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Editorial Reviews for Rock Gods & Messy Monsters
“Hatz tackles, decks, and jabs at corporations like a pro boxer, satirizing the precariously imbalanced work-life balance that countless readers outside of the upper echelons of wealth can recognize immediately.” RECOMMENDED
– Independent Book Review
“The novel is so perverse it causes one to laugh out loud at the deranged storyline and detailed descriptions, offering an easy-to-read yarn for those looking for something different. This is truly satire at its best.“
– US Review of Books
“Satirical, zany, hilarious—a gut-punching commentary about the inner workings of the music industry, its power complexes, and power plays.”
– The BookLife Prize by Publishers Weekly
Book Description
Her dream job. And her worst nightmare. One woman refusing to lose her soul.
It’s the 1990s. The recession is brutal, and landing a job at Acht Records is everything Alex Scott ever wanted, but nothing like she expected.
Her improbable blonde hair turns stress magenta and anger black. Her brain is trapped in a cerebrum urn. Her boss Langley explodes blood vessels that Alex must sew back together.
The head of the company holds titles including Deity and Ruling Dictator, and the aliens who bought the record company hatch a performer and force the staff to create a superstar.
What the company wants from Alex is the one thing she can’t afford to lose: her soul.
What follows is a surreal descent into corporate America, where Alex navigates crazed corridors of power, an unhinged cast of characters, and a music industry that’s completely lost its mind. She gets what she wants and realizes none of it will save her. Only she can do that.
The 1990s New York music scene has never seemed so alien. Or so familiar.
Wickedly funny and quietly devastating, Rock Gods & Messy Monsters is an absurdist novel about power, identity, and what it costs to stay human inside an institution that was supposed to be her dream.
Part corporate satire, part self-discovery journey, this is a book for readers who like absurdist fiction and social commentary with emotional stakes and sharp teeth.
Select Reviews
“The best kind of absurdism, the kind that wears a veneer of the surreal while having the grisly guts of reality right underneath.” — Independent Book Review
“Satirical, zany, hilarious — a gut-punching commentary about the inner workings of the music industry, its power complexes, and power plays.” — The BookLife Prize
“So perverse it causes one to laugh out loud… This is truly satire at its best.” — US Review of Books
“A fast-paced, entertaining comic treat — a droll examination of the corporate-music world.” — Kirkus Discoveries
Awards & Recognition
Eric Hoffer Award 2024 — First Runner Up & Grand Prize Shortlist Finalist
#1 Amazon Hot New Release in Absurdist Fiction & Pop Culture
Winner, Indie BRAG Medallion
Starred Reviews: Independent Book Review · The International Review of Books · US Review of Books
Finalists: Da Vinci Eye Award · First Horizon Award · Foreword INDIES · The Wishing Shelf
The Mind Monsters Series
Follow Alex across all four books as she battles the monsters around and within her, learning how to come home to herself.
Book 1, Rock Gods & Messy Monsters, Hatz’s award-winning debut, introduces Alex in a surreal, alien-owned record company in 1990s New York City.
Book 2: Fallen Spirits
Book 3: The Light of Wounds
Book 4: The Journey Home
Free Prequel: “The Other Side of Normal” – find out how it all began with a free prequel to the Mind Monsters series.
Media
Ink & Peat – “Diane Hatz Shares Rock Gods & Messy Monsters”
Athena Wellness – “The Journey of Finding Yourself with Diane Hatz”
On Writing and Editing with Wayne Jones – “Self-Love Indie Publishing, and Building Community”
Writer’s Haven by Christine Wolf – “Diane Hatz’s ‘Whole Health’ Newsletter Addresses Body, Mind, and Spirit to Address Our Best Lives”
About
Diane Hatz is an award-winning author, organizer, and inner activist. She is the author of the four-book Mind Monsters series, eccentrically funny, wildly imaginative novels about the monsters we encounter in the world and within ourselves, and what it takes to come home to yourself.
Her debut novel, Rock Gods & Messy Monsters, earned numerous honors, including first runner-up in the 2024 Eric Hoffer Award. Before turning her attention to fiction, Diane spent her early career in the music industry and later founded and organized TEDxManhattan and the nonprofit Change Food.
Diane received a master’s degree in Creative Writing in London, England. After thirty years in New York City, she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she lives and writes. When she’s not working on her next book, she can be found wandering the desert, road-tripping, or helping abandoned dogs find homes.