What do you think?
Rate this book
Above Us Only Sky
In the future, when a plane crashes in Israel, world-wide events culminate with the west's 3 major religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) all consolidating into one new all-powerful religion, with one new all-powerful God, Godyallah.
Science meanwhile is feverishly attempting to create the world's 1st A genetically re-wired and superior human being.
These two opposing forces race toward each other until finally, the world stands on the brink of Armageddon.
Science meanwhile is feverishly attempting to create the world's 1st A genetically re-wired and superior human being.
These two opposing forces race toward each other until finally, the world stands on the brink of Armageddon.
402 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 15, 2008
6 people want to read
About the author
Chris Volkay
29 books6 followersI'd like to offer what my site and I am about, or at least trying to do right off the bat My literary heroes are that horrible, scabrous wretch of a man, Bukowski. Then Celine, Voltaire, Mencken, Dostoevsky round out my starting team.
And, if I were to choose perhaps the most important book to read I would opt for Voltaire's Candide. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor. (But I swear that's my story in there. How he did it, I have no idea.)
Somebody once wrote about Bukowski, his mission was in piercing the veil of pretension that all of us live by. And of course there's the famous quote by Sean Penn, "the thing about Bukowski, everything he says, he's right."
So not an over abundance of rainbows and twirling sparklers around over here. Bring your own flashlight. I opt for a slightly darker view of life. Critics would say "negative" I would say honest. Like all things, it's debatable. It's like they used to say to Miller & Williams, Eugene O'Neill, "why so negative? depressing? Their collective answer? I'm just writing reality.
As I see it this obfuscation, this supplanting virtually all reality with the various lies and myths officially sanctioned by our society and all the rest of it is the most stunning, gobsmacking event going on in the world today. It's like we are all being slapped across our collective faces by a big wet tuna, and we don't even seem to notice it. People accept, almost without exception the wheelbarrow full of lies that is palmed off on our society. And it's not just one thing, it's all the B.S. across the board. I would opine (love that word-must mean I'm smart? huh?) that of the 7.6 billion people currently clogging up my planet, (I am kidding-I think) that every single one of them has invented their own little trusty world that swirls around in their heads and only they see. As to the real planet that's here? Earth? I don't know if anyone has ever even seen it. It remains largely unknown to human eyes.
So, at least from my point of view, and thusly this will be the focus of much of my writing, the REAL ‘Faustian Bargain’ humanity made with itself was that it would always live in hope and self-delusion. And in this regard every human being bellies up to the bar and drinks their fill.
Reality was so wicked, ugly, like a broken bottle in a back-alley Chicago bar fight, that we didn’t want any part of it. It all initially seemed innocuous enough, one supposes. Fill our lives with the agreed upon hopes and lies, what we prefer to be
true, and so what? Anodynes to assuage the acridity of adulthood. And so, like master craftsmen, we set about building our own individual dream worlds. Everything we believe and act upon in our lives is part of this great Faustian bargain.
But these illusions are not value neutral. In fact, they’re downright poisonous. The psychological equivalents of the flesh-eating disease. By shielding us from the unpleasantness of reality they serve and conspire to keep us weak, wee little tater tots. Our creativity, our abilities to think and stand on our own two feet are torn asunder. This only conspires to keep people infantile. Yes, in the short-term it dulls the inevitable agonies of the human condition, but in the long-term it’s what keeps us so damn infantile. We are childish, are we not?
Scientists natter about the harnessing of fire, the invention of the wheel, Gutenberg’s printing press and the emergence of Miley Cyrus as major turning points in the history of humanity. But remember theology too. Why? Because it starts us off on a highway, a path, a way of thinking about the world and ourselves that will become the preferred method. And thus this unscientific, supernatural way of seeing the world, then infects, like a computer virus, everything we see and think about. Through this altered and faulty prism of wishful thinking, we then formulate our viewpoints regarding life, love, politics, psychology, etc. And as our thought processes
And, if I were to choose perhaps the most important book to read I would opt for Voltaire's Candide. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor. (But I swear that's my story in there. How he did it, I have no idea.)
Somebody once wrote about Bukowski, his mission was in piercing the veil of pretension that all of us live by. And of course there's the famous quote by Sean Penn, "the thing about Bukowski, everything he says, he's right."
So not an over abundance of rainbows and twirling sparklers around over here. Bring your own flashlight. I opt for a slightly darker view of life. Critics would say "negative" I would say honest. Like all things, it's debatable. It's like they used to say to Miller & Williams, Eugene O'Neill, "why so negative? depressing? Their collective answer? I'm just writing reality.
