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George, while the idea for the name of the Greedy Gospel was based on the stereotypical portrayal of the Prosperity Gospel, I've intentionally avoided any mention or comparison to the Prosperity Gospel. The name Greedy Gospel is mentioned once as a historical movement followed by billionaires and trillionaires, who feel they're paying too much in taxes. The Bezos Islands are a tax haven for people like Bezos, Musk, and Trump. The Church on New Bethlehem and the Republican attitudes of the citizens are a future extension of capitalism and Republicanism run amok.

Since I needed a religion for the planet, I went with Protestantism, yet the closest I come to making such a connection is to say that the citizens revere the King James Bible, which gave me an opening to take all biblical quotes in the book from that public domain Bible. I also have Church "Elders", the most prominent of whom is Elder Amos, who turns out to be a traitor. The fact that he's an elder is not an attack on Mormonism nor on any denomination that happens to wear purple frocks with white collars (there is one, but I forget which).

If you look back at my post above (from 04:46:45), I'm looking for a sexier name for the modern Church on New Bethlehem. I want a slightly better name than Libertarian Church, which, by the way, is also the name of an existing Christian denomination (Libertarian Christianity), who might be as offended of my using that name as you are about my using the term Greedy Gospel.

My ideas come from modern/contemporary elements of our society, which I then change to futurize them and/or to minimize comparisons to anything I'm not trying to satirize. I intentionally avoided comparisons to the Prosperity Gospel because you objected to whatever name I had previously, which led me to the idea of a branch of Christianity founded by the stinking rich as a self-serving denomination. And I mention that that denomination didn't get created until some time in the future to further separate it from Libertarian Christianity and the Prosperity Gospel.

Another example: the execution of Andrew (a 14-year-old) came from my discovery that the US once executed a young teenager (14, I believe) and sentenced another to death at age 12, although the latter was 19 when actually killed. Might some Americans be offended that my idea for Andrew originated with two events that happened in America in the 1950s/60s? Sure, because you don't execute minors anymore, but that happens to be where my idea for him came from. Even though I never mention those two executions, I nevertheless am commenting indirectly on the American justice system, which is much harsher than that of most Western countries.

I also changed the nationality of the unethical woman (Dr. Anne Narky) who invented the faulty Congo-2071 vaccine to Canadian because I didn't want it to seem like I was only picking on Americans. I also have a world in the book based on the Soviet Union/Russia, which some Russians might find offensive, yet I never mention Russia or the Soviet Union. I have a world based on Mayan civilization, which modern residents of some Latin American and South American countries might find offensive because they're descended from the Mayans.

My creation of the Greedy Gospel, the Bezos Islands, the Libertarian Church, the reference to Elonus the Socialist, and (soon) Trumpism all originated to steer clear of the Prosperity Gospel by instead tying it to extreme capitalism. I've spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to name things so as to avoid offending my reviewers, which really isn't what I should be doing given that the book is intended, in part, to be social/cultural commentary on modern society.

Hope that helps.

On steroids.

I'm looking for alternative names for the Libertarian Church on New Bethlehem, which is an outgrowth of billionaires practicing the Greedy Gospel on the Bezos Islands. While its origins are fine, I want a better name for it in the future. It's too bland. Needs to be more spicy.

One possibility is to somehow tie the Church to Trump and/or capitalism. These are capitalist extremists; survival of the fittest! The Church of Trump? I figure since Elon and Bezos are mentioned in the story, why not Trump? If I do that, I'll have to work in their fear of stolen elections.

I'm also open to a Church name that clearly reflects their capitalist views. Definitely not your father's Christianity.
Residents of New Bethlehem could be called bootstrappers by others in the Sovereign Stars, a derogatory term for their mindset (i.e., you're on your own).

Depends on how much has oozed away. Since they're animating a dead body to begin with, I would think the loss of facial skin wouldn't matter. I guess it should putrify as it slides off the face. Anybody know what color putrified skin is? Snot green might work.

