[jamesh2]

there is an issue of wired magazine that had an article a while back that stated that science fiction was one of the last forms of philosophy because of the topics that it tackles, one of the examples that it gives is a book that tackles the question of what if man met god, What if you could confront, talk to, or kill God? i though this sounded like a fascinating idea for a book and was wondering if this article was being facetious, or if this was a real book and if so whats the title? i googled the idea a hundred different ways and was hoping somebody here could help.
much thanks
james

[suciul]

One such book though more satirical then serious is The Jehovah Contract by V. Koman

[jamesh2]

well i just read about it on amazon, unfortunately the story doesnt sound near as interesting as the concept would lead one to believe. oh well, thanks for your help

[Ropie]

Hi James,

I can think of atleast four short stories that match your requests.

The first is The God Gun by one of my favourite authors, Barrington J Bayley. You can read it here:http://www.geocities.com/bayleyfan/godgun.html

Arthur C Clarke's The 9 Billion Names of God is another very good one along a similar line. Read it here: http://www.geocities.com/rojodos/docs/9000000000.htm

The third is The Last Answer by Isaac Asimov and you can read it here:http://destructionoverdrive.blogspot.com/2005/06/last-answer-by-isaac-asimov.html. It is not one of Asimov's best stories.

However, the similarly titled The Last Question, also by Asimov, is one of the best short stories out there and you can (should) read that here:http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

[phil_geo]

His Dark Materials by Pullman addresses this possibility.

[Chuffalump]

How about The Race for God by Brian Herbert? It's heading in that general direction.

[jamesh2]

ok the race for god looks like that may be it
if not, it still looks like a great book
thanks

[phil_geo]

By the way, here is the article in Wired:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-02/st_thompson

[Raule]

If you are interested in other stories on this theme, Octavia Butler's Book of Martha (http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/butler2/butler21.html) is a conversation a woman has with God when he grants her one wish for mankind. Not sure if my link contains the whole story, though, since I think the stories were removed from scifi.com at some point in the last year.

[Yobmod]

Not sure if my link contains the whole story, though, since I think the stories were removed from scifi.com at some point in the last year.

It's the whole story, and a thought provoking one. Although not really SF, or?

Well worth getting her Bloodchild collection, the newer version of which has this story.


James Morrows 2 WFA award winners include a conversation with God as a "female" sea sponge (Only Begotten Daughter) and the discovery of God's corpse (Towing Jehovah).