The Song Behind Today’s Review Title
In 1976 the band Blue Öyster Cult released the studio album Agents of Fortune, on the heels of their 1975 gold record earning live album On Your Feet or On Your Knees. The studio album became a platinum seller (over 2,000,000 copies sold) for the band and included the hit single (Don’t Fear) the Reaper. It’s that hit single that contains the line that is today’s review title.
The song was written by band member and lead guitarist Donald Roeser. He wanted the song to convey the story of a love so strong that even death could not restrain it. But his inclusion of Romeo and Juliet in the lyrics caused many to interpret the song as an “endorsement” of suicide, as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet both die by suicide, each unable to live without the other. Roeser was reportedly horrified by that interpretation.
Another thing that caused confusion was the line “40,000 men and women everyday”. The number was Roeser’s guess as to how many people died each day back in the mid-1970s. He was in fact off by about 100,000. Regardless of the math error and the suicide misinterpretation, the song’s focus is on the inevitability of death, a reality we all will face ourselves one day. And that fits very well with today’s book, a comedic novel about death.
One more thing - despite the Germanic umlaut above the O in the band’s name, they are not from Germany but are an American band hailing from Stony Brook on Long Island, New York.
You can listen to the song on the band’s official music video here on YouTube.
Bud Stanley is a failing obituary writer who, after a bad blind date, drunkenly sits at home in front of his computer and writes his own obituary on his newspaper’s website. Then, he drunkenly and inadvertently hits the button that publishes it to the world.
So begins this hilarious and sad novel about a man struggling in many ways through midlife. Divorced, he has begun not caring and thus failing at his job.
Bud’s story arc takes some familiar and some unfamiliar paths, but author Kenney travels them with a deft hand, combining satire and sadness in equal measure. It may not be a book that will change your life, but it is a book that will make you think.
John Kenney is the author of three novels and four books of poetry. He is also in advertising, which is why you can see his own promotional video for this book here: https://www.byjohnkenney.com/book-promotion (Photo source: https://www.byjohnkenney.com/contact)
And what you’ll think about is death. How it impacts the living. How people struggle to accept it. How people come to peace with it. How some people try to bring about their own death. How the death of someone close to us can change the course of our life. How death is not fair and claims people at the prime of their lives, or those just starting to live. In this book death affects almost every character. It’s not a maudlin telling, but rather sad and satirical.
I will admit I’d not heard of this book before it became a featured book on the Libby Reads: The Digital Book Club. Libby, of course, is the app that lets you check out ebooks and audiobooks from your local library direct to your phone or tablet. Libby Reads is its free, global book club. So long as your local library participates, you can join readers across the globe and read one of the book club’s periodic featured books. (You can find the Libby Reads book club here.)
I’m glad that I gave in to the online blurbs about the book and decided to read it on Libby. I wondered why Libby decided to feature this book in the middle of the summer - it’s not exactly a beach read; it’s more of a lazy-fall-evenings-by-the-fire kind of read. But then I realized that the paperback version of the book just came out July 2nd, and being featured in the book club is a way to help spread the word - so that’s what I am doing!
Well, how is Bud at the end of his journey? I don’t want to give away anything here, but I do think I should point out that this is a first-person narrative, so we see the whole journey through Bud’s eyes. Has he grown? Yes. Enough? Well dear reader, that judgement is really up to you. Perhaps the real question is whether this book with take you through a journey of your own. It certainly gave me room for reflection, but only you can answer either of these questions for yourself.
I do recommend this book. It’s still available through the Libby Reads book club, but only for another few days. Maybe wait a few months and pick up a copy from your local library, or spring for the newly released paperback, and take it home to read by the autumn fire.
RATING: Three and a Half Stars ⭐⭐⭐🌠
OVERALL COMMENTS: Both hilariously satirical and sad, this book takes the reader through a midlife reckoning with divorce, job failure, and death.
WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I checked out the ebook from my local library through the Libby app, with no wait list and no holds thanks to the fact that it is a featured book on Libby Reads, the digital book club.
Title: I See You’ve Called in Dead
Author: John Kenney
Publisher: Zibby Media
Publish Date: July 2, 2026 (paperback version)
ISBN-13: 9798989923014
Publisher’s List Price: $27.99 hard cover, $18.99 large print paperback. ebook and audiobook available (but not direct from publisher)
Other Books and Stuff
CURRENT BOOKS & STUFF
Ok, so I’ve wrapped up Sweeter Voices Still, the anthology of LGBTQ short stories I’ve been working on for a couple of weeks and now I’m on to The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. Fittingly, that makes it the fifth short book for a future newsletter post focused on reviews of short books.
As for TV watching, we’ve been keeping up with House of the Dragon on HBO, and we also managed to binge watch the first season of Young Sherlock on Prime (getting the most out of our free month). That was very enjoyable. It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, but fortunately the renewal for a second season was announced just as we finished up season one.
Now we’ve just started into the first season of The Buroughs on Netflix. This show is done by the same folks who made Stranger Things. Set in a retirement community it’s being called “Cocoon meets Stranger Things”. We’re a couple of episodes in and so far it has kind of an updated, and a bit surreal “happy America” feel to it that reminds me of the beginnings of E.T. or Poltergiest.
WHAT’S NEXT
Next week I’ll be reviewing The Christian Past That Wasn’t by Warren Throckmorton. This nonfiction book from a publishing house “rooted in the progressive Christian tradition” (Broadleaf Books) is subtitled “Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That Hijack History”. Here’s the publisher’s blurb:
"[A] robust treatise. . . . Throckmorton effectively marshals historical evidence to support his claims." --Publishers Weekly
"A timely study. . . . Through clear argument, this book illuminates the founders' intention for church-state separation." --Library Journal
America was not founded as a Christian nation.
Who gains what from myths about the past? Why are many of us susceptible to their power? And how can the truth about a nation's past prevail? In this lively book, Warren Throckmorton, coauthor of Getting Jefferson Right, investigates the gloss that Christian nationalist storytellers put on history and equips readers to debunk seven myths that they propagate.
Working in the tradition of muckraking journalists, Throckmorton, whose fact-checking of David Barton's book The Jefferson Lies convinced the publisher to pull it from the shelves, picks a fight with fables told about the past by those who are trying to erase the separation of church and state. Did the Puritans actually establish a covenant with God, and were all the founders evangelical Christians? Are the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution based on the Bible, and did delegates at the constitutional convention in Philadelphia actually kneel for daily prayers? With keen attention to primary sources, Throckmorton dismantles the myths, piece by historical piece. And he asks: How are the genocide of Indigenous people and enslavement of millions of Africans not definitive repudiations of some righteous Christian past?
It's never been more important to understand why myths about the past wield so much force--and whom those myths empower. White Christian nationalism thrives on origin stories, and Throckmorton equips readers to debunk the false ones. The real heritage of America is neither as a Christian state nor pure secularism; it is a more nuanced story, he says, one of religious tolerance and pluralism. To understand Christian nationalism, we must know the power of myth. To counter it, we must know the facts.
