As a follow-up to Grantrepreneurs, his wickedly witty 2023 debut novel, Jake Swan raises the stakes and widens his scope with Oliver Bell and the Infinite Multiverse (Galleon Books, 2025). This detailed and often dense melding of science fiction and demonology is liberally sprinkled with Swan’s trademark caustic social commentary. Comparisons to Douglas Adams may be inevitable, but add a dash of Tolkien and a pinch of Pynchon to this cosmological smorgasbord of a novel and you’ve got yourself one engagingly volatile page-turner.

Our titular hero is a university mathematician in Nova Scotia who is working on his thesis, a computer program that could “mathematically predict exactly how to turn any set of instructions into accurate code in any computer language, past, present or future.” When brainstorming at the library, all hell breaks loose in the form of a riot that seems to be a protest by vegans to remove books written by meat eaters. Things quickly turn violent and Oliver manages to barely escape alive.

*Oliver Bell and the Infinite Multiverse* (Galleon Books, 2025) by Jake Swan.

Heading back to his apartment, Oliver soon finds that his block has been cordoned off by the same vegan protesters. He confronts someone who seems to be guarding the area, a shaggy man “doing a pretty good impression of a naked, extra-scrawny Clint Eastwood.” The guard explains that Oliver’s home is now inside the “Vagisil Autonomous Zone.” When Oliver asks about the name, the guard explains:

“They’re our corporate sponsor. You can’t pull off a major protest that includes the establishment of a self-governed and policed autonomous zone without a corporate sponsor. So, we let them put their name on our movement. They get good corporate cred for supporting a progressive cause and we get plywood and Kalashnikovs.”

“Vagisil bought you AK-47s?”

“If they didn’t we’d call them out for being fascist and anti-progressive, and they’d lose business. Failure to support progressive causes like ours is absolute marketing poison. Especially for their target demographic. And think of all the advertising they’re getting. By midnight tonight, hashtag Vagisil Autonomous Zone will be trending on Twit, I mean X. Then everyone will have Vagisil on the brain. Sales will skyrocket.”

The plot takes an intricate turn early on and the reader is sucked in like a star into a black hole.

Oliver is soon confronted by Teddy, a muscle-bound, baseball bat wielding demon hunter who bears a striking physical resemblance to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Emma, his attractive but equally formidable common-law soul mate. Believing that Oliver has been possessed by a demon, they drug him and drive him to Florida to see an elderly Jewish couple: Bert, a cardiologist who moonlights as Death, and his wife Carmella. Bert is able to ascertain that Oliver is not possessed by a demon, but rather is a host to a supernatural being, Mayhem, whose physical form is that of an adorable puppy. As it is explained in The Comprehensive Guide to Hosting a Celestial Entity:

While the term “Host,” in reference to human beings, suggests a parasitic relationship between spiritual being and physical being, this is something of a misnomer as the relationship is usually symbiotic.

Are you starting to get the picture? If not, don’t worry. The ever-unfolding twists and turns of Swan’s hyper-inventive imagination have only begun to hit their stride and trying to keep up is half the fun. Teddy and Emma have been hunting the demon Amon, who is believed to be after Oliver’s thesis since the code at the centre of it, which Oliver only envisioned being useful for computer gaming, in fact holds the key to global destruction. Oliver forms a bond with Teddy, Emma, Bert and Carmella that seems to have begun as a form of Stockholm Syndrome, but eventually develops into a genuine extended family.

Together, this ragtag quintet embark on a journey that takes them to various strata of the multiverse, which apparently is a real thing. Along the way they encounter numerous allies, such as a philandering pot-vaping novelist, and a few other-worldly and underworldly denizens, some of whom bring to mind H. R. Pufnstuf as much as they do H. P. Lovecraft. As much fun as Swan is having pulling these mind-blowing mutations out of his seemingly bottomless hat, he grounds Oliver’s transmigratory adventures with an unexpected reunion that is this novel’s emotional core and adds a layer of human gravitas to the rollicking rollercoaster of events.

Oliver Bell and the Infinite Multiverse is both a good-natured and sharp-tongued view of a world gone mad and a universe that doesn’t fare much better. In his author disclaimer, Jake Swan cautions the reader: “This is a satire, written by an idiot. Try not to take it too seriously.” It brings to mind a quote by Dostoevsky: “An ugly stupid man can be a fool, but a beautiful intelligent one must be an idiot.”

Jake Swan is a writer, musician and physician. He lives in New Brunswick with his wife Chrissy, son Jack and Stella, their rescue dog from South America. His website is https://jakeswan.ca

Steven Mayoff is a novelist, poet and lyricist. He lives on Prince Edward Island. His latest book is the revised edition of his poetry collection Swinging Between Water and Stone (Galleon Books, 2025). His website is http://www.stevenmayoff.ca