JH Lillevik

Even though I am an atheist, I have always been very fascinated with religions and the reasons people believe what they believe, and that combined with my love for fantasy and science fiction, is the reason why I picked up this collection of short stories.

Now, I should be honest with my readers and let you know that I have not read every single story, but I read good many of them and I have a very good impression of what this collection is. I will definitely read every last one of them as so far they have not disappointed me.

The collection starts with a short story called Mecha-Jesus by Derwin Mak. He combines Christianity with Shintoism by include kami in a Jesus-bot. It sounds very anime and it is clearly inspired by Japanese culture and ideas of the soul, and I really liked it.

The following stories try to follow up for a brilliant start and I feel like they manage quite well. The third entry for instance is a poem/story by Tony Pi and it revels in a combination of Wicca/Goddess worship and the idea of a hive mind. This idea of a hive mind is something that has become more prevalent as the Internet has grown in influence and it is an idea I find both fascinating and scary at the same time.

A Cut and a Prayer by Janet K. Nicholson is a short story that tackles a devout Muslim woman in a world that seems mostly scientific minded and religious people are seen as curiosity. I found this story fascinating and I might need to re-read it to see if there is something in it that I missed, something I often do with books and stories I find really fascinating.

The collection has been edited Liana Kerzner and Jerome Stueart, and it feels like they have gotten a great flow to the collection and after you’re done with the collection, you’re stuck with a bunch of ideas in your head. It fits any curious person, be it a theist, deist or atheist. It gives a great sense of understanding and you get some insight into another person’s mindset.

I can highly recommend getting this collection and I look forward to see what the authors within it will do in the future.