Review: Triune, by Andrew Bowen

A Jew, a Muslim and a Christian walk into a bar....

It's okay, you can laugh at whatever punchline you can imagine to finish that sentence. When it comes to religion and religious differences, I'm pretty sure Andrew Bowen would prefer we all laugh a little more and bicker a little less. Andrew recently published his novella, Triune, and it is available both in print and in Kindle format.

Product description from Amazon:

No one--not even the band themselves--expected Triune to go this far.

Jaron, Sam, and Noah have a simple mission: bring unity and peace among the faiths of Abraham through killer music. Triune's members: Jaron--a Jew with strong Israeli roots, Sam--a Palestinian Muslim, and Noah--a devout Christian with a haunted past, set out across the United States to spread their message and face acclaim and disaster at every turn. The country is taken by storm as Triune blazes a trail of revolution across the Plains toward a record contract in California. But when tragedy strikes Jaron's family and the Palestinians declare total independence from Israel, the Holy Land errupts into civil war. Secrets from the past and old rivalries emerge, forcing Jaron, Sam, and Noah to pick sides in a conflict that threatens to rip the band, their spiritual homeland, and their lives apart.

When I began reading, I was chuckling every few paragraphs it seemed. Jaron is a wellspring of comedic moments, whether its his substitutions for Amen at the end of prayers (Ra-men, Gay-men) or popping golf cart wheelies in the middle of a round of golf with the Reverend of a church. There are plenty of moments to laugh, but also plenty of moments to think.

You'll get to know and care about all three members of the band throughout the book. Sam's struggle to be her own person under the watch of her strict Muslim parents is touching, and something we can all relate to on some level. Noah is mysterious, seemingly haunted, and provides a quiet voice of reason. While each band member has their own “book” in the story, I feel Jaron is really the central focus of the plot. His actions are the catalyst for much of what happens, and he is the character I most identified with. He is light-hearted in his faith – something some may interpret as a lack of faith, or shallow faith, but it's not. He's prone to whimsical decisions he believes are divinely inspired, and this makes not only for some funny moments, but also his dramatic end.

Triune has an ending you have to read to believe, so I won't give it away here. I'll just say that Jaron takes some actions that surprised and saddened me. The ending stuck with me. I had to think about it for a while. I wished desperately that it hadn't ended the way it did. At first. Then I realized that, really, it couldn't have ended any other way. It was a logical progression of events where the characters behaved according to their personalities, not some author-contrived ending simply intended to shock (c'mon, I know you've all read at least one book like that and wanted to toss it across the room afterward, right? No worries about that here.)

I think the best word I can use to describe this story is unassuming, and that's a good thing. If someone wants to tell you a parable or fable, you expect a message. If someone wants to quote to you from the Bible or other holy text, you expect a message. Sometimes, expecting a message gets in the way of receiving that message. With Triune, Andrew has crafted a story that is entertaining and will pull you in, have you rooting for these three friends as their band tours the country, and hoping for their safety when things take a turn for the worse. Before you've had a chance to look for a message, you'll have learned it.

Random Shout-Out Sunday

Well, it's not Sunday anymore, but it is random!  Time for another shout-out!

If you've been following my blog for a few months or more, you've probably realized I have a bit of a literary love affair going on with the Dirty Prophet, Andrew Bowen.  I first made Andrew's acquaintance when he accepted a short story of mine for publication in his online lit mag, Divine Dirt Quarterly, late last year, and I've been a fan ever since.  In addition to being proactive and full of interesting ideas, he has a brand new project that I'm very excited to tell you about.

For a bit more background info on Andrew, make sure you check out my conversations with the Dirty Prophet (shame on you if you haven't read it already!)  He was also recently interviewed by Lynn Alexander at PRATE, and she mentioned Jello World.... I'd be lying if I said I didn't go squeeee! when I saw it!  So, Andrew is a father and husband, a student of theology, founder and editor-in-chief of DDQ, is pioneering his own genre of theological fiction, has a forthcoming novella, and his short fiction has appeared in various magazines.  How much more can one man do, you ask?

How about take on a year-long project to explore various religions from the perspective of a new convert to each one?  Take on Dirty Prophet and twelve months of "spiritual promiscuity" and you get Project Conversion.  From the Project Conversion website:

Humanity has lost its mind, all because of religion. For a cultural phenomenon that’s existed as long as Man has been afraid of the dark, religion remains a divisive and misunderstood subject. A recent poll by The Pew Forum found that many religious groups know little to nothing about one another, or even their own theologies. People are afraid of what they don’t understand and willing to kill and die over their concept of the divine.
It’s time to lighten up.

