I am going to admit something very geeky about  myself. I often have these little scenarios play through my head where I wonder what would happen if you pitted one mythical or fictional creature against another. How does a pack of werewolves fare in the zombie apocalypse? Could Conan beat Darth Vader in a sword fight? How would Roland fare against either of them? Yeah, I have precious little free time, and this is what I do with it, folks.

So while it’s not my normal thing by a long shot, “I Was a Teenage Weredeer” by Charles Phipps and Michael Suttkus is a mythical and pop-culture mashup that hit my sense of the strange and humorous right where I needed it. After grueling days of code-slinging and bug fixing, I was really ready for something lighter for a change, and this one fit the bill.

How to describe it? In a mixing bowl, combine equal parts “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “True Blood”, and “Twin Peaks”. Mix thoroughly, and garnish liberally with puns, and you’ll have something a lot like “I Was a Teenage Weredeer.”

Jane Doe (Yes, it starts right in on the puns) has just turned 18. Also, she is a weredeer, but that’s not what’s important. What’s important is that she identifies as a Baratheon, and her werewolf best friend Emma is team Stark.  Oh, and her brother, who is not a weredeer or were-anything-else, has just been collared for the murder of Emma’s sister.

Thus begins a pun and popculture filled trip into a world where disliking vampires and werewolves is “kinda racist”, and solving mysteries might require a literal trip to Hell and back. Armed with a big mouth and little control over what comes out of it, and the ability to read impressions from objects, Jane is ready for action to prove her brother innocent.

He is innocent, right? As she uncovers the seamy side of what she assumed to be an idyllic refuge for werefolk, she begins to have her doubts, and not just about her brother.

A lot of what makes “Weredeer” really cute are the cameos and tips of the hat to other media, so I’ll not go into that deeply, but lets just say you could make an unwinnable drinking game out of this book.

One caveat. Despite what you might think, this is not really a Young Adult book. It seems like it is, but as I mentioned, there is a fairly seamy side to this tale, so if one is expecting kid-friendly, it ain’t. (Yes, it’s ok to say “ain’t”  when you’re making a point. Tell them I said so.)

5 of 5. I’ll have the cherry pie, please.