After last year’s Prometheus Award winner, The Jehovah Contract by Victor Koman, you might think that the subject of man vs God would be just about exhausted, despite the fascination this conflict will always hold for many libertarians. However, Ted Reynolds in his new novel, The Tides of God, has managed to raise some fascinating new questions and provide some valuable insights into this truly "eternal" struggle. Set in the 33rd century, his novel presents a mankind which has recognized a cycle of irrationality which occurs every few centuries, resulting in the extinguishment of learning and science in a great rise of superstition and religious fanaticism. The Fall of Rome and the Dark Ages that followed, the Black Years of the 22nd thru the 29th centuries are cited as examples. What causes this? With the help of friendly aliens, man has learned that he is being externally influenced by an object in space which passes within a few light years of Earth every few centuries. For lack of a better name, this scourge of mankind is called God.

Mankind has no intention of taking the return of all the old evils associated with God without a fight. In a ship provided by those helpful aliens, a picked crew sets out beyond Altair to kill God before he can come close enough to decimate Earth again. As the novel continues, the suspense builds, for as the ship moves closer and closer to God, the crew members begin to be affected by it. The author does an outstanding job of subtly conveying the different effects of the growing religious fervor on different people. Each of the crewmembers reacts differently to a confrontation with Godhead. I don’t want to spoil the outcome of the novel, but suffice it to say you will be riveted for the final sixty pages.

Also very interesting to the libertarian is the society from which the crewmembers originate. It is portrayed as a completely rational one, in which interpersonal relationships seem to be based for the most part on contracts. The idea of monogamy and even the terms husband and wife are seen as abnormal by this society. All child rearing is done by professional creches, with most parents not even knowing where their children are. One of the major characters is considered unusual because she bothers to maintain even the most tenuous connection with her daughter. For me, this was one of Reynolds’ finest achievements in the novel; by taking some of the most treasured principles of libertarian philosophy (rationalism, freedom of equality in relationships, "enlightened" upbringing of children) and carrying them to their logical extremes, he creates a society and a people which are more alien to us than the religious fanaticism they are opposing.

Unfortunately, the author, unlike many avowed libertarian writers, does not go into great detail describing the society from which these characters emerged. His concern is to tell the story of their confrontation with this unknown force called God, and he only refers to their background society as required to support the story.

There is a small plug for the libertarians by name at one point in the story; the Captain of the spaceship; a woman nicknamed Big Momma, thinks disparaging about “the self styled libertarians in the southwest archipelagoes” who are evidently not too keen on the idea of supporting the world government which has sent the mission. So even in the totally rational future, there'll still be a place for us troublemakers. Indeed, Reynolds does such a good job of presenting the "normal" crewmembers as being so completely different from us that I fould myself sympathizing with the "crazy" religious types. An interesting position for an avowed agnostic to find himself. It also raises the fascinating questions of just how much of the underlying bedrock of what we think of as rational Western culture has emerged from a religious source. I think the answer is probably more than more of we non-believers realize, and also more than we would be willing to part with, if it could be whisked away with the wave of a hand.

In summary, I highly recommend The Tides of God to all members of the Society; it raises very interesting issues which all of us should consider and, more importantly, it is a great read. While not nearly so satirical and tongue-in-cheek as last year's winner, it approaches the same serious issues in a new and unusual manner. I have no doubt that it will be a serious contender for the Prometheus Award for its year.