Project Conversion: Twelve Months of Spiritual Promiscuity, has a mission: To enlighten and entertain. Over the course of a year, I will immerse myself in one religion per month. With the help of spiritual mentors and research, every step of the journey will be documented here via photos, video, and blog entry.

Should be fun. Will certainly be interesting, and hopefully by the end a few folks who may have been reticent to find out about a rival faith will learn something by vicariously practicing for a month through me.

 While I think it's a great idea that people will be able to learn from, as well as be entertained by, there will be those who don't share my opinion.  Some people are concerned that some faiths may be "butchered" by their portrayal in this experiment.  Andrew has addressed some of those concerns on his blog, which you can read here.  Whatever your opinion - positive, negative, or neutral - Project Conversion is definitely something to keep your eye on.  Here's a brief video from the project's donation page on Kickstarter.



If you wish to support Project Conversion, you can do so here.

So, to recap, here are all the places you can find out about Andrew and Project Conversion:
Andrew's blog, The Dirty Prophet 
Project Conversion website
Project Conversion on Facebook
Donation page at Kickstarter

Conversations With the Dirty Prophet II: Theological Fiction and Publishing

A continuation of my interview with Adrew Bowen, founder of Divine Dirt Quarterly.  To read part one, click here.

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Jello World: So, thinking more about novels now, do you have any thoughts on the mainstream publishing industry? I know a lot of people who are going the self-pub route, or going to smaller indie presses, and even some who've started their own publishing houses. And since you've seen fit to start up something like DDQ, I thought you might have an opinion on what is (or isn't) currently being published.

Dirty Prophet: A lot. That's it; there's a ton of material being produced despite the image of so much rejection. And now with the relative low cost of printing and small-scale production, artists can in effect tell the companies to screw themselves. This democratization is a two-edged sword. At once, it's great that more and more art can be shared due to this freedom, but the negatives are that the ratio of artist to consumer is tilting to a point of inflation. It's in vogue to diss the big houses and authors who rake in five to seven figures per title, but put yourself in their shoes: would you say no? Artists have a hard time supporting themselves as it is, but now a non-paying market is the norm. The next few years will be interesting.

Jello World: I wouldn't say no! haha. I think it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years, whether digital will make print books obsolete (I doubt it) and stuff like that. I know you've had a submission out with an agent for a while now. Do you plan to continue pursuing the traditional publishing route, or would you consider self-publishing or e-publishing?

Dirty Prophet: Oh no, "the submission". It's been with this particular agent for almost eight months. So I suppose that yeah, I'm shooting for traditional, at least at first. Like I told the agent, writing is a career move for me. Sure, I'm an artist and want to express myself and all that jazz, but when it comes down to it, I know that this is what I'm built for and what better result than to do what brings me joy and be able to support my family?

Jello World: Amen! I have nothing but respect for anyone who chooses to do it themselves. I just don't have the discipline and motivation to be my own marketing machine. Plus, at least for now, I think the pros of traditional publishing still outweigh the benefits of self publishing.

Dirty Prophet: This is an aspect artist folks tend to forget about publishing: it is a business and what you produce is a product. I'm not entirely reticent to the idea of going solo, it's just a business choice: publisher = less risk. Artists have to be able to see themselves as business people if a career (and therefore income) is to rise to fruition. Should I get a contract, I'll have no problem going from writer to pimp of my work quicker than Clark Kent to Superman in a phone booth.

Jello World: haha! So you'd kill your darlings, so to speak, at the request of a publisher or editor to make your product more marketable?

Dirty Prophet: No, to make it better. I have no shame and very little ego. There have been several pieces of my short fiction that were modified and edited due to an editor's suggestion. This doesn't mean I'm a whore to the industry, but I recognize that there are people out there whose job it is to analyze work, recognize weaknesses, and make corrections. Being a writer is just a link in the creative chain and if my ego weakens that chain, show's over.

Jello World: But there are limits to what you'll do? I know a lot of writers feel that there are editors out there who will want to re-work your book until it hardly resembles what you set out to create.

Dirty Prophet: There are limits. This novel I've written literally defines me as an artist. I'll move and mold a lot, but I won't relinquish my identity or artistic soul to make a buck for myself or anyone else.

Jello World: Good for you!  So do you think your "brand" will be theological fiction, or do you see yourself ever branching out into other areas?

