The Substance of God: A Spiritual Thriller - Softcover

Perry Brass

4

8 ratings by Goodreads

9781892149046: The Substance of God: A Spiritual Thriller

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1892149044 ISBN 13: 9781892149046

Publisher: Belhue Press, 2003

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Attractive, intelligent novel seeking . . . adventurous readers of any sexual taste and persuasion. From Perry Brass, author of The Substance of God, The Manly Art of Seduction, and King of Angels, among other books. I was just thinking, sometimes you have an idea that grabs you by the throat and won t let go. I m sure Tim Cook of Apple has those all the time, just like Steve Jobs did.
My idea: Does cloning actually occur in Nature? And if it does, what happens when you find the original substance of God that thing that just keeps cloning itself infinitely, and when it becomes attached to you, or part of you, immortality itself is here to stay.
Being a novelist, of course, the idea gave birth to a novel a whole premise, thing, and idea around it. I wanted to talk about God, about spirituality, and theology (which is basically the study of God, as well as religious beliefs, and how these beliefs shape our lives, for better or for worse), and I wanted to talk about sex and how sex and theology intersect. Because they do, no matter how you handle it.
Every novel (and human life) starts out with a quest, and The Substance of God starts out with the quest of Dr. Leonard Miller, a brilliant bio-scientist, to understand, rationally, how he was able to come back to life again after he had been ruthlessly murdered by a group of religious terrorists because he has acquired this strange substance in his lab and has been scientifically investigating it.
The substance dates back to the time of Jesus, and maybe even before. But who alerted these terrorists that Miller had it, and how it allowed him to come back to life to experience Resurrection itself and how long will this new lease on life last?
These were wild ideas to work with, but I, and many of my readers, have felt that The Substance of God is more than worth the time and energy to explore them.

I can just guarantee you this once you start this strange ride into Immortality, you won t want it to finish until the very last page.

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From the Author:

Like Dr. Leonard Miller, I had been going through my own "states," psychic moments of intense spiritual feeling, for years. And, like Miller, I did not know where to "place" them: although I believe in the deep powers of Spirit, I am not a religious person and see a huge amount of hogwash in much of the "spirituality" washing over people today. I also believe very much in the liberating aspects of sexuality, something I share with D.H. Lawrence. It took about five years for the book and concepts within it to "jell." One of the joys—and problems—of "Substance" was that "Dr. Len" is so much smarter than I am and I started to realize that very few writers create characters who are smarter, bigger, and more profound than they are. Shakespeare did it in "Hamlet," and I wanted Dr. Miller to be a Hamletian character, doomed by his own actions, insights, and destiny. I would love to see him as the "gay Hamlet," though Hamlet is so huge a character that he is, of course, "gay," too. There is almost nothing that is outside of the Prince’s sphere of feelings, and I feel that his purest love is for his friend Horatio. Likewise, Leonard Miller finds his deepest affection in an unlikely place. Actually, he finds it in more than one unlikely place, because his own character is so alive, so open, that love becomes this environment that he finds himself walking into often.

About the Author:

Perry Brass has published 19 books, including poetry, novels, short fiction, science fiction, plays, and bestselling advice books. These books include the now classic primer for gay men everywhere How to Survive Your Own Gay Life; the hugely popular The Manly Art of Seduction (now also sn Audible book), and recently The Manly Pursuit of Desire and Love). Active in the movement toward lgbt rights since 1969 (right after Stonewall), his work deals with universal issues of sexual freedom, personal authenticity, and the search for meaningful personal politics. He is especially interested in that connection between sexuality and spirituality, with the world of the body and of the mind, and a deeper soul consciousness connecting the two. Aside from his books, poetry, plays, and essays, he also regularly blogs for the Huffington Post and writes for many publications.

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