Kindle Edition Amazon Amazon Category:  Action/Thriller ISBN-10:  0996038612 Type: Fiction Pages: 236 Copyright: April 14, 2014 Price: $2.99 (eBook) A whimsical fantasy/mystery/adventure.  When Marvin Miller dies, he finds Heaven different than he imagined: there are no Pearly Gates, no puffy clouds, and certainly no winged angels playing harps. In fact, Marvin discovers Heaven is run like a business and that he is expected to contribute to the Heavenly community by holding a job that puts him in direct contact with the Devil, a roguish, rebellious golf fanatic.  As part of Heaven’s Management Team, Marvin encourages residents to donate parts of their souls in order to create new life on Earth. However, when he falls for Bree, a rebellious activist who suspects the donations are not entirely voluntary, Marvin must confront Good versus Evil in the Heavenly realm as well as manage a Heavenly crisis of epic proportions.  Between Marvin, Bree, the Devil, and a wondrous cat named Zoey, Heaven will never be the same.        Excerpt Marvin Miller was so distracted he never noticed the marble bathtub, complete with aqua-jets, that fell four stories and killed him. In the previous thirty seconds exactly forty-four people walked safely around the work area. They noticed the orange safety cones. They survived. Marvin didn’t. He had rushed out of the office to grab a quick bite to eat. An artist’s rep for an agency representing creative types, Beecham and Howe, Marvin had a meeting scheduled with a former graffiti artist turned painter whose real name was Arthur Ginsburg but now went under the tag Launch 3,2,1. Ginsburg had been arrested for spraying a mural in a subway station and, while in jail, took up painting. Now he was acquiring some buzz in the galleries. And he was batshit crazy. But, then again, all of Marvin’s clients were nuts. Sometimes he wished he represented writers, or photographers, or actors, or musicians. But they were probably just as bad. The meeting was to take place in Mr Beecham’s office where they would go over the details of Ginsburg/Launch’s new contract. Marvin certainly couldn’t be late and all he had time to do was grab a quick slice of pizza at Pepperoni Boys. It was just down the block from the office. He left the pizzeria distracted by thoughts of clauses, percentages, and royalties. That would explain his not noticing the orange cones out on the sidewalk. He heard someone yell “watch out” and looked around. Then he looked up. “Nice tub,” he thought. It was his last thought on Earth as an actual living person. One minute Marvin was walking out the door at Pepperoni Boys and the next he was...here. Marvin thought he should try to take stock of the situation. Directly in front of him was a door with a glass panel. Stenciled words on the glass door, , looked like foreign language. He looked to the side and noticed a woman sitting behind a desk typing away frantically on what looked like a computer. A little oaken sign read "Sylvia." "Hello, Marvin," she said when she looked up and noticed him staring. "Hello, Sylvia," he replied. She was a rather large woman with a bouffant hair style that was dyed a shade of red that Marvin had never seen before. She wore cat’s eye glasses and peered over them to look at Marvin, who still felt a little woozy after being killed and all. His stomach growled, never having had the chance to get in even one bite of his slice of bacon extra cheese. He looked back at the door and tried once again to make sense out of the strange language painted on the glass. The phone rang. "Human Resources," said Sylvia, answering the call. That explained the sign on the door. She scribbled notes quickly on a pink memo pad. "Yes sir. Yes, absolutely sir. I'll make sure he gets it as soon as possible." Sylvia hung up the phone and went back to her frantic typing. "Sylvia?" She sighed heavily as she stopped banging the keyboard. "Yes, Marvin?" "Where am I? I have a two o’clock meeting…" "You’re at Human Resources. Didn’t you read the sign on the door?" Marvin looked back over at the door, still dazed. "I was just..." Marvin paused to find the right word. "Killed, Marvin. You were just killed." "Pardon?" "Look, you seem like a nice kid and all. I hate to be the one to break it to you. Part of the job, you know? But you’re dead," Sylvia said. Sylvia had a totally different manner than the secretaries Marvin was used to where he worked at Beecham and Howe. There, when someone asked a secretary to do anything, the secretary usually reacted with eyes rolling upward, inconvenienced by having to even handle a phone call. "It’s over," Sylvia said. "Hmm," was all Marvin could seem to muster up in terms of a response. "You’re done," she added. "Hmm," replied Marvin. The second "hmm" made Marvin feel a little better, like he was actually contributing more to the conversation. “Look kid,” she said sweetly, “I know this is all a lot to take in and I’d love to take the time to chat but we’re swamped here. Do you know how many people die a day?” “No idea, Sylvia.” “Of course not. It was a rhetorical question. A hundred and fifty thousand. A day.” “That’s a lot of dead people…” “Yes, it is. And it never stops. I’ve been doing this for seventy-four years and it hasn’t eased up yet.” “You don’t look that old. You look like your still…” “Yeah, thanks. But spare me, ok? I have a lot to do. And there’s a thousand people just like me to process them through. See what I mean. We’re busy.” She started typing again. “A thousand? Must be a big building.” “You have no idea, hon,” she said without a pause on the keyboard. “A hundred and fifty thousand…a day. And I’m one of them. I mean, I’ve died?” Sylvia stooped typing and looked straight at Marvin. "Finished... faded to black... down for the count... over and out... expired... dead, Marvin. Is there any chance that this is getting through to you?" "Hmm?" replied Marvin, feeling extremely proud of his clever ability to ask what seemed to him to be a direct question. Sylvia realized that Marvin was still a little out of it. It happened with the newbies on occasion, especially those who met sudden, violent deaths. Like a bath tub falling out of the sky. She softened somewhat. "Look hon, suffice it to say you won't be making your two o'clock meeting, ok?" "Mr. Beecham's my boss…" Marvin offered. “Was your boss,” stated Sylvia. “If I don’t make my two o’clock with him, he’s gonna kill me,” said Marvin. "No problem there, Marv."

