Scarecrow Gods

God speaks through odd prophets in this schizophrenic tale, which won Ochse a 2005 first novel Stoker Award. Hideously disfigured Maxom Phinxs, known as the “Maggot Man” for his disgusting job at a chicken processing plant, learned a trick as a POW in Vietnam: he can astrally project, abandoning his ravaged body to soar and spy. He shares this ability with troubled young Danny, whose family was shattered when his sister ran away from home. The two join brilliant homeless man Billy Bones and a defrocked monk calling himself John the New Baptist to confront insanity and evil on an alternate plane called the “Land of Inside-Out.” Stereotype-heavy and prone to strange time shifts, endless dream sequences and awkwardly placed flashbacks, the tale is narratively untidy, but the underlying themes of faith, martyrdom, madness and loss are richly, sometimes achingly portrayed. (July)