Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/25/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 05/17/08.
JAMES MORROW
Genre Novels
Blameless in Abaddon
The Continent of Lies
The Eternal Footman
The Last Witchfinder
Only Begotten Daughter
This Is the Way the World Ends
Towing Jehovah
The Wine of Violence
The author's website is: http://www.sff.net/people/Jim.Morrow/.
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: October 9, 1999.
Meeting Site: Saddle River Valley Cultural Center, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 38.
Meeting Program: Talk by Science Fiction Writer.
Notes:
The James Morrow reading was held at Borders Books & Music in the Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus, New Jersey.
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 1999 Philip J De Parto:
The October 9, 1999 meeting of the Association featured author James Morrow. The writer read to a small audience which consisted of Philip De Parto, Louisa Marcucci, Paul Marcucci, Barry Weinberger, Taras Wolansky, and one other person before joining a group of club members for Chilis in Paramus. Despite the detours and construction work on the 17 / 4 interchange, everyone eventually made it to Upper Saddle River.
Matters were not going as planned at the Cultural Center. Channel 11 shuffled around some of its SF programs, so we did not show FARSCAPE. This was just as well, as the tape had been left home by Philip De Parto. He also forgot Taras Wolansky's YAWARA tape as well. Both will be shown before the November meeting.
Unlike many science fiction writers, Mr Morrow did not fall in love with the genre at an early age. Although he and some high school friends were devotees of horror movies and even made a few shorts, his tastes in fiction were of a more literarty persuasion.
His first novel, THE WINE OF VIOLENCE, was written as a response to some ideas about the relationship between violence and the media that were being debated at the time. What, he wondered, would it be like to have a technology which would siphon off personal aggression by creating a virtual reality in which someone could have a catharsis by acting out his violent fantasies. He wrote it and discovered he had written a science fiction novel.
...
James Morrow writes science fiction not because he wants to write science fiction, but because science fiction affords him the opportunity to write about things he wants to write about, the big picture questions. He talked about looking up at the stars as a boy and wondering how did this all come to be?
For the author, science fiction is knowledge fiction. It allows you to ask questions and try out thought problems in a way no other literature does. His literary heroes were not Heinlein and Bradbury, but rather Dante and Kafka, but science fiction is the easiest pathway to their territory.
BLAMELESS IN ABADDEN, the second in his Godhead Trilogy, illustrates these concerns. The plot of the book is that the mountain-sized corpse of Jehovah, found dead and floating in the Atlantic Ocean in TOWING JEHOVAH, is discovered to have some lingering brainwave activity still occurring. A suit is brought in the World Court to have the corpse put on trial for crimes against mankind. Both sides marshall their attorneys and their arguments. Mr Morrow said that several seminary students had written to him stating that they had used the arguments as a study aid for their religion exams.
Another thought problem is explored in THE LAST WITCHFINDER, the novel currently in progress. It deals with the shift in worldviews between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, from a religious to a secular paradigm. Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklin are among the characters in this book.
This lead to a discussion of the theme of religion explored in a number of his books and stories which in turn led to talk of The Book of Job, Salomon Rushdie, and the Islamic view of storytelling. He said that he is an obscure enough writer that he is able to fly beneath the radar of organized religion.
Mr Morrow was also asked about the mechanics of his writing and how he disciplined himself to produce his work. He replied that the discipline was not in the writing, but in the stopping. His life is a friendly tension between his desire to sit at the typewriter all day long and to spend time with his wife and family.
He concluded his talk with a short reading from THE ETERNAL FOOTMAN, the final "Godhead" book. The reading was from a section set in Bergen County, New Jersey.
James Morrow sold a surprisingly large number of the hardcovers and trade paperbacks he had brought with him. He was an interesting and engaging guest. His website is http://ww.sff/people.jim.morrow.