But it's possible that, in defining myself as an SF author right at the beginning, I have irretrievably exiled myself from the Garden of Mainstream Acceptance. We all looked at each other - my agent, my editor, and me - and said, 'It probably makes sense to market this as science fiction, but let's hope we can somehow reach a crossover audience.' James Morrow: As early as my first novel, The Wine of Violence, I was producing fiction that obviously partook as much of satire and allegory as of 'SF/Fantasy.' But the events in Wine occurred on another planet, and the people got there in spaceships. How did you wind up writing in the SF/fantasy genres rather than in mainstream fiction? Justice: You've been called one of the 'great modern satirists' and claim Twain, Vonnegut, and Heller among your literary influences. In this interview from his home in State College, Pennsylvania, Morrow discusses his debt to the SF/F community, scientific humanism, organized religion, the literary roots of his stories, the difficulties of addressing the 'big questions' in satire, and his writing process.įaith L. Morrow's newest novel, The Eternal Footman, brings this cycle to a close as people struggle with 'death awareness' and the psychic consequences of God's abandonment of humankind. In Blameless in Abaddon, God's body is discovered and He is posthumously put on trial in the World Court for all the evil He allowed in the world. In Towing Jehovah, a disgraced tanker captain seeks redemption by fulfilling a dying angel's request to tow God's immense dead body from the middle of the Atlantic to its final resting place in an Arctic ice cave.

In his most recent work, known collectively as the Godhead Trilogy, Morrow takes us on a tour of a post-theistic world.

The science fiction and fantasy community has honored him with two Nebulas (for his 1989 short story 'Bible Stories for Adults #17: The Deluge' and 1990 novella ' City of Truth') and a World Fantasy Award (for his 1990 novel Only Begotten Daughter).

Award-winning author James Morrow takes on the foibles and inconsistencies of Western religion with wit and vigor, holding up a mirror and asking, 'How far will we go?' Booklist dubs him a 'genius' and compares him to Twain, Heller, and Vonnegut, for bringing much needed humor to this too-serious subject.

City of Truth by James K. Morrow