Dirty Prophet: I actually think theological fiction has a ton of real estate. There are really just two areas here: Inspirational, where the literature is biased toward a particular mindset, and more literary work that sinks away into general fiction. The market has a tough time sorting the latter out. It's even more difficult to find this material (non-inspirational) in stores because they are buried in the "Literature" section. I'd love to see an emergence of this genre as it's own distinctive niche, like mystery or romance. This would make room for great sub-genres that, before, would have been unthinkable amalgams such as theo-erotica, theo-historical fiction, even theo-graphic novels...all of which center around this concept of theological expression and exploration.

Jello World: Sign me up for theo-erotica! I'm totally there. I think it would be great to see that kind of development, practically creating a new genre. Side rant: I really do hate how bookstores have that "Literature" section, because what it usually means is "we didn't know where else to put it" and just because you like one book in that section doesn't mean you'll be at all interested in the one sitting right next to it!!! *end rant*

Dirty Prophet: It's really like the Wild West of literally expansion. You realize this dream, this idea, that there's all this room to spread and build and then it suddenly hits you how enormous of an undertaking it would be.

Jello World: I have a friend who writes terrific Steampunk, bordering on erotica sometimes, and that genre is just starting to take hold too. I think she's on the leading edge of something that will be really great, and I think you are too. There are so many possibilities and so many stories to tell. The agent who snatches you up will be very lucky!

Dirty Prophet: Thanks! What's great about this genre is that it requires no baggage to contribute. To write Christian Inspirational, you kinda need to be a member, but with theo-lit, you could be an outright atheist and still have something to contribute. When you see theology and spirituality as something free to explore, it takes the barbs out it and suddenly we're all members of one diverse congregation.

Jello World: So true! And even under that heavy tag of "literary fiction" you have to have a certain something that not every writer has (or wants to). So you're envisioning more of a mainstream genre. Like you said, something more recognizable, like romance or mystery. Do you see DDQ almost as a first step in building the genre and getting the word out there?

Dirty Prophet: There are other zines out there. Image is a big one. A good friend of mine, Edward Simon started 31st Bird Review a few months before DDQ, Ashe Journal is another. There are others, but as I said, the horizon is wide open and there's certainly room for niches to develop and grow.

Jello World: Cool, I'll have to check out some of those too.

Dirty Prophet: Tell them I said hi.

Jello World: Will do! Wow... So this has been quite a productive chat! I think I've asked all the questions I had and have gotten lots of great material. Is there anything you wanted to share or tell readers that I haven't touched on?

Dirty Prophet: The standard I live by is this: We are all but neighbors, borrowing sugar (ideas, concepts, etc.) from one another to create our own pastries. Once we grasp this, that our humanity isn't stagnant, but a continual narrative where we share and make anew, the day gets brighter and the thunder of our lives becomes music instead of something mysterious to be feared.

Jello World: Prophet, indeed.

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Andrew's fiction has appeared in Metazen, Full of Crow, Nanoism, Pulp Metal Magzine, and Prick of the Spindle, just to name a few. He is the founder/editor of Divine Dirt Quarterly, and he blogs at The Dirty Prophet. If that's not enough, he also wrestles with God and they share beer afterward.

Conversations With The Dirty Prophet: Theology in Fiction and Divine Dirt Quarterly

Recently I had the pleasure of sitting down for a chat with none other than the Dirty Prophet, aka Andrew Bowen, founder and editor-in-chief of Divine Dirt Quarterly.  After nearly three hours, some excellent mindreading on Andrew's part, and some bad spelling and grammar on both sides (to be expected from an instant messenger chat), I bring you Conversations With the Dirty Prophet!  I've broken it up into two parts for easy reading.  Today's installation talks about theology in general and in fiction, and Andrew's experience starting DDQ.  I think I even managed to fix all the spelling mistakes. :-)

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Jello World: Okay so, to get started, can you just tell me a little bit about yourself, besides the awesome writing stuff?


Dirty Prophet: Well sure. I'm from eastern North Carolina. Grew up an Army brat and was generally a social outcast through most of school. Then I went to college, got drunk and/or high a lot, was kicked out of college, got my girlfriend/bestfriend pregnant and then married. And so here I am.

Jello World: Did you ever go back to college?

Dirty Prophet: Going back now. Ironically, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up until the last days of my college career. I started writing my first novel the summer before what was supposed to be my junior year. From there I wrote a few more and it wasn't until I started working on my latest one in 2008 that I realized religion and fiction were what I was to spend my life in ecstasy and agony over.

Jello World: So a slightly random question, where did the nickname "The Dirty Prophet" come from?

