A description of the book, with links to the author's interactive MySpace pages: In the near future, the Christian right has split the country, resulting in the creation of Pacifica, New America and other new post-American nations. “N’Am” is a Christian theocracy that has banned the teaching of evolution in its classrooms and considers subversive thought to be “information terrorism.” Liberal Pacifica (formerly the West Coast) is overjoyed to be on its own, yet N’Am’s rapture-obsessed president seeks to rewrite post-American history and take back its heathen neighbor to the West.

Meanwhile Baba Ed's wealthy UFO cult Offworld, seeking ET contact, has developed the Channel, which fuses radio waves with AI and quantum neurology. This hot tech is sought by bionic Yakuza, AI hit men, ruthless multinationals, and wired Evangelicals with virtual churches. If N’Am seizes the Channel, it could result in global domination by Fundamentalist extremists and the end of Pacifica’s freedom. It is up to the reluctant Franz Sampaio, host of the Transmigrations world-religions Net show, to safeguard the Channel and protect Pacifica, even as uncanny events indicate possible extraterrestrial visitors.

The odds are against Franz, who is aided by his fiery wife Dolores and their friend Takeshi, a netsick Otaku who has been spending too much time having cybersex in the Yabyum Palace, where he has become involved with a new online love, Sally Simkin.

Owinda (a Pacifican witch), Fumio and his Japanese cyberpunk programmer buddies, and Arwin, an ex-JPL CosmoGaian, are also part of Franz's global crew. Set in near-future California, Bali, Tokyo and cyberspace, The Big God Network is a heady cocktail of near-future sci-fi and cultural satire. Read sample chapters here: The Big God Network (Excerpts).

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Author J.C. McGowan has published non-fiction books with Temple University Press and Random House. This is his first novel and is available here: The Big God Network (at Amazon.com)