Mike And Gaby's Space Gospel Book

Ken Russell's first attempt at a science fiction novel is a genially sacrilegious, and hardly original, rehearsal of the career of Christ as an experiment by robot intelligence from outer space. Mike and Gaby create the entire history of humanity in a desperate attempt by their machine civilisation to find the answer to an insidious plague of rust, and Jesus Christ is the culmination of their plan. Thus, almost all of the miracles are last minute improvisations, with ramshackle technology that often crashes, by them or their horned opponent from some rival civilisation. And yet, somehow, their instrument has a mind of His own--this is not quite as irreverent a book as it at first sight seems, and this Jesus has a dignity entirely unaffected by the mechanical clowns that think they are pulling His strings. Much of the interaction of the two robots is more touching than one might expect-- Russell is a bit of an old softy at heart in spite of his attempts at cynicism. And even the predictable jokes in dubious taste--the feeding of five thousand involves smoked salmon and bagels, and there are complaints about the absence of cream cheese--have the charm of old friends. --Roz KaveneyRead More