This novel is made of win on the title alone. Even after Blacklight peered at book while I was having some Couch Time and asked “Slight? Who are you kidding?”. Now add the subtitle “a novel of sewer pipes, pageant queens and big trouble” and you know I’m going to snatch it up and heaven help Blacklight if he comes out of his lair during Reading Time.

If you’re fan of Laurie (The Idiots Girls ‘ Action-Adventure Club) Notaro, the start of There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell sounds a bit familiar. Quirky Phoenix resident with the cutest ever reclaimed HUD house is packing her things for the Great Northwest because her academic husband has a job. Laurie Maye’s Phoenix is hot, sketchy and surreal. My neighborhood (cue Blacklight snickering at the hood part) isn’t Expensive Acres but I have yet to see a drag queen in full battle gear grilling a huge slab o’bacon at the picnic tables while I’m heading out for work. You can’t exactly blame Maye for being excited and nervous.

Maye and Charlie’s new town Spaulding, Washington is lush, green, quaint and full of do-good typers with Causes. Charlie glides easily into the Spaulding lifestyle but Maye and their dog Mickey seem to run into trouble without even having to leave their yard. Note: the creature racing through the yard ISN’T a certain unverified North American primate but the Bad Man Who Brings Bills aka Mail Man. Also be very careful about the spelling of the book your book club is reading.

Basically Maye in Spaulding society turns out exactly how you’d expect it to. Disaster. If things went easily there wouldn’t be a book right? But there maybe hope. Spaulding has an annual Sewer Pipe Queen contest. But Maye needs a sponsor and an act. And what better sponsor than THE ultimate Sewer Pipe Queen Ruby Spicer?

Will Maye become the Sewer Pipe Queen? Or at least make a friend? Or evade the anti-meat crunchies? Or resist the allure of a fresh box of Hoo Doo donuts?

For Notaro fans There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell takes a little adjustment. You’ll want to call Maye Laurie and Mickey Maeby. And then you’ll start to wonder just how much of Maye’s experiences are ripped from true life. Because read enough Laurie Notaro and Maye’s encounter with the Gothic book club doesn’t seem too odd or random.

But worry not. You don’t have to a card carrying member of the Laurie-verse to enjoy There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell. It does help to be a bit nerdy. And quirky. If you like Pamela Ribon’s books, then head to the N’s in the fiction section. But do give There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell a try. At least give the first 50 pages a try and see if you’re not hooked.