God vs. the Vampire: Angel Falling Softly by Eugene Woodbury

Anger, denial, bargaining, depression, acceptance.

Rachel Forsythe is trapped in the bargaining stage. Her daughter Jennifer is caught between life and death in a coma with no expectation of recovery. Family and friends lose hope, and Rachel turns to the cold comfort of God's Old Testament bargains when an even colder comfort arrives.

Milada Daranyi is no ordinary vampire. She's a master of the art of the deal who has put her centuries of youth to good use in pursuit of lucrative business acquisitions. But is she up for a wager with the most powerful dealer of them all?

A vampire story can't help but cover life and death and their relation to immortality and the supernatural. So one might ask how God fits into this picture, as Eugene Woodbury has done in his new novel Angel Falling Softly from Zarahemla Books. When tragedy strikes, mere mortals can't always expect a miracle, not even after heartfelt prayer and priesthood blessings. So is God still up for an Old Testament style wager, playing dice with His creations, so to speak? Or should we assume we humans are left to our own devices?

Woodbury gives both sides of this question a fair shake. On the Bible allusions side, he might have added a reference to "Jonah and the Whale" as another example of God's deals yielding zany results, but overall he makes a good case for the parallels between Bible stories and life. The classic deist perspective is represented by Rachel's brother Carl, who is something of a New Order Mormon. Milada (the vampire) is a jaded agnostic, but under her charred surface she's yearning for family, peace, and absolution.

There's more than just theology in this book, though. In Angel Falling Softly, as in his earlier novel The Path of Dreams, Woodbury captures human relationships with realism and depth of feeling. He also paints a warm and homey portrait of Utah Mormon culture as seen from a sophisticated worldly perspective. All of this is woven into a suspense-filled tale of a dangerous friendship as two women -- born lifetimes apart -- find the desperate courage to bet it all.

Subtle (but important) details...

When I was seventeen, I read The Godmakers. I'd recently concluded that the claims of the LDS church are false, so I was more than receptive to "anti" materials -- I was actively looking for them.

So what do you imagine I thought of The Godmakers?

I thought it was horrible -- pure garbage.

And it irritated me because -- given all of the legitimate criticisms one can make about the church and its claims -- why publish this nonsense?

This was many years ago, so I don't remember all of the details, but I remember that the striking thing about the book was how much of it was devoted to explaining how Mormon beliefs conflict with mainstream Christian beliefs -- as if that were a proof that Mormon beliefs are wrong. Such reasoning may be convincing for those who were raised with Protestant beliefs (or are otherwise already convinced that mainstream Christain beliefs are right), but to the average person raised Mormon, such arguments are gibberish.

A few months ago I was reading a novel by a Mormon, and when I read the stuff where brother who leaves the church is portrayed as a ne'er-do-well with lots of problems, I didn't object because, hey, that can happen (though it's a bit more common in faithful LDS novels than in real life... ;-) ). And when the exmo bro takes the main character's (LDS convert) fiancé to a bar as a bachelor party, that seemed pretty normal. Then my suspension of disbelief abruptly ended when the exmo bro whips out a copy of The Godmakers. Without any hint anywhere in the novel about exmo bro being "saved" or converting to evangelical Christianity....

Confusing secular exmos with Christian exmos...? That's like... That's like mixing up Scottish and Irish!!!

I thought the author should have changed it to the following:

***

"He's an odd duck, your brother. He said I should check out this website." Eric pulled out a little piece of folded cardboard which Eliza recognized as a Zig-Zag box.

"He gave you rolling papers?"

"No, it's written on the inside." Eric opened it up and Eliza saw that Gary had written "exmormon.org" on the inside of the empty box.

Eliza snorted. "Yeah, that's a great suggestion if you want to waste your time reading the rantings of a bunch of angry apostates."

***

See? That's not only more realistic but funnier!!! (Having him maintain a stash of copies of The Godmakers to distribute? Pfft! I suggested this "improvement" to the author, but I guess my idea didn't make the final cut ;-) ).

Aside from that point, I liked the novel. I had a similar reaction with Brother Brigham -- I liked the novel overall, but a lot of details about the apostate characters could have been better. Even if the character in question is a villain -- or rather especially if the character is a villain -- plausible details make a work more effective. A little bit of research can make the difference between writing something that resonates with readers versus writing something that rings false.

And lest you think I'm unfairly singling out faithful LDS authors, remember that I gave this same criticism (perhaps even more harshly) to Walter Kirn's work here (see the comments as well as the body of the post).

And now for the self-indulgent part of the post!!! :D

I would like to recommend that serious faithful LDS authors take the time to read my novel Exmormon. Not because I think you could learn a thing or two from my amazing literary skills ;-) but rather because -- if you plan to include apostate characters in your work -- it's useful to have a multi-faceted image in your mind of what people who leave the church are like. If the only face you know of the apostate is what apostates look like to Mormons, you'll come up with a flatter, less lifelike portrait of your character than you will if you've seen apostates from another perspective: what they look like to other apostates.

Brother Brigham and Zarahemla Books

What do you do when obeying the commandment to raise a family means kissing all your dreams goodbye and getting locked into a dead-end job for life? And barely keeping your head above water at that? And what if the prophet is leading the church astray? That's when you need a miracle.

C. H. Young is making the best of plodding through the responsibilities of his humble life when all of the sudden he wins the lottery -- Mormon style!!!

If you believe in Mormon doctrine, on some level you you believe this could happen: An angel appears to an undistinguished person and tells him to prepare to be called to lead the church because it's time to restore "the new and everlasting covenant" (polygamy) and the sitting prophet is disobeying the command to do it.

