"Some days, Reverend Cheese Head Brown and Deacon Jones would sit and pass the time by telling each other jokes and lies."
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The Last Baptist Church by Dirty Red Trafford Publishing
book review by Michael Radon
This collection of short stories is based mostly around the exploits of the Reverend Cheese Head Brown and his assistant Deacon Jones at the Last Baptist Church in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas. The often hapless duo spend their time visiting the congregation, delivering services, and swapping stories with each other, but mostly getting into trouble. Whether it's with the local police, the church board, or even their wives and mistresses, these two men of God are always up to something dubious. Though they don't always end up where they ought to be, the sheer number of stories contained in this book about them is proof that they manage to land back on their feet somehow, despite the consequences of their actions coming back to bite them.
Each of the stories in this book is designed to make the reader laugh out loud. The content can be fairly graphic, with profanity and sexual situations throughout, but as the author personally suggests, it's better to laugh along with it than to take offense. Though most of the stories involve The Last Baptist Church or religion in some fashion, coming from a religious background is by no means required. For those that can have the sense of humor to laugh at themselves as well as the misfortune of others, each selection will be an opportunity to crack up. Some of the stories appear more than once in a slightly modified state, but in the end by taking a light-hearted approach to the book, this provides the reader with another opportunity to enjoy a good punchline.