The Big God Network

J.C. McGowan's The Big God Network is a masterpiece tale of techno sci-fi, political-cultural-economic commentary, and the path on which the likes of Falwell-Bush-Rove-Cheney and other hypocritically religious and moral extremists will take the country if its citizens don't fight back. Plus, it's incredibly funny, sardonic, visionary, and well-written. It has, not just a 'save the world' aspect to it, but a 'save the progressive thinker's place in the world' one. The Big God Network is set in a fantasy, yet eminently plausible, future, where America has divided into new countries defined along lines of beliefs and individual rights. There, McGowan's protagonist couple, Franz and Delores, use their sensibilities, logic, and friends with powerful technical skills to fight for Pacifica's brand of progressive, multi-cultural, and free-thought society against New America (N'Am's) crooked Christian fanatics and executive leaders that rule by fear and information manipulation (like banks accounts being scanned for pledges as N'Am citizens listen to extravaggant sermons.) Moving at page-turning speed, the story has lots of action and well-drawn characters. But, broader than that, The Big God Network's themes are scarily potential outcomes based on the country's current direction. The details, humor and observations are exquisite. Hopefully, McGowan is working on the next installment, because once you put the Big God Network down, you want to pick it up again.

It's a treat when a great science-fiction book also has a great sense of humor, as is the case with one of my favorite recent novels, "The Big God Network" by J.C. McGowan. The book blazes through Bali, Tokyo, and numerous settings in "post-America," as well as through many virtual worlds in cyberspace, as it weaves together a near-future high-tech adventure, a mystical quest, and heavy political and cultural satire. The humor can be blatant and other times subtle, as the author takes on a range of subjects, from religion and cults to the promise and pitfalls of virtual life. The chapter "Halfway There" is a sly send-up of William Gibson and WIRED-ish techno-fetishism, while "The Yabyum Palace" (a Tantric cyber sex realm) is both erotic and quite funny. There is an affectionate slice of "fantasy" fiction in "Nigh Errant," while several notable scenes take place in evangelical virtual churches, putting televangelists into cyberspace with disturbing and hilarious takes on the Christian Right (and Trinity Broadcasting Network-ish preachers like Paul Crouch and John Hagee). I recommend "The Big God Network" highly, especially to those who are conversant with Kurt Vonnegut.

One of the great things that happened to me in the past few months was to have the good fortune to come upon J.C. McGowan's "The Big God Network." BGN does everything that great science-fiction should do. Good sci-fi is usually an educational device, with the purpose of lecturing readers about current problematic societal issues, usually metaphorically substituting aliens or far-away races of people for Americans. Yet, only in very brave, truly great modalities of sci-fi, such as that on which McGowan expands in The Big God Network, do sci-fi writers actually speak boldly of a certain time in the not-too distant future, alluding critically to actual problematic trends and contentious character-types that occur and exist in the here-and-now. It is this, I believe, that makes BGN so courageous, particularly in light of the current repressive, religious-fundamentalist regime in America. McGowan is very frank in his use of actual American geography, real places, existing character types, references to Bush, and even the term "New America" (as in The Project for The New American Century) Science-fiction has, for the last century-and-a-half, been an incredibly powerful way of showing humanity its flaws --and its possibilities for positive growth and change-- through metaphorical worlds designed to mirror our own world and society, and to show humans what they are (or could be) destined to become. What McGowan has achieved, with BGN, is one of the greatest post-post-modern examples of this kind of prophesy... BGN is a work of true genius. On a visionary level, BGN offers a wide scope of very different possibilities for the near future, ranging from a cosmogaian vision that respects and reveres cosmology and the natural world, to a xenophobic American Taliban that destroys difference and fascistically dictates its vision of Christianity, guns, and hypocrisy. Appropriate to BGN's clever speculation concerning future cybertechnologies, it is written in an extremely tight, quickly intercut cinematic style that is new and refreshing. BGN moves swiftly, back and forth, from brief chapter to brief chapter (80 chapters in all), breaking up each plot line and each character's narrative into tight scenes, and even fractions of scenes-- at times, it is as if the reader has access to a multi-screen edit-suite on which he can view 4 or 5 stories that move together simultaneously. As in any great work by Vonnegut, Heinlein, or Leven, these multiple plotlines gradually merge up until the stunning conclusion, when the characters come together in a grand Fellini-style finale of both mayhem and resolution. The author must have used a complex flowchart in order to make sense of his many narrative threads, and yet, for the reader, the flow is smooth and effortless. The broad palette of diverse characters is extremely impressive and tirelessly demonstrates both McGowan's love for people and his vast knowledge of multiple cultures and personality types, with a w

