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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

The Judas Conspiracy

11:29 / 22.08.03

Just finished re-reading A Cross To Bare. Liked it SO much, I put together a website to help the author promote it. It's an indie, self-published novel, and it's REALLY good. Here's a bit of the author's promo copy about it, to give you a jist:

"The fictional biography of Jackson Cross, author of an inflammatory study of religious culture... A Cross to Bare assumes the burden of exposing Jackson Cross, his motives and methods.
Here for the first time are the answers to virtually all the unsolved questions regarding the series of events leading up to the author's untimely death. This novel offers transcripts from the famous Tom Green Radio Hour examining the day Cross was trapped in a Manhattan office building by an angry mob of Christian fundamentalists, and provides insight into exactly how Jackson and his entourage survived. The facts regarding Cross' participation in the massacre at the Sinatra compound in Colorado during that cold week of 2012 are revealed at last. And, finally, pieced together from eyewitness reports and in-depth interviews with several principal participants, the truth behind that fateful night in Arizona, during the filming of The Judas Conspiracy motion picture, can now be made public.

All this, plus excerpts from The Judas Conspiracy and transcripts of Jackson's stand-up comedy routines. Never before has Cross been examined so thoroughly.

It's still probably not what you think."

If you're curious, check out the website. It's got excerpts, reviews and such. Good stuff.

www.JudasConspiracy.com

12:17 / 22.08.03

Sounds interesting, but why don't you tell us why you liked it? We know the author is likely to think it's worth reading - he wrote it - but what about you? Why should we read it?

13:15 / 22.08.03

Solid point.

The underlying premise of the story is multi-faceted, and I enjoyed all the facets.

It's about the potency of the individual's power of perception, and how one person's point of view on the nature of existence could change everything. It's also about a question: how do you explain to everyone that everything they've been told about their existence is wrong, and that the power to control their own destinies lies within themselves and not the establishment?

It's also a treatise against organized religion, which is particularly close to my tender atheist heart.

And it's a great ride, one of those books you must obsessively complete once you start reading it. The author is a life-long comic book aficionado, and it's reflected in his writing style - each chapter give you just enough to whet your appetite for more. It's literary crack, essentially.

How's THAT sound?

Foust is SO authentic

02:10 / 23.08.03

So it's got a Blair Witch thing going on, a documentary style account of fictional events?

Foust is SO authentic

02:11 / 23.08.03

Or Spinal Tap?

11:32 / 25.08.03

Bit of both actually. The book is alternately funny and horrific, sometimes both at the same time. And DJ is, for the most part, right in his assessment of the "obsession levels" this book develops in it's reader. The writing's quick and you feel you have to keep up with the pace the author sets.

The author got it wrong, though, when he mentioned "an inflammatory study of religious culture" in his promo copy. It's an inflammatory "study" of Christianity and Christians. Other religions aren't touched on. Make of that what you will.