Dirty Prophet: Haha well I have a great interest in prophets and the historic/metaphorical spiritual aspects of dirt, so I just made them my own. Prophets are folks who express a need for change or challenge those around them to think. I'd like to think that my work does that. As for dirt, it's a unifying element. We came from dirt, so to speak, in both scientific and theological traditions. We dig in dirt to find things: our past, our technologies, worms for fishing...Dirt keeps us human, connected, and real. That's how I want to be: human, connected, and real.

Jello World: Interesting! I like that.

Dirty Prophet: Not as cool as Slim Shady or Dark Knight, but it'll do.

Jello World: haha I think it's pretty cool. It's fitting.  Back to religion and fiction... as you know, I write erotica. It's not always a conscious choice, but rather something I fall into naturally. Even in my most mainstream stuff, the characters will probably hop into bed at least once. Do you find religion is something you just gravitate toward, or are you always making a conscious effort to write about it?

Dirty Prophet: Religion in general and writing with it in particular is something I merged into. My pre-theological material usually dealt with social issues like the teacher-student (minor) relationship or internet dating. I discovered my passion in religion while researching for my last novel. Suddenly a Pandora's box of subject matter and character types opened and my world hasn't been the same since. I think about this stuff 24-7. It annoys my wife sometimes.

Jello World: Funny you should say... my first novel ever dealt with a teacher-student relationship! Great minds think alike, I suppose.

Dirty Prophet: This is true!

Jello World: So does your wife have to continually change the topic to something besides theology?

Dirty Prophet: She understands my passion and so rolls with it. Because my spiritual background began with Christianity and she has just recently adopted that faith, we often discuss what she is learning. But for her watching me read about religion or write, I guess it's like watching a kid with Legos or a video game.

Jello World: Yes, the awe and excitement of it all, right?

Dirty Prophet: Religion (cosmology too) for me is like numbers to a mathematician or musical notes to a composer. The myths, the stories, the rituals and histories just make sense to me. Funny, it's my security blanket in a world where religion is a cause for death and strife. I see no duality, just the beautiful, trippy, human color of imagination and faith.

Jello World: You're reading my mind today, because my next question was going to be what is it about theology and religion that captivates you enough to want to challenge it, write about it, and to share it with your readers? Are you searching for you own truth when you write, or have you already found that?

Dirty Prophet: Interestingly enough, a search is how this mess started. When researching for my novel's protagonist (he's a prophet), I came across information on all sorts of traditions. It was inviting to settle with one, but just then, I'd fall in love with another. I was becoming spiritually promiscuous. My truth is that I have no damn clue. I've adopted a position of a nomad, roaming from faith to faith (and sometimes none) and finding solace within each oasis so long as there is water and shade. Then, I pack my bags and move on. I intentionally make my fiction ambiguous to reflect this.

Jello World: "Spiritually promiscuous" I love that! So you're not necessarily trying to lead your readers to any one conclusion about god or theology?

Dirty Prophet: No. That would be dishonest. If we subscribe to the idea of a perfect "other" or God, while admitting ourselves to be imperfect, then how the hell would any of us, being imperfect, be able to dictate absolute truth? I think faith, spirituality is a journey, something to dig for. It's curiosity, a kid digging in the dirt. No, I write to pose questions and challenge folks to think.

Jello World: So would you say that you personally don't subscribe to the idea of that "perfect" god? Or just that you don't feel qualified to say who or what god is or isn't?

Dirty Prophet: The latter. The Greek idea of God (Islamic as well) is unanthropomorphic. I'm in that category as well, though not definitively. I'm committed to my ignorance, so to speak, to the point where I'm open to new (and old) ideas. Always in awe, always surprised, and never in a comfort zone.

I think once people close the lid on their spirituality, they effectively limit outlets in which the divine might speak to them, because if you believe in a creative God, what size box would he/she/it be able to fit into?

Jello World: Don't you think that most organized religions are effectively closed in that way? They define the is or is not, the can and the cannot. They prescribe religious experience instead of letting it happen. Or am I just swayed by the institutionalized form of religion and not really seeing what each faith, at its core, has to say?

Dirty Prophet: Depends on the faith. Christianity happens to be exclusively based due to a doctrine of Christ's divinity. This seems strange because he was so inclusive in his ministry. Eastern faiths like Hinduism and Buddhism are very open due to one having literally thousands of modes of worship and the other not requiring a God, respectively. The first tenet of Sikhism is that "There is only One, and he is God." This is to say that we are all an aspect of the divine, so every path is basically valid. There is also the human element. Borders mean safety. Unfortunately, religion becomes a victim of this mindset.

