Science Fiction

Towing Jehovah
By James Morrow
Harcourt Brace & Company
371 pages, $23.95

Reviewed by Eric Jackson
AGENDA Associate Editor

"To earn a living, some men merely have to haul oil."

Such was the lot of Captain Anthony Van Horne, until the night that he left the supertanker's bridge for some shuteye, just before the first mate steered out of the way of Colombian drug smugglers sailing without running lights - and onto a reef. The jury acquitted Capt. Van Horne of the charges arising from the 11-million gallon oil spill, but the company fired and blacklisted him, and as the novel begins it appears that he will be spending the rest of his days in disgrace, his nights tortured by nightmares of accusatory oiled birds and turtles.

But then life gets really weird. A depressed and dying angel comes to him with the strangest mission. God, says the Angel Raphael, is dead: "Died and fell into the sea." Anthony Van Horne is called to assume the helm of a tanker once more, this time to tow the two-mile-long corpse to the Arctic for a proper burial.

The journey is eventful. Dogged by marine predators, uncharted islands, a mutinous crew, a well-heeled Central Park atheist cult, a maniacal World War II re-enactment club and the Irish Republican Coast Guard, Van Home sees nautical terrors that nobody ever should. And that's not even counting the Vatican intrigues and the strange compulsions that pursue the captain every nautical mile of the way.

Author James Morrow is one for dark satires. My first experience with him came at the recommendation of an old friend with an appreciation for such things. A federal prisoner doing 45 years, my friend and pen pal Linda Evans gave me a copy of Morrow's "This Is the Way the World Ends" a few years back. As somebody who enjoyed such end-of-the-world works as Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s "Cat's Cradle" and Harlan Ellison's "Deathbird," I liked Morrow's earlier work. But despite first glance appearances, "Towing Jehovah" is a far more optimistic work. It's a tale of redemption, an exploration of that common denominator of human decency which unites the truest of believers in every faith - whether religious or anti-religious. "Towing Jehovah" is even a whacked-out love story too.

But there are believers in every denomination for whom love is just a slogan. Such people will dislike this book. Some will want to ban it. If you possessed such a book in Panama 400 years ago, Spanish Inquisition agents would have questions for you - probably in a newly-built dungeon at Fort San Lorenzo. Don't get caught walking around present-day Tehran carrying a copy of "Towing Jehovah." And if Frank Zappa's Brain Police exist, watch out for them, too.

But if a wild sailor's yarn about a voyage through uncharted religious and philosophical waters might appeal to you, "Towing Jehovah" is a good way to spend your time and money.