Bible Stories For Adults

by James Morrow

Overview

Morrow unabashedly delves into matters both sacred and secular in this collection of short stories buoyed by his deliciously irreverent wit. Among the dozen selections is the Nebula Award-winning “Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780156002448
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/28/1996
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

James Morrow was born in Philadelphia in 1947. Besides writing, he plays with Lionel electric trains and collects videocassettes of vulgar biblical spectacles.

Editorial Reviews

Morrow, a Nebula Award- and World Fantasy Award-winner, delves into matters both sacred and secular in this collection of 12 cheerfully blasphemous stories with characters including sexless androids waiting for the evolution of genitals; a lascivious sinner fished from the flood by Noah; and a computer that reconstructs the Ten Commandments from indecipherable shards. No index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Twelve tales, 198494, drawn from various publications, by the author of Towing Jehovah (1994), etc. The main thrust here isn't always biblical, though satire looms large—along with dollops of ironic, iconoclastic, or subversive wit. The dazzlingly effective best of a decidedly superior bunch: A murderously mutinous WW I American infantry private ends up in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with a permanent honor guard; reversing his Babel decision, God gives everyone the power of perfect comprehension—with equally devastating results; a robot civilization adheres to the Darwinian principle of natural selection, despite the manifest impossibility of its applying to them; and the sad story of Gunther Black, a man with multiple personalities so numerous that they form nations—and conduct war! In other notable what-ifs, Moses never receives a replacement set of law tablets; Lincoln considers signing an armistice; Helen decides to put an end to the Trojan War; Ebenezer Scrooge lives out his days as an unregenerate capitalist rascal; and Job realizes he's been duped and demands a rematch. Elsewhere, a dead woman's donated organs yearn to reunite; Noah ponders the possibility of other survivors; and, finally, in a rather silly fable, a farmer's wife gives birth to planet Earth.

A splendidly provocative series of engagements for supple and enquiring minds; mandatory for fanatics of any stripe.

Kirkus Reviews