The Sport of Ghost Wrestling is a book of the fantasy/science fiction genre written by our very own Demetrios Anagnostopoulos, the first volume in the series The Spectral Chronicles.
It centers on the story of Demetrios Anagnostopoulos, a man who has recently become a ghost. The good news is that he gets a lot of cool new powers with it. The bad news is he loses his memories of his mortal life. He decides to use his powers to create a new sport that proves to be quite the hit, and also hopes to find out what happened to his missing wife Lily. However, there are other forces at work, especially when an insidious cult that calls itself the Brotherhood of Nullity comes into play. Demetrios is then thrust into protecting the world from this bizarre cult, and discover the truth of his past.
Tropes:
- Affably Evil: William and Dorothy try this trick on Demetrios to convince him that the Brotherhood of Nullity is good and good for you. It doesn't work.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite all the stuff he has seen up to that point, Demetrios is still surprised that Aristotle can talk.
- The Big Easy: Averted. Most of the story takes place in the Louisiana city that doesn't get as much love: Baton Rouge.
- Big Eater: As another part of Our Ghosts Are Different, a ghost has to eat a lot of food after fighting in epic battles. Though it is necessary to recharge all the energy used after said epic battles.
- Bond One-Liner: When observing the destructive power of the grenade he threw amongst Mephistopheles's flying soldiers, Max says "Goodness gracious, great balls of fire."
- Cool Horse: Demetrios's winged Mustang Moon Shadow.
- Cult: The Brotherhood of Nullity.
- Downer Beginning: How many stories do you know actually start with a funeral? Granted, that's how Demetrios becomes a ghost, but still.
- Fetish-Fuel Future: A shade of it; Marissa has a few hot outfits.
- Genre Shift: Not only is Demetrios on his journey to find out what happened to Lily and who he really is (or was, in his mortal life), he also founds Ghost Wrestling, so it looks like it'll be a typical sports story, and also has to save the world from the Brotherhood and then the Empire of Oblivion. It all works out, though.
- Grim Down South: The Brotherhood's base of operations is on a subantarctic island that's covered with polar conifer forests, giving them all the secrecy they need.
- Kid Hero: Well, sort of. Even though Demetrios died at the age of 100, his ghostly self looks 18.
- Lampshade Hanging: Quite a few examples. Here's a particularly notable one:Marissa (after Demetrios escapes from the Brotherhood for the umpteenth time): Are you sure you're okay? This is starting to feel like a bad horror movie.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Some ghosts unfortunately lose the memories of their mortal lives upon becoming ghosts.
- More Dakka: As this exchange demonstrates:Mephistopheles: You think you can defeat me, mammal? My armor-like skin is 100% impenetrable to human-made weapons!
Max: S.A.W., don’t fail me now. (shoots Mephistopheles with it, tearing through him and causing fierce wounds)
Mephistopheles: Well, its 99.9% impenetrable to human-made weapons. - Mutants: The mutants Mephistopheles creates are Mix-and-Match Critters that have the ability to regenerate lost limbs and for the severed parts to turn into copies of their owner. Only by attacking its weak point will the mutant stay dead.
- Noodle Incident: While swimming home from the Brotherhood for the first escape, Demetrios gets stuck in the Bermuda Triangle (yes, he went the long way; around South America), but doesn't really describe what happened in there. Of course, given the super-weird reputation of the Bermuda Triangle, it would probably just be a big-lipped alligator moment anyway.
- One-Man Army: More like a four-man army: Demetrios, Max, Mothman, and Aristotle.
- Post-Climax Confrontation: After Mephistopheles is defeated, Demetrios and Kurt have one last battle after revealing his true loyalty.
- Precision F-Strike: There aren't too many swear words in this story, and when they do show up, you can be sure something bad is about to happen.
- Rearing Horse: Justified as Moon Shadow uses this to fight Theodore during his Big Damn Heroes moment.
- "Save the World" Climax: The story begins as a supernatural sports story combined with Demetrios seeking his lost memories. It ends with a fierce battle against the cult leader William reincarnated as a terrifying mutant seeking to destroy the human race and replace it with his mutant minions.
- Sick and Wrong: Demetrios's friends have this reaction when Shadowbite tries to put the moves on him.
- The Stoic: The National Guard lieutenant seems pretty collected after being threatened by Mephistopheles over the two-way radio."That's not what I wanted to hear."
- Talking Is a Free Action: Demetrios's Pre Ass Kicking One Liner would probably take longer to say in Real Life than it does in the story.Quilt: Hey, what the hell did you do to my teammate?
Demetrios: The same thing I’m going to do to you, three faces and no brains! - This Is Your Brain on Evil: Turning into a demonic form causes Demetrios pain. Later, he focuses that pain for important fights.
- 20 Minutes into the Future: Well more like an hour and a half into the future. The story takes place in 2085 - 2086.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: With the popularity of Ghost Wrestling, normal people don't seem very fazed by ghosts walking around and shapeshifting.