LMAO! That's hilarious. I don't plan to remove them all. I started on it earlier today and, so far, I've kept about 1/3 of them. It only applies to -ing verbs, of course, not to other -ing words. If the un-ing version reads like cacas, I'll leave it until some mythical future publisher tells me otherwise. Even if I intended to sell the book through a publisher, I have no idea when I'll continue the cleanup beyond act one. I decided to get on with v2 of Connor Book 1 around early July. I only have so many years left to live, and I'd like finish the Connor trilogy before I drop dead, at which point anything I've published will change to a Creative Commons CC BY license. People can do anything they want with the publications at that point as long as I'm credited for the original work. And not credited for the derivative crap.   The only way that plan would change is if the work is ridiculously successful before I keel over, in which case I still have no idea who to leave it to.

Cool thing. I was looking for an old sci-fi book online I'd read about 40 years ago, but I didn't remember the title, author, most of the plot, nor the names of any of the characters. There's a subreddit called Whatsthatbook where you provide as much information as you remember (e.g., when I read it, anything about the plot, anything about the book blurb and cover, etc.). My information about the story was limited, and my memory of some of the plot was half wrong, yet someone figured it out: Secret of the Lost Race by Andre Norton. I don't know why I thought of this book last night, but I remember enjoying reading it. Fortunately, used copies are still available on Amazon.

I couldn't make out the lyrics, especially Angela Lansbury. Found another version online, though. Catchy tune. :-)

I'm seriously considering making demon blood dark purple or something more nasty. They are dead, after all. I've read pooled cadaver blood is dark purple, hence the color. I'd give the zombies a corresponding skin color (e.g., pale lavender), but that would be a dead giveaway and isn't the least bit scary. Or perhaps the demons keep the blood color in check like they do other signs of decay (until the bodies die). After all, they're keeping the body as close to human as possible, including breathing (oxygen), which would keep the blood red. If they're trying to scare someone (e.g., when they attack a human), their blood color could change to scare the intended victims. Also, they could let their skin partially decay. And stink to high heaven, with mucus oozing off their decaying flesh even before they're killed.

Details TBD.

This is going to be so gross!

While Connor gets the cacas beat out of him by "Louie", Alpha Male (Connor's strongest cousin and second in command) runs to save him. Alpha engages with Louie, but is no match for ~ten powerful demons in one corporeal body (even un-boosted Connor is no match for that). However, that gives Connor a chance to drink the extra vial of wine to temporarily re-boost his powers. Louie runs Alpha through with a sword before Connor can save him. Enraged, he takes the vial of holy water given him by Pope Romano and splashes it across the demon's face and eyes, blinding him. Connor then begins to viciously hammer Louie's face, with him unable to see to fight back. The holy water eats away at Louie's face, and Connor's ongoing assault knocks pieces of the face and skull away, a chunk at at a time. Eventually, Connor punches Louie's nose and jaw right off. Once it's clear that Louie is on the verge of collapse, Connor either draws his sword back into his hand and chops off Louie's head or Connor punches his head so hard, he decapitates the demon body. At some point right before that, Connor says something like "See you in Hell," or something more fitting given the fact that the End Times are almost over and demons will be thrown in the Lake of Fire. I like the fact that Connor will be punching chunks of Louie's face off (mostly skeletal parts) as the holy water does its thing. Gross, but then it's not a living human. In fact, leading up to the battle, Satan had ordered his corporeal demons to allow their faces to deteriorate sufficiently that they looked half-decayed so as to instill fear in Connor's cousins.

> I'd say "laser-ish-swords" are yours, go ahead.

The fact that it's fire that Louie shoots at Connor I think also helps me distinguish it from a lightsaber. However, given that both Connor and the demons can do telekinesis, they could also throw the burning swords at each other, then summon them back to their hands. I'd want to do it in a way that is different from throwing/summoning lightsabers, though.

Somewhere in the distant past, I remember a movie where swords were electrified. I believe Highlander used the concept too. I wouldn't be surprised if fire has been done as well.

Yeah, but are they ever going to work with him again, and how much did he have to shell out to protect his IP?