Scott Thorson

The Pood Scott Thorson

The Pood: Michigan's Inferno is far from a divine comedy, but it does feature an adorable supernatural fire-belching poodle that has escaped Beelzebub's gauche claws. Hell-Michigan-bent is The Pood on killing its former master and best friend, the sleepy hamlet's insipid mayor, and anyone or anything that gets in the way of the orange-eyed ragamuffin is bound to meet a grisly end. But can Beelzebub in bad conscience (in what passes for the conscience of a dissolute devil who pops anti-depressant pills and lingers in front of cnn.com on his home computer) allow his little terror to run amok on Earth to annihilate whatever strikes its fancy? If he had his way, of course he could - and at that point our story might have ended in an epic military disaster, like most absurd modern endeavors. But he doesn't have his way. Flo Jellem, mistress of mayonnaise and professor emeritus of home economics at Chester Alan Arthur Junior High School, a grandmotherly bitch on wheels who died a horrible death at the claws and fiery breath of The Pood, arrives in the devil's own den to kick ass and take names. With proddings (beatings) by Flo, Bubb is compelled to muster the courage to visit the real Hell - the one upstairs - in defense of the earth. Mission: snatch back the renegade Pood before disaster engulfs the world.