There Should Be A Law!
Authors shouldn’t be allowed to go around willy-nilly causing people to read far into the night because they can’t put the book down! There should be a law!!

Thankfully, there isn’t.

Every novel worth the name begins life with a What-If. Mr. Taffel poses an intriguing and highly entertaining series of What-If’s that will keep you fully engaged from first page to last.

What if the heaven we’ve been led to believe in for millennia, isn’t that at all? What if heaven isn’t quite perfect? What if the residents can effect positive change? What if Lucifer isn’t such a bad guy after all?

That set of questions is addressed along with a heavenly host of others.

The author brings us a cast of entertaining and evocative characters. They are people you know ~ some you love, some you hate and in some you see a some of yourself.

Mr. Taffel has created a novel that is extremely visual. The scenes and characters come alive in the mind of the reader like few books I’ve read before. If this isn’t optioned for the movies or television, I will be surprised and very much let down.

I usually like my books to stay within set genres. Heaven Inc., is a mystery, a thriller, a romance, a voyage of discovery, a comedy and tragedy. Part theology, part philosophy part psychology and all fun. That the author didn’t work in a Western Regency Cook Book is something I’m sure he will address in his next book.

It is my sincere hope there will be a next book ~ and soon!

Buy this Kindle eBook right now. Dammit!

I Am Very Picky...
I am very picky with material that I read, and so I make sure to only pick up novels which will captivate my attention, and make me unable to put it down until its completion. Not only is the depiction of Heaven clever and unique, but Hell as well. What a spectacular and intricate story that is weaved in this combination mystery and adventure story, depicting Martin's stroll post-mortem through Heaven, and investigating a massive flaw in how the system works. It will make you think, make you wonder, make you smile, and honestly? It will make you wonder what your role would be in the afterlife (at least, it kept me up all night wondering). Pick this up, it truly is enlightening.

Fun and Thought-Provoking Read
This is a book that most will find challenging in one way or another. It's undoubtedly an enjoyable read. Taffel has a deft touch with description and dialogue. His fictional universe is not very different from this one, and, many would guess, not different at all. What's different, of course, is that we see Heaven, which, as he's written it, is a pretty lively place with a few issues. Hell isn't so interesting. Except for the golf course. But I don't want to give anything away. Through a number of characters, we take a journey that asks, and postulates answers, about morality and love. If the book has a fault, it's in a bit of heavy-handedness when it comes to the point Taffel is making. But I don't find it unforgivable, as this love letter to humanity is both heartfelt and lively.