God is Love: Get It in Writing

Clarke's ( Necrotrivia vs. Skull ) irresistible satire of religious hypocrisy blends wit with twisted fantasy. At the end of the millennium, sleazy entrepreneur Dales Jr. creates the money-making World Religions Incorporated (WRI). Through the nationwide TV show Let's Make a Deity , Dales Jr. finds the ideal messiah for the viewing audience: cloned pop star Cecil Clean, who becomes Seth Early. The meteoric rise in popularity and ratings of the Seth Early Love Club is boosted by the staged healings of odious charlatan Wurm Drench and his alien assistant Norma. But the sudden appearance of the real Jesus poses an immediate threat to them and all other powers on earth, including the mob, the Pentagon and the pope. When Jesus is arrested in Greenwich Village for disturbing the peace, Dales Jr.'s assistant Skip Trace puts up bail. Caught in the clutches of the WRI, Jesus displaces Seth in the ratings, causing the imitation savior to break off from Dales Jr., discover his individuality and experience a spiritual reawakening. Propelled by Clarke's savvy vernacular, this wacky, entertaining story is rounded out by a gunshot assassination of Jesus that fails to alter anyone's conscience in a futuristic world of corruption and guile. (Oct.)