God’s Wrath in Oh Great, Another Vampire Book
8/28/22
In previous blogs I’ve outlined how Oh Great, Another Vampire Book was written for anyone to enjoy— not just vampire fans. I’ve also written of my inspiration for the story. I’d now like to address a theme I have not explored— the fact God is pissed off. It’s the reason for my college freshman protagonist, Sara Fielding, becoming the new God. The real God feels like going away for a while.
In essence, the book is theological in nature; it’s predicated on the notion of God’s wrath. (Directed at both humans and vampires, no less.) It’s important to define one’s terms, so to be clear I rooted my idea of God as being the Creator— similar to Thomas Aquinas’ notion of God as Prime Mover. The one who set things in motion.
Speaking of movement, some philosophers have likened the universe to clockwork consisting of moving parts working together in some cosmic fashion. During the Enlightenment, an increased knowledge of Newtonian laws of motion as well as the movement of our solar system led some to accept the Clockwork Universe. If God wound the clock to tick in a predictable fashion, then clockwork stands as programming. This entails predictability in reality, sans free will.
In Oh Great, Another Vampire Book, the omniscient God witnesses cyclical human folly over the course of millennia. These cycles hearken the notion of clockwork. God realizes this as a design flaw. Sara agrees with God. Therefore, her first priority after taking over is correcting this flaw. She commences “downloading a new operating system” to her specifications. She does this in order to create a brave new world destined to provide a more equitable future for all. Oddly, this new reality also includes demigods across all sectors of society. I suppose that’s one way to take down the Patriarchy.
The notion of God’s Wrath as society degrades is eternal. Professor Jonathan Haidt at NYU’s Stern School of Business has written extensively on the topic of our cultural divide gone mad. He likens our situation to the Tower of Babel falling in the Old Testament story. His point: we’re no longer speaking the same tongue or recognizing the same truth. In Haidt’s view social media is much to blame.
Some scholars interpret the story to mean God destroyed the Tower in anger. In any case, the end result is the same: the tower— representing a unified language— is destroyed. The perfect metaphor for fragmentation. How can we communicate when we no longer agree on the language of truth?
The reality of God’s Wrath is a hefty prospect. Hopefully Haidt is an astute interpreter of reality and not an actual prognosticator. But if God’s wrath should manifest in real time, we can only hope the media reports on it with accuracy.
Diane Hunter is the author of Oh Great, Another Vampire Book. Visit her at dianehunterauthor.com
