when he awakened, wearing her long black hair like a cape. She didn\u2019t have to be there. She could snuff out his life and leave him to wake up on his own. But she never did. Not once.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Suzie,\u2019 he whispered. (She didn\u2019t like to be called \u201cdeath.\u201d Who would?\u201d)<\/p>\n So, even though the cover seemed familiar, I definitely hadn\u2019t read the book. I bought it and went home. Rob saw the book on the kitchen table. \u201cWe already have this book! You and Megan gave it to me last Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n So I gave Megan the paperback version I\u2019d bought and I started reading the hardcover.<\/p>\n Reincarnation Blues<\/em> is clever, funny, strange, and sometimes disturbing. The story alternates between some of Milo\u2019s lives – in the distant past and distant future – and his time in between lives, where he and Suzie (death) are frequently lovers. Mile\u2019s quest is for a life of spiritual perfection, and after 9,995 lives, he has 5 more chances to achieve it and \u201cearn a spot in the cosmic soul.\u201d But the only thing he really desires is to be with Suzie forever.<\/p>\n Some of the lives he lives are harrowing. The one in a future penal colony in outer space is the most disturbing, but in that life, he masters a \u201cmind\u201d technique that enables him to drift naked in outer space without dying. The experiences change something in his brain chemistry\u00a0 and afterward, he\u2019s able to heal the other prisoners of various illnesses. He becomes a kind of guru and completely transforms the penal colony. In this life, he nearly achieves perfection.<\/p>\n Reincarnation Blues<\/em> lives up to the starred Kirkus Review it got: \u201cHilarious and often touching\u2026Tales of gods and men akin to Neil Gaiman\u2019s Sandman as penned by a kindred spirit of Douglas Adams.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the most imaginative novels I\u2019ve read in years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once a week or so, I head over to Barnes & Noble to cruise through the aisles and take a look at new books. If a cover looks intriguing, I pick up the book, read the back cover. If the … Continue reading