Click here to buy this book! Kindle Edition Amazon Lulu Amazon Barnes & Noble Category:  Horror Publisher: Lulu Publishing Service Type: Fiction Pages: 202 Copyright: May 16, 2018 ISBN-13: 9781483485102 Price: $8.99 (eBook) Roach the Demon is out of Hell. He's here and up to no good! Larry Kavanaugh is an ordinary kind of guy. He’s got a nagging wife and two kids, both annoyingly gifted. No matter what he does, there is no end to what his family needs. What’s a regular, everyday guy to do? Well, he cuts a few corners, obviously – one very big corner. He sells his soul to the Devil. Maybe it’s not the actual Devil, but Larry is ready to make a deal with one of the Devil’s minions. He meets some demon whose name he can’t remember. Funny, it was right on the tip of his tongue, a name of something you step on. Roach the Demon has sort of good intentions. He just wants a re-write of Dante’s Inferno with himself as the star. Roach goes after Larry as a rogue operation. He needs to make a point to his boss, Satan, so he uses the body of a human to follow Larry around and stir up trouble. He offers Larry an airtight guarantee that nothing could possibly go wrong. After all, Larry does not feel like he has much to lose – or does he? Even Roach might be in over his head this time.    Excerpt It’s never easy, hearing that the boss wants to see you. Right away. Drop what you are doing; bring me that contract. Now! Even if you think you have done your work well. You know in advance, he’s never satisfied. Especially if your boss is the Devil himself. In the beginning, he had been Lucifer, the most radiant of all created beings. Now he was known as Satan, Lord of the Flies, Father of Lies. Old Scratch, to his fellow demons. No more was he the beautiful Lucifer, but a fat, bald, ugly little man with a pot belly and way too many warts. What a temper he had. Satan’s receptionist asked the demon Roach to have a seat in the waiting room. This was always the way it was done, you had to be on time, but Satan, not so much. His time was valuable. Yours, not so much. Don’t forget that. Plus, the waiting area was dirty and depressing. There were two vending machines, one selling lukewarm soda pop, the other stale candy, and neither had worked for eons. Stains were all over the floor and walls. You had to take care how you sat on the couch, the upholstery was torn and had springs sticking out of it. It always too hot or cold in here. The receptionist herself was such an eyesore. She was not even a demon, but a damned soul. Roach wondered what she did in her life to end up in a place like this. It was said, she gave birth in a fleabag motel, and left the baby to freeze in the dumpster. Roach could believe it. And then there was the noise, the constant whining of the damned souls, the mocking laughter of demons like himself. Plus, it smelled bad. Someone in the Upper World once spoke of the smoke of Satan. He certainly was right. This whole area reeked of Satan’s eternal cigars.

Horror News
Our Frail Disordered Lives
By Mary M. Schmidt
Lulu Publishing
202 Pages
Roach and Scorch are two rival demons vying to acquire as many souls for all of damnation. Yet even the business of condemning seems more jaded and tainted somehow. As the two demons attempt to find their unholy place, a mortal enters the fray that significantly changes the game. Larry Kavanaugh has just sold his eternal soul to one Roach and the game suddenly becomes interesting again. Will the recently procured be enough to redeem Roach’s sense of definition or will the accents of hellfire and brimstone be irreversible? Only Our Frail Disordered Lives can unveil the true destiny.
By far one of the greatest perks of writing for horrornews.net is the opportunity provided to experience the endeavors of authors that I may not have ever had the opportunity to charter otherwise. Some of my most cherished, go to reading odysseys have been delivered via horror news. The works of wordsmith Mary M. Schmidt is certainly among them.
Our Frail Disordered Lives takes a timeless premise and adds a most unique, unusual slant. We get a glimpse into the perspectives of eternity each from the mortals and the minions that serve. A comedic interlude into the history of evil and hell’s history is depicted for levity and intrigue.
Schmidt seems to have a firm grasp on effective character development. In the first act we get to know estranged couple Larry and Kathleen and what makes them tick. We also get into what drives Roach and Scorch and how they approach their individual servitude. Some most compelling plot escalation is unleashed as Dorothy, a religious fanatic is introduced. Chapters alternate back and forth as we learn what motivates her character and how she is affiliated with Kathleen, her sister Grace and Larry.
There is a delicate balance in between perpetual story development and refraining from over indulgent exposition and back story. Small innuendos are highlighted but deters not from the direction of the tale and in fact adds further suspense. As a result, in an undeniable subconscious sense we as the readership become addicted to what happens next, forever tearing through chapter after chapter.
Schmidt’s novel is very compressed and relatively brief. Make no mistake about it a lot transpires within a relative brief two hundred pages. She seems to understand the critical nature of attracting and maintaining and audience’s attention. Our Frail Disordered Lives would make for a most interesting screen adaptation rather through a mini-series or film.
The parallels between mortal living and hell make for an interesting metaphor that unleashes a formidable sense of empathy for each the protagonists and antagonists. It isn’t often we can relate to the villainous characters so readily. Yet it seems to work in this circumstance.
As the final act unfolds the ante is significantly raised as we race towards a climactic end we don’t see coming. I predict a most promising future ahead for one Mary M. Schmidt. I for one cannot wait to delve on in to future endeavors.



