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Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez
01/02/2006 . Source: Joules Taylor 
pub: TOR. 268 page hardback. Price: $24.95 (US), $34.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-31143-7. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.tor.com
'In the middle of nowhere, along a quiet stretch of road, the diner dreamt of the hungry dead. And of two men.
Well, not men exactly.' (p9)
Thus opens one of the funniest, cleverest stories I've read in quite some time. The two not-exactly men are Earl and Duke. Vampire and werewolf respectively, as we're told point-blank on the second page. They're an unprepossessing pair, too. Earl scrawny and balding. Duke fat and hairy. The diner's proprietor Loretta, not Gil, despite the book's title, as he's currently dead, isn't exactly a beauty either. She's tough, though and she needs to be. The diner is actually a portal into another dimension and the forces of darkness in this world, in the form of schoolgirl, Tammy, are planning to allow the portal to open and welcome the Old Gods to Earth...
First, however, Loretta has to tackle the zombies that have started plaguing the place. She hires Earl and Duke to do the job for her. Successfully, at least to start with. But the initially normal-seeming town of Rockwood isn't the sort of place to give up that easily. Little by little, in small asides, laconic snippets of information and offhand comments from one character to another, the reader comes to realise that the town is rather...odd. Just like the people and other things that live there.
It's a very gradual realisation, introduced in almost subliminal steps, skilfully crafted so that by the time the reader reaches the middle of the book they've already accepted it for what it is and the full description of the place comes as no surprise. It's on page 153. I'm not going to quote it, I'd rather not spoil the fun. Mind you, according to Duke and Earl, it's not just Rockwood. Apparently the St Louis Arch is a transdimensional portal and Big Ben is actually 'the Stopwatch of Infinity... 'There's a cog in there that literally carries the fate of the world.' (p157). In contrast, the pyramids are just giant Egyptian tombstones...
For a book that makes the improbable mundane and, more importantly, entertaining, 'Gil's All Fright Diner' would be hard to better. Its wry, dry humour had me laughing aloud. The characters are handled with a deft touch that makes even the villains likeable. 'Tammy raised her hands over her head and giggled the malign giggle of a schoolgirl consorting with the legions of darkness and having a hell of a time doing it.' (p109) The conversation between the dismembered ghouls as they wait for the sun to rise and dissolve them is priceless!
This is the author's first book. I look forward to his next and really hope he can continue to write at this quality!
Heartily recommended for anyone with a quirky sense of humour.
Joules Taylor
http://www.wordwrights.co.uk
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