Jello World: Yes, the human mind likes things to be compartmentalized, to make sense, to fit some kind of pattern. That's where stereotypes and things like that come from, too. The categories themselves aren't the problem, it's when we fail to realize that not everything fits into one neat category (and that it's OKAY for things to be that way!) that we start killing each other over something like who believes in the "right" god.

Dirty Prophet: Kafka once said that "Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy." In this way, we can think of each religious movement as a revolution to the "bureaucracy" of the old way. For Christianity, is was a revolution against the cumbersome Law. Islam resolved to return everything to monotheism and unite Arabia. Sikhism set out to destroy the caste system that crept in Hinduism. But each of these has fallen prey to its own purposes of change. Thermodynamics is a bitch.

Jello World: That's so true. My senior year in college I had a class that dealt with spirituality and religion and it really helped me dig and flesh out what it is that I believe (for the moment, anyway) and I pretty much came to that same conclusion. I don't think there's really any religion that has remained unchanged through the many years since they began, and it's because of the human element. I like to think that god, or what I like to call the sacred, never changes. Ever. The only thing that changes is our way of experiencing it and our ability to communicate those experiences.

Dirty Prophet: Exactly. We are finite beings trying to understand and articulate something infinite. We haven’t even mapped the entire ocean floor. So we have a ways to go. This is why I started Divine Dirt Quarterly. Because I believe the "human gospel" as I've coined it, is still being written by humanity. If we were created in the image of a creative spirit, then we can't help but be expression. The results can be amazing, and it's a crime against humanity to put a lid on such a thing.

Jello World: two points for you! your mind reading abilities really are stellar, because I was definitely going to ask about the inspiration for DDQ! I could totally sit here all day and chat about theology with you! But I suppose I should probably bring it back to the writing part a bit. Tell me a little about the process of starting something like that. Was it a difficult undertaking?

Dirty Prophet: The concept was as easy and natural as breathing. What was difficult was the technical aspects of building a site (I'm horrible with tech stuff) and getting folks involved. Religion is a taboo subject, especially in literary circles where most folks are abhorrent to anything religiously based (and in many cases, I can't blame them!).

Jello World: When I was looking for a home for my story On a Trans-Atlantic Flight, I searched Duotrope using Religious as one of the theme filters. And let me tell you, everything I found was about praising god, writing about the positive influence of god, living a godly life, etc. There really wasn't anything specifically for writing that was more seeking in nature, challenging traditional beliefs, or describing the untraditional ways people experience god and the like. And then, of course, I found DDQ! So I think you're really filling a void.

Dirty Prophet: Oh yeah. It's sad. Granted, I don't think there's anything wrong with those other markets, but as you said, they aren't conducive to material that sees theology as expression as opposed to a confirmation of faith. My own writing has a hard time finding a market, so DDQ is an effort to remedy that issue for others.

Jello World: Oh for sure, I have no problem with those other markets either. Except that that'd never publish something like our stuff haha. So how did you get hooked up with Yvette and Kat to be your editors? Were you already familiar with them from other literary circles, or was it a happy accident kind of thing?

Dirty Prophet: I actually met up with Kat Dixon on Agent Query (same with editor Cynthia Reeser and writer Stefin Bradbury). It was early in my writing career and so I tried to make friends wherever I could. She seemed cool and was committed to poetry, so I invited her along. With Yvette, I met her on Fictionaut. From the start she was very candid with her commentary on my fiction and supportive of the marginal genre that is theological fiction. We've been like peas in a pod ever since.
Jello World: Agent Query and Fictionaut are both great sites! It's great to be able to network with other writers, editors, etc.

Dirty Prophet: Internet-land is a great place. I've meet some awesome and talented people in the writing world. The company I keep couldn't be better.

Jello World: It really is! Being able to chat with you, or be FB friends with the editor of an erotica anthology, or meet tons of interesting published and unpublished writers and share their successes (and rejections because, well, they happen lol) is so amazing!

Dirty Prophet: Indeed it is. Who knows, perhaps Wikipedia, when our descendants look back on us, will be interpreted as the new Oracle at Delphi. The way History repeats itself and humanity's patterns are just too cool. Concepts like this are what get me up in the morning.

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Stay tuned for the conclusion of my conversation with the Dirty Prophet on Wednesday, when we discuss the publishing industry and the blossoming genre of theological fiction.

Andrew's fiction has appeared in Metazen, Full of Crow, Nanoism, Pulp Metal Magzine, and Prick of the Spindle, just to name a few.  He is the founder/editor of Divine Dirt Quarterly, and he blogs at The Dirty Prophet.  If that's not enough, he also wrestles with God and they share beer afterward.