The Big God Network by J.C. McGowan is a New Age adventure-satire set in the contemporary, globalized, wired up near future where the former United States has split into several nations with New America, (N'Am for short) comprised of the Midwest, Far West and Old South, and guided by the spirit of Saint Ronald Reagan, versus Pacifica, the West Coast minus Orange and San Diego Counties and guided by the spirit of Saint Jerry Garcia, the late great lead guitar player for the Grateful Dead. Into this whimsical socio-political senario dominated by the World Wide Net is thrown a smorgasbord of New Age religiosity and nefarious organizations, everything from televangelical Christian right wingers, Japanese Yakuza, and governmental hitmen to Wiccan Earth Mothers, Brazilian shamans and fervent UFO seekers.Like all classic science fiction, the plot centers around the work of a great scientist and his amazing invention: an innovation in virtual reality that some see as the method by which contact with extraterrestrial civilization is possible, some as a way to make direct contact with the spiritual world and yet others as the method by which to spy on everybody. Various and sundry no-good-niks want it for themselves and of course, it all comes down to one lone hero, Franz Sampaio, a Brazilian anthropologist-journalist who must safeguard the "Skuld" and save the world. The Big God Network is written in a page turning style. The scenes flow quickly like cuts in an action movie. The story is a romp, jumping back and forth from Bali to Japan to California, and it is fun. If "groovy" were a term with which I were comfortable, I'd have to say that The Big God Network is a "groovy" novel. But there is an aspect to this first novel of J.C. McGowan which lifts it above the mere level of comedy and elevates it to true social commentary. "Virtual Reality As Obsession" is handled with deep insight and compassion, psychologically and socially. The nausea of artificiality and yearning for real life experience and true love of the character Takeshi ring true not only in the novel but also in our day and age as well among video game addicted thirty-somethings. The Big God Network is an excellent vacation read while sitting on a beach sipping something tall and cool. Marc Ladewig Author of Odysseus: The Epic Myth of the Hero

In the main, cyberpunk and science fiction authors have crafted near-future scenarios with an emphasis on technology innovations and broader sociocultural developments; however, their dystopias have touched only lightly on the increasingly ominous future direction of American politics and world affairs. JC McGowan has stepped in to fill this gap, and has done so admirably. The Big God Network blazes new ground in the fiction arena of the near-future political satire, and represents an engaging cross between Tom Swift and Jonathan Swift. If you ever wondered where the Rove-Bush-Neocon-Falwell-Robertson political fiasco might one day lead -- in a worst-case scenario, of course -- you've come to the right book. Let's just say that in McGowan's vision of the near-future world, freedom isn't on the march, but is instead in full retreat. McGowan's narrative is a multicultural melange that maintains its sharpness, humor and edge at every turn, with an occasional romp in the hay thrown in to spice up the narrative. Readers should be ready and willing to travel anywhere at a moment's notice, because Big God Network will take them to far-flung corners of the world at a breakneck pace, from Bali and Tokyo to LA and then back to cyberspace again. Fans of the cyberpunk masters, such as William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, will be right at home here. This book has it all -- virtual reality, New Age spirituality, cybersex, UFOs, extraterrestrials, tele-cyber-evangelists, Yakuza -- and then some. The brisk pacing keeps the pages turning rapidly. I loved this book, and was sorry to see it end. Highly recommended!