The Madonna and the Starship by James Morrow

Blue logical positivist lobster aliens give a prize to a writer of a scientific-minded kid's show and plan to wipe out 2 million religious people from the face of the Earth. And don't forget to drink your Ovaltine and eat your Kellogg's Sugar Corn Pops, with the sweetenin' already on it.

James Morrow's novella, The Madonna and the Starship, manages that delightful act of being a laugh out loud funny story at the same time that it intelligently deals with serious issues. You would be excused to think that a story featuring blue lobster aliens would hardly have anything to say about religion, yet in The Madonna and the Starship, Morrow offers criticisms on aspects of how both religious and hardcore atheists behave, at the same time that he offers some meta perspectives on being an author, and how genre fiction is perceiv... Read More

The Asylum of Dr. Caligari by James Morrow

Using a cult-class silent horror film (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) as the template for a speculative fiction anti-war novel might be a weird idea, but James Morrow has made a career out of weird ideas (including several books on killing God) and that experience mostly pays off in The Asylum of Dr. Caligari, though I would have preferred a shorter version of the tale.

On the eve of WWI, Francis Wyndham, artist-wannabe, makes the European circuit to try and find a mentor. But after getting pushed down a flight of stairs by Picasso and not finding much success otherwise, he’s happy to take on the job of Art Therapist at an insane asylum. Once ensconced in the gothic institution, where he offers up art instruction to a bevy of patients, including one who think... Read More