Rock Gods & Messy Monsters - Paperback

by Diane Hatz (Author)

Her dream job. Her worst nightmare. One woman refusing to lose her soul.

It's the 1990s. The recession is brutal, and landing a job at Acht Records is everything Alex Scott ever wanted, but not what she expected.

She navigates the corridors of Acht Records, her improbable blonde hair streaked stress magenta and anger black while her brain is trapped in her cerebrum urn. Her boss Langley explodes blood vessels that Alex must sew up.

The head of the company holds titles including Deity and Ruling Dictator, and the aliens who bought the record company hatch a performer and force staff to create a superstar.

What the company wants from her is the one thing she can't afford to lose. Her soul.

What follows is a surreal descent into the heart of corporate America, where Alex navigates crazed corridors of power, an unhinged cast of characters, and a music industry that has completely lost its mind, all while trying to hold onto the one thing the system most wants her to surrender: Herself.

The 1990s New York music scene has never seemed so alien. Or so familiar.

Wickedly funny and quietly devastating, Rock Gods & Messy Monsters is an absurdist novel about power, identity, and what it costs to stay human inside an institution designed to break you, especially when that institution was supposed to be your dream.

Part corporate satire, part self-discovery journey, the book is for readers who like their absurdist fiction and social commentary with emotional stakes and sharp teeth.

Rock Gods & Messy Monsters is Book 1 in the Mind Monsters series.

Awards & Recognition

Eric Hoffer Award 2024 - First Runner Up & Grand Prize Shortlist Finalist

#1 Amazon Hot New Release in Absurdist Fiction & Pop Culture

Starred Reviews: Independent Book Review - The International Review of Books - US Review of Books

The Mind Monsters Series

Follow Alex's path from disconnection to remembrance across all four books. New to her world? Start with a free short story prequel at dianehatz.com.

Book 2: Fallen Spirits; Book 3: The Light of Wounds; Book 4: The Journey Home