It's a long way from Grimes to Grundy Center, but not nearly so far as to the Afterworld, a hellish domain of humanoids of odd sizes, ingenious punishments, and anti-geometrical houses made of mushrooms. I could walk for miles, the vista dissolving behind me. (Ahead, I saw something too hideous to describe at this particular time.) A place of redemption? For the answer, come on in! "Imagine if Dante's Divine Comedy were actually funny, and you'll begin to understand what's going on in Tito Perdue's remarkable novel Fields of Asphodel, the journey of elitist misanthrope and cultured thug Lee Pefley through a frozen hell and a postmodern purgatory to the gates of paradise: a reunion with his beloved wife, Judy."-Greg Johnson, author of The Trial of Socrates