Horror Palace
Unconventional horror is the name of the game for Our Frail Disordered Lives, and it does not take long to reach this conclusion once you start reading. Mary M. Schmidt brings you a story that will not just entertain on several levels, but you will constantly find yourself wondering – what comes next?
Larry Kavanaugh appears to be an ordinary family man with typical problems. But to him, these problems are just a little too much to handle, which opens up an opportunity for a demon called Roach. As a minion of Satan and assigned to gain souls in the Upper World, Roach is not the dark angel’s favorite. Instead, he gets all the bad assignments that eventually lead to him looking more incompetent as eternity rages on.
Finally, Roach decides to defy the orders of his master and stay in the Upper World, where he can embody another human while keeping a close eye on Larry. More specifically, Roach is determined to turn time back and get his spot in Dante’s Inferno – a spot that Satan took away from him – and Larry is the person that is going to help him.
After reading more than my fair share of titles filled with blood, guts, and diabolic entities, this book by Schmidt took me down a very different road. With a casual and laidback style, Schmidt paints a corporate side of hell you probably do not think about every day. Overall, the style is humorous and lighthearted, although it addresses many issues a lot of families face every day.

The pacing of the story is spot-on, and the way Schmidt pieced the book together flows perfectly with the premise of the plot. It does not move too fast or too slow, and there is always something happening somewhere. In terms of plot originality, it is not the first time hell and its creatures have been portrayed with likable elements, but Schmidt manages to put her own fresh spin on things.
As for the characters that make up this refreshing story, they are as colorful as they are entertaining. From Satan and Roach to Larry and his wife, there is never a lack of authenticity. They all blend perfectly to deliver the type of horror story you cannot help read with a permanent grin.
What is quite clear from the beginning is that Our Frail Disordered Lives is not meant to leave you paranoid and scared. This is because the premise makes light of something that is very misunderstood, namely the afterlife. It also looks at how far people will go just to make things easier on themselves within the current moment.
Readers who want to break away from the dark and twisted, this is definitely a book I would recommend. Make no mistake; there are some dark moments, but given the style and tone of the story, they do not linger. Chances are you will read the last page with more appreciation for what you have, and you will think twice about selling your soul without making sure all the details have been covered.




Ace Reads (South Africa)
Our Frail Disordered Lives by Mary M. Schmidt

Paperback, 202 pages

Goodreads rating: 4.45

Published May 16th 2018 by Lulu

ISBN 1483485102 (ISBN13: 9781483485102)

My rating: 5

So let me start off by saying that I was a bit sceptical to read and review this book as it is not in my preferred genre, but I decided to give it a try. And I am so glad that I did! I really loved this book. The story is well written and has characters that you love and characters that you love to hate. Almost every chapter left me wanting more. It was a relatively short book which I appreciate, often books are long winded but Mary M. Schmidt got this one just right. Our frail disordered lives is a horror comedy with plenty of scandal.

The story follows a lower level demon named Roach and the Kavanaugh family. Roach has a grudge against Satan and sets out to prove himself while Larry Kavanaugh is just a selfish bastard. Larry does not do anything that does not benefit Larry even at the expense of his wife and children. This story unfolds into a funny and shocking tale.

I really enjoyed the atypical portrayal of Satan (dirty & nasty instead of pristine & beautiful) more of a mob boss than an ex-angel. The character growth throughout the novel is great and honestly the end of the novel had me tearing up a little. This book is a really good representation of what can happen when you mess around with the devil. Another thing I loved about this book was the cats, such an awesome an unusual addition to the story (cats rock).

Overall I loved the story and would recommend the book no matter your genre preferences. It’s just a really fun unputdownable read!