Good Sex, Great Prayers

Pratt has fallen upon strange times. Father Johnstone, who’s served at the helm for the past thirty years, has begun to lose his flock. He dispenses poor marital advice and indulges in the company of lusting widows, both of which he can hardly remember doing. The pastor has never felt more unlike himself, and Madeline Paige—the town’s newest resident—believes she knows the reason. What she reveals will compromise everything Father Johnstone has ever known.
Meanwhile, two men beyond Pratt’s county lines administer their own brand of faith. Billy Burke, the truck-stop preacher, tours the Bible Belt advising blue-collar workers how to properly assault a meth-hooker and the best way to protest gay nightclubs. He’s destined to meet a man that’s been operating out of Las Vegas under many different names, experimenting on a myriad of escorts using Christian lingerie, pious roleplay, and Biblical paraphernalia. Together, they will push the threshold, and the town of Pratt will serve as the battleground for when faiths clash and lives hang in the balance.

• With Good Sex, Great Prayers, Brandon Tietz reveals the danger in believing in things you can never fully understand. The title is a dare, a provocation, a promise—and Tietz delivers with a visceral, faith-based attack that takes your senses and sexuality to the limit. Despite all the intertwined fireworks, the core story is a classic Stephen King setup, as a small town struggles with evil and a normal man has to come to grips with impossible circumstances in order to confront them, resulting in a memorable and unexpected climax (the literary kind, though there’s plenty of the dirty kind throughout). Reading this book cost me 1.2 million ‘Our Fathers’. . . and it was worth it. ~ Fred Venturini, author of The Heart Does Not Grow Back
• Brandon Tietz skewers Christianity so effectively and so severely that he betrays what has to be a genuine affection for his target, but I'm no psychologist. All I know is the contradictions of religion and behavior are essentially all we care about anymore regarding our ancient and ongoing freak show, and realizing this, Tietz has a lot of fun here. I haven't seen take downs like this since that YouTube montage of cats attacking babies. Written with the ardor of a modern-day Philip José Farmer, maybe even reminding this reader a bit of the Jerry Cornelius books from the '70s by Michael Moorcock (yeah, his last name was no accident), this book targets hypocrisy in ever-increasing and extremely satisfying ways. Entertaining, energetic, and like the author's previous book Out of Touch, full of all sorts of good "bad" ideas, as well as profane and colorful sensory overload. And the title isn't false advertising either. In fact, some of the more fascinating biblical passages compete with the author in a game of who can out-crazy the other. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to watch some sacred cows get slaughtered, or romanced, or both. ~ David James Keaton | author of Fish Bites Cop
• Whores, witchcraft, Christian relics, truck-stops, a lonely pastor and his Yorkshire Terrier, a small intolerable town: all ingredients for a wildly good book. If you’ve got the balls to get past the descriptive language and controversial subject matter, you will find one helluva character-driven world so dark, so deep, and yet oh-so uncomfortably familiar. One of the best books I’ve read in some time… ~ Matt Micheli, author of Smut
• Knowing the author as I do, I expected an irreverent romp in the vein of Jesus Angel Garcia’s Badbadbad, perhaps lampooning religion while vacuous sluts violated Commandments under the auspices of some misguided preacher. Instead, the story (though not the writing) is closer to Chuck Wendig territory, with supernatural elements that took me by surprise—which isn’t a spoiler. It’s a “rural fantasy” with a high body—er, bodily fluid count, and the mature evolution I’d hoped for Tietz. A major leap in that regard, really. Its faith and religious elements are treated respectfully, just like in the characters who embody them. If you liked Tietz’s previous work, odds are good you’ll dig this, too, and even if you didn’t, GSGP offers a clean slate. While the voice of the interspersed sermons from its truck-stop preacher will ring familiar to you, the main story I would not have even recognized as being by the same author. It’s mostly written in very straightforward language that I think would appeal to a mass audience. Pun unintended. As always, his characters are distinct and colorful, enhanced by the small town they inhabit and its collective personality. A fickle flock, prone to gossip and groupthink. Just like readers. Give the guy a chance, for Christ’s sake. ~ Gordon Highland, author of Submission Windows
• The title and cover art of Brandon Tietz’s latest novel are attention grabbers, but the book extends far beyond the erotic streak that runs through it. Tietz’s writing has matured immensely since his début novel Out Of Touch. Good Sex, Great Prayers is a long work that echoes the style of early Stephen King: detail oriented rambling, high level of characterization, small town politics, and high stakes horror. Some very memorable characters were born out of this book that will always stick with me: Billy Burke, the truck-stop preacher that could easily be found in the ranks of a more radical Westboro Baptist Church and another character with many different names that could be the love child of Patrick Bateman and James Bond. Paranoia, high tension, steady pacing, twists and turns–this book whet my appetite with this foundation, but blew me away with the originality and strong writing. The author didn’t skimp on his research either. Religion and sex do meet in this book, but not in the way you would expect. The sex is far from pleasant, and so were most of the religious sexual rituals described in some of the chapters. The sex scenes cross in to horror territory. In my opinion, this is the author’s shining achievement. I’m excited to see what he will do with his next novel because it will take a lot to top Good Sex, Great Prayers. Since Brandon Tietz is constantly working out his writing muscles, pumping his prose full of steroids, I have faith that he won’t disappoint. ~ Revolt Daily