As I see it this obfuscation, this supplanting virtually all reality with the various lies and myths officially sanctioned by our society and all the rest of it is the most stunning, gobsmacking event going on in the world today. It's like we are all being slapped across our collective faces by a big wet tuna, and we don't even seem to notice it. People accept, almost without exception the wheelbarrow full of lies that is palmed off on our society. And it's not just one thing, it's all the B.S. across the board. I would opine (love that word-must mean I'm smart? huh?) that of the 7.6 billion people currently clogging up my planet, (I am kidding-I think) that every single one of them has invented their own little trusty world that swirls around in their heads and only they see. As to the real planet that's here? Earth? I don't know if anyone has ever even seen it. It remains largely unknown to human eyes.
So, at least from my point of view, and thusly this will be the focus of much of my writing, the REAL ‘Faustian Bargain’ humanity made with itself was that it would always live in hope and self-delusion. And in this regard every human being bellies up to the bar and drinks their fill.
Reality was so wicked, ugly, like a broken bottle in a back-alley Chicago bar fight, that we didn’t want any part of it. It all initially seemed innocuous enough, one supposes. Fill our lives with the agreed upon hopes and lies, what we prefer to be
true, and so what? Anodynes to assuage the acridity of adulthood. And so, like master craftsmen, we set about building our own individual dream worlds. Everything we believe and act upon in our lives is part of this great Faustian bargain.
But these illusions are not value neutral. In fact, they’re downright poisonous. The psychological equivalents of the flesh-eating disease. By shielding us from the unpleasantness of reality they serve and conspire to keep us weak, wee little tater tots. Our creativity, our abilities to think and stand on our own two feet are torn asunder. This only conspires to keep people infantile. Yes, in the short-term it dulls the inevitable agonies of the human condition, but in the long-term it’s what keeps us so damn infantile. We are childish, are we not?
Scientists natter about the harnessing of fire, the invention of the wheel, Gutenberg’s printing press and the emergence of Miley Cyrus as major turning points in the history of humanity. But remember theology too. Why? Because it starts us off on a highway, a path, a way of thinking about the world and ourselves that will become the preferred method. And thus this unscientific, supernatural way of seeing the world, then infects, like a computer virus, everything we see and think about. Through this altered and faulty prism of wishful thinking, we then formulate our viewpoints regarding life, love, politics, psychology, etc. And as our thought processes
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 18, 2023
Occasional Good Prose, Abysmal Story-Telling
There are a few sections of this book that have rather good prose, but they are infrequent. Sometimes, the dialogue is good and snappy, but mostly it is painful. Thats about the extent of the pros list for this book.
Most of the book is clunky, mind-numbingly dull exposition. The author spends page after page poorly describing what is going on around his world. It reads like a fantasy/sci-fi author describing his setting. The story is also told instead of shown; the author rarely bothers to craft a scene and actions are briefly described. A lot of what he goes into illustrates There are frequent asides for musings and observations delivered by the main character, but these are invariably dull and insipid. There are also occasional semi-philosophical tangents, but these have the depth of thought you would expect from someone with a concussion. They range from completely generic to mildly absurd.
The story itself is a rather silly anti-religious screed set in a near future dystopia. It comes replete with all the standard near future tropes the few times the author tries to focus on his story. The brief scenes don’t usually delve into that much detail.
The main character is vile and unlikable. The main antagonist is an absurd caricature. No other character is really developed enough to comment on.
This book is a waste of time. If you want a book where religion is the main evil there are a lot of good ones to choose from.
There are a few sections of this book that have rather good prose, but they are infrequent. Sometimes, the dialogue is good and snappy, but mostly it is painful. Thats about the extent of the pros list for this book.
Most of the book is clunky, mind-numbingly dull exposition. The author spends page after page poorly describing what is going on around his world. It reads like a fantasy/sci-fi author describing his setting. The story is also told instead of shown; the author rarely bothers to craft a scene and actions are briefly described. A lot of what he goes into illustrates There are frequent asides for musings and observations delivered by the main character, but these are invariably dull and insipid. There are also occasional semi-philosophical tangents, but these have the depth of thought you would expect from someone with a concussion. They range from completely generic to mildly absurd.
The story itself is a rather silly anti-religious screed set in a near future dystopia. It comes replete with all the standard near future tropes the few times the author tries to focus on his story. The brief scenes don’t usually delve into that much detail.
The main character is vile and unlikable. The main antagonist is an absurd caricature. No other character is really developed enough to comment on.
This book is a waste of time. If you want a book where religion is the main evil there are a lot of good ones to choose from.
Displaying 1 of 1 review