The Denialist’s Almanac of American Plague and Pestilence by Christopher Mohar

A convoluted and seriously funny story, with demanding pertinence in today’s chaos. “...there is nothing more important than now, this stretch, this moment…” When the rapture envelops Balta, Wisconsin, the unlucky few who are left to survive on Earth must do so in a sea of frogs. An overweight teenager struggles to strip himself from virtual reality long enough to experience his last moments of real life, a pair of metal-heads seek solace from past misdeeds by saving abandoned pets, a meat-headed ex-marine tries to reconcile the mortality of his muscles with the impending apocalypse, and a hospital intern scrambles for her faith amidst dead, dying, or raptured patients. Whatever the case, character’s in Mohar’s exhilarating novella strive to make peace with themselves before they meet their own ends, whatever that may be. The Denialist’s Almanac of American Plague and Pestilence captures the frantic humanity of the end of the world with a steady string of humor and cynicism. Mohar, a recipient of the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fellowship, and The Southwest Review’s McGinnis Ritchie Award for fiction, delivers the rapture with oddity and uniqueness.