...And the Angel with Television Eyes

I’ll admit, I approached *...And the Angel with Television Eyes* with skepticism. Surreal fantasy can often feel like an excuse for vague, meandering prose—but Shirley’s work is *precise* in its weirdness. The novel follows a nameless drifter (or is he a prophet? A hacker? A ghost?) as he stumbles through a landscape where angels might be AI constructs, corporations worship at the altar of data, and salvation comes via pirated satellite feeds. The plot resists easy summary, but that’s the point: this is a book about *feeling* your way through a world that’s already halfway digital, halfway divine. Dieter’s narration is a standout—his gravelly tone sells the novel’s cyberpunk edge, but he’s equally adept at conveying the quieter, more unnerving moments, like when the protagonist stares into a TV screen and sees *himself* staring back. My only critique? The audiobook’s mixing could be crisper; a few scenes with layered dialogue (or is it telepathy? Who knows) get muddy, forcing rewinds. And Shirley’s love of pop-culture riffs—while often brilliant—occasionally veers into self-indulgence, like a DJ overplaying a favorite sample. But these are minor quibbles. By the final act, when the lines between man, machine, and myth blur into something transcendent, you’ll forget you’re listening to a story. You’ll swear you’re eavesdropping on a transmission from the future—or maybe just the static between channels.