Soul Proprietor by Stephanie Vance: A High-Tech Capitalist Cosmology Comedy with Moral and Philosophical Depth

Title: Soul Proprietor

Author: Stephanie Vance

Publisher: GFB

ISBN & Price: 9781967510801, $18.59 Buy the book here. 

Soul Proprietor is an instant mood lifter, and the jokes—with contemporary life, especially corporate America, and Heaven, Hell, and Earth as the butts—are delivered in a steady stream to the very end. A lovingly rendered modern day-Portland-with-a-twist setting adds to the joviality. The tale is told in third person and sticks tightly to the POV of Tiffani Lutatio, a “post-mortal” sales-fiend working at Hell’s Soul-Exchange, a Portland store where the i-souls of post-mortals are rented out to mortals for various purposes (and great comic effect). Heaven has a soul exchange as well, also in Portland. In the world of Soul Proprietor, the walls between Heaven, Hell, Earth, and Purgatory (a Portland dive bar) are thin-ish. All these places are part of the same capitalist set-up, with the human soul being the ultimate capital. Countering this are Rabble Rousers (one in a Nixon mask is stalking Tiffani), unionizers, and revolutionaries out for soul autonomy and better working conditions.

As a mortal, Tiffanee, our guide through this high-tech capitalist cosmology, was a serious mafiosa gangstress, and the book lightly parodies contemporary romance and mafia romance novels while also (perhaps) suggesting that there is some value in the happily-ever-after positivity of those wildly popular signs of our times. Vance, who has multiple master's degrees including an MFA, delivers divinely and irreverently witty banter, compelling world-building, and has perfect parodic pitch–no surprise from someone who, rumor has it, attended college on a flute scholarship.

As a post-mortal sales fiend, Tiffani’s sights are set on a role as one of “the higher-ups of the lower down,” an exec in Hell’s C-Suite, and we are privy to the Vance’s world-building, in the realms of both heaven and hell, which is impressive and hilarious and always holds serious undertones. Stalked by someone wearing a Nixon mask, accompanied by her fire-breathing, cat-liver-eating Dochshund Fred, Tiffani bends the rules of Hell, making friends that include a mortal client, a gang of mortal hackers, and a sales angel from Heaven’s Soul Exchange, risking torture and even annihilation (a whole other philosophical/theological issue) in the process.

The irreverent and brave Tiffani, our guide through the high-tech capitalist cosmology, ultimately speaks for inclusion, love, and friendship. Vance is a managing partner at Advocacy Associates, a logistics firm specializing in advocacy work, where she is known as “The Advocacy Guru” and has written five books on the topic. So we can bet that alongside the witty banter, Vance is writing to effect positive change. Soul Proprietor includes several same sex relationships, and these are not considered novel or unusual by anyone in the book in Heaven, Hell, or on Earth, and definitely not in Portland—a massive nod to just how far we have come that Vance could write a book like this and not create a massive scandal.

The book also makes numerous allusions to Dante’s The Divine Comedy (and this would make a great pairing for somebody’s thesis), wherein, like Tiffani, the hero visits the various realms, with various guides. Unlike in that work, in Soul Proprietor, God is a source of information (and comic fodder), providing an explanation for the book’s driving mystery–how it is that the status (for better or worse) of certain post-mortal souls is changing due to their post-mortal activities–rather than an ultimate goal.

As an undergrad Lit major, my Shakespeare professor drilled into us that a comedy doesn’t necessarily involve humor. Rather, it is a structure with movement from chaos at the beginning to a sense of order at the end. In addition to being laugh-out-loud hilarious, this book does follow that basic structure, but of course, with its own special twist. The epilogue was surprising and satisfying and, for some reason, gave me goosebumps and feels, though I am still processing exactly why. Overall, Soul Proprietor is an ambitious and thoroughly enjoyable read for people who like their witty banter and laughs served with a generous helping of philosophy between the lines and cups that runneth over with love and care and hope for humanity, in this realm or beyond.

Review by Lora Parker.