It's every Mormon guy's secret fantasy and every Mormon woman's secret nightmare played out in thrilling detail. If you want to psychoanalyze a whole religion through its darkest dreams, Brother Brigham offers you Mormonism's naked psyche.

As C. H. struggles with accepting his call, the hardest part is dealing with the fact that he wants it -- but doesn't want to want it -- as by luck or divine providence all of the pieces fall neatly into place for him. Finally being able to provide things that are a little bit nicer than the rock-bottom bare necessities for his beloved family is on some level a guilty pleasure even when commanded by God. Finally having the opportunity to develop his musical talents is a spiritual command that C. H. can't help but experience in sensual detail. And sincerely struggling to be a "good polygamous husband" as he divides his attentions between two sexy ladies competing for his love? You can bite into the feeling of how badly he doesn't want to want it...

The story really isn't threatening to an LDS reader's faith -- it's frightening only on the level of "Do we really want to go there? Do we really want to be prodding this sore spot? Exploring every emotion in intimate and reckless abandon?" Yet the novel provides a weirdly cathartic purging of these dangerous feelings.

It's a guilty pleasure to read Brother Brigham. It's a story that takes you to heaven and hell and back. You read it in a day then catch your breath and want a cigarette. Then you remember you don't smoke.

Brother Brigham by D. Michael Martindale is one of three original titles being offered by the new LDS publishing house Zarahemla Books!!! The other two currently offered are Kindred Spirits by Christopher Bigelow (discussed here) and Long After Dark by Todd Robert Petersen which I haven't read yet. Zarahemla Books is also distributing some existing titles such as The Pictograph Murders by P. G. Karamesines.

From what I understand, the charter of Zarahemla Books is to provide fiction that is ultimately LDS-faith-friendly yet willing to explore a little bit outside the Deseret-Book-and-church-correlation box.

I assume at least some of you reading this think it's pretty wacky of me -- as a non-believer -- to have any interest at all in LDS fiction for the LDS audience. But really I'm fascinated by literary portraits of Mormon culture from all different perspectives. And I don't want to limit myself with a ridiculous conceit such as thinking it's impossible for a true believer to have an interesting take on some aspect of Mormonism.

Some say you "recover from Mormonism" by practically forgetting that you were ever Mormon at all. Others (not naming any names or anything ;-) ) seem to think that retaining a relaxed interest in exploring the culture that formed you is also a sign of a healthy and well-adjusted exmo. ;-)

If you're part of the latter camp (or if you're a Mormon or just Mo-curious), you might want to go have a look at the Zarahemla Books website and see what kind of entertainment the Mormons-outside-the-box have to offer!!! :D

Mormon Meat: Christopher Bigelow's Kindred Spirits

Eliza Spainhower, born and bred in Utah Valley, is Mormon to the core but refuses to see Mormonism as equivalent to mountain-sheltered culture. She's back from her mission in Taiwan and has fallen in love with living in Boston. Unfortunately, that means she's faced with the same problem that confronts a lot of single LDS women living in “the mission field” -- finding an eligible LDS guy when there aren't many around. So she meets a non-member guy instead and embarks on a whirlwind campaign to get him to commit to both her and the church. It's a wild race against the clock as she tries to get him past the baptism-and-wedding hurdles before their raging hormones get the better of them and drive them into bed.

This is a fantastically fun and funny book that gives an entertaining portrait of the Mormon mindset through richly developed and realistic characters. I have to warn potential readers though that the novel has a kind of raw realism that some may find disturbing. Basically you have to be okay with reading about some of the less-beautiful intimate details of the human body in order to read this book. The author uses these earthy details to contrast the pathetic messiness inherent in the physical body with the purity of spiritual feelings and experiences.

Bigelow's portrait of Mormonism has the same warts-and-all raw realism as his portrayal of his characters. He covers some less-comfortable points of church history, doctrine, and folk-doctrine without the modest whitewash. This is not a “milk before meat” kind of book. His treatment of polygamy is particularly nuanced. My book has a sub-plot that illustrates the complex relationship between modern Mormons and polygamy. But next to this book, my coverage of the subject is like “intro to Mormons and their conflicted feelings towards polygamy” whereas Bigelow's digs in like a graduate course.

I knew before picking up this book that the author is a believing Mormon. So I kind of expected that this more-realistic-than-flattering portrait of Mormonism would be just a starting point, and from there he would build to a strong LDS-faith-promoting crescendo. But he didn't. It turns out this novel is more faith-exploring than faith-promoting. For that reason (plus the profanity and explicit sexual content) many Mormons will not like this book. However I'm sure there are some Mormons out there with a strong constitution and an interest in church history who will like it. I liked it even though it didn't stroke my beliefs any more than it strokes the beliefs of the Mormons (the only exmormon/apostate character being a misbehaving ne'er-do-well).

One thing I really like about this novel is the realistic ambiguity and complexity of the situation presented. The author doesn't just spell out for you what you should think about the various characters and situations but rather leaves you to form your own opinions. As the story progresses, Eliza's relationship with her boyfriend and with the church takes some strange turns, and I couldn't keep from wondering how things would have turned out if she'd made different choices. What if she'd decided to stay in Utah Valley a least long enough to find a husband? What if she'd insisted on dating only Mormon guys instead of trying to convert one? What if she'd been stricter about keeping their dates gospel-centered? It's not clear whether such choices would have made things turn out better or worse, yet one can see that there are a lot of alternate possibilities. It's not even clear whether her experiences in the novel are positive or negative overall. And even though we see the character evolve, her situation is actually more ambiguous at the end of the story than at the beginning.

In short, this novel is definitely an entertaining read but not a fluffy featherweight. This is the book to choose if you're up for some Mormon meat.