The Lord

The Lord is the most commonly recurring character throughout the collection. Despite many indications that the Lord is omnipotent (or at least supernaturally powerful), the Lord frequently appears in mundane human situations, such as going to the pharmacy or attending a hot-dog-eating contest. The Lord does not exclusively appear in these scenarios. The Lord also lives with groups of animals, in particular bats and wolves. The Lord's physical appearance is never described: the pharmacist, in "Inoculum" (69), in some way knows that the Lord is the Lord, before it is addressed. On the other hand, the Lord is not given any sort of special treatment by the organizers of the demolition derby ("Driveshaft," 70) or the woman at the Tucson Desert Museum ("A New Arrangement," 98).

Throughout each of his stories, the Lord has a quiet and even-keel personality, and is not bothered by the many small inconveniences that come...