''The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror'' is a 2004 novel by American writer Christopher Moore. Set during

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

, it brings together several favored characters from his previous books set in the fictional town of Pine Cove, a recurring location in Moore's novels. An unabridged commercial

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

recording of the original edition of ''The Stupidest Angel'' was issued with narration by Tony Roberts. In 2005 the novel won the

Quill Award The Quill Award was an American literary award that ran for three years in 2005-2007. It was a "consumer-driven award created to inspire reading while promoting literacy." The Quills Foundation, the organization behind the Quill Award, was support ...

in the category of Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror. In 2005, Moore released ''The Stupidest Angel, Version 2.0'', the text of which remains unchanged from that of the 2004 edition, with the addition of a short story at the end taking place one year after the events of the novel.

Plot summary

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

named

Raziel Raziel, ( ''Rāzīʾēl,'' "God is my Mystery") also known as Gallitsur ( Hebrew: גַּלִּיצוּר ''Gallīṣūr'') is an angel within the teachings of Jewish mysticism (of the Kabbalah of Judaism) who is the "Angel of Secrets" and the "An ...

(previously in Moore's novel ''

Lamb Lamb or The Lamb may refer to: * A young sheep * Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep Arts and media Film, television, and theatre * ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut * ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...

'') is sent to Earth to grant the wish of a child; he decides to help a boy who had witnessed the death of a man dressed as

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

. Meanwhile, the town is preparing for a community dinner-gathering at the local church, near the cemetery. In his inept attempt to bring "Santa" back to life, the angel causes the townspeople to fall under siege by

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...

-hungry

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...

s who arise from their burial plots.

Links to Moore's other works

The story takes place in Pine Cove, setting of '' Practical Demonkeeping'' and ''

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove ''The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove'' is a novel by American writer Christopher Moore, published in 1999. It is set in the same fictional town of Pine Cove, California, as his first novel, '' Practical Demonkeeping'', and also brings back some o ...

''. Tucker Case, helicopter pilot for the DEA, and his pet fruitbat, Roberto, appeared in '' Island of the Sequined Love Nun''. The angel mentioned in the title, Raziel, appeared in ''

''. And Sam Applebaum mentions his rastafarian cousin Preston who lives in Maui, who was seen in ''

Fluke Fluke may refer to: Biology * Fluke (fish), a species of marine flatfish * Fluke (tail), the lobes of the tail of a cetacean, such as dolphins or whales, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ...

'' and '' Bite Me: A Love Story''. The title is a play on the title of the 1946 book ''The Littlest Angel'' by Charles Tazewell, which has been adapted several times by Hollywood. The main characters are: Theo Crow, Molly Michion, Raziel, Lena Marquez, Tucker Case, Gabe Fenton, and Dale Pearson. Some of these characters are seen on other Christopher Moore(s) books.

Reception

In ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'',

Keith Brooke Keith Brooke is a science fiction author, editor, web publisher and anthologist from Essex, England. He is the founder and editor of the infinity plus webzine. He also writes children's fiction under the name Nick Gifford. Biography and publishin ...

praised it as " cy and engaging", and "crammed with sharp and funny one-liners",The Stupidest Angel: A Heart warming Tale of Christmas Terror
reviewed by

, at ''

''; published December 20, 2008; retrieved December 27, 2022 while ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' called it "enough to make even the most cynical Scrooge guffaw."The Stupidest Angel: A Heart warming Tale of Christmas Terror
reviewed at ''

''; published October 4, 2004; retrieved December 27, 2022 At

Tor.com ''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. From 20 ...

Mari Ness Mari Ness (born ) is an American poet, author, and critic. She has multiple publications in various science fiction and fantasy magazines and anthologies. Her work has been published in ''Apex Magazine'', '' Clarkesworld'', '' Daily Science Fictio ...

found it to be "not be quite as heartwarming as its cover suggests, or, for that matter, as terrifying", but nonetheless recommended it as "an antidote to endless Christmas cheer."A Very Zombie Christmas: ''The Stupidest Angel''
by

; at

; published December 19, 2013; retrieved December 27, 2022

References

External links

A cartoon frame summarizing the plot of the novel
from the

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

Unshelved ''Unshelved'' is a daily comic strip set in a public library. Published by Overdue Media, the webcomic was created by writer Gene Ambaum, a librarian, and co-writer/artist Bill Barnes, and has been appearing at the rate of a strip per day since ...

'', dated June 4, 2006 2004 American novels Absurdist fiction Christmas novels American horror novels Novels by Christopher Moore American zombie novels 2004 fantasy novels {{2000s-horror-novel-stub

Plot summary

Links to Moore's other works

Reception

See also

References

External links