Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives Themes

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives Themes

God's Many Personas

In "Sum," there are many and varied descriptions of the All Mighty, the God and the Creator. They range from a traditional all-powerful image of a male God to several who are female gods one of whom is so large, it is impossible to even get a sense of her enormity. The god in "Mary," is obsessed with Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein." The god has an honored throne in the afterlife for Mary Shelley because she is the only human he has encountered who understands the downside of creating life. In "Pantheon," there are a multitude of gods. In fact, there is a god for everything: a god of bacteria, a god of telephones, a god of bubble gum.

The gods described in "Sum," also struggle with issues that no earthlings could have imagined. For example, in "Prism," god wants everyone to have an afterlife but struggles with what age should...
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