The Words – An Autobiography
The Words comprises the central narrative running through the first three books of The Ghostwriter’s Series. But before Jonathon Fry interjected himself, as the author, and began spinning off parallel narratives. The Words was intended to be the entire and only story. I had, at one point, in part to avoid what was becoming increasingly convoluted and confusing to many early readers, as well as to myself, planned to kill Jonathan off. Thankfully, I think, maybe, perhaps, I managed to resist such temptations.
The tale, The Words, began, “In the beginning,” in response to the question, “What if God was one of us?” Credit to Eric Bazilian for those brain-rattling words, and much appreciation to Joan Osborne, whose resonating voice left them forever imprinted upon my soul. Granted, Alanis Moresette’s later rendition was every bit as compelling and beautiful, but it was Joan whose voice I heard first. Granted, it was Alanis who played the role of God in the movie Dogma, but apologies, Alanis, it is Joan’s voice that continues to haunt me.
Much earlier, thanks to my mother, who, along with various teachers along the way, promised that if I would only apply myself, I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up. Little did they know how seriously I would take them. “What if one of us were God?” Assuming the truth of Eric’s words, doesn’t that follow?
Finally, at some point, I read an interview with an author, whose name I unfortunately don’t recall, nor where the interview appeared. However, what has stuck with me is, from this author’s perspective, the best thing about being a writer is the ability to be anyone or anything you can imagine. I took that to
heart on many levels. For one, I was never the bad boy my heart secretly longed to be, although I’ve had some fine examples.
So, I had quite the blend bubbling away in the cauldron of my imagination for years before I finally had the luxury of conjuring that well-stewed concoction into a narrative that came close to making sense, if only to me. It shouldn’t be entirely surprising that what would emerge would be the Autobiography of God or the Creator as He prefers. My mother and teachers promised that I could be anything I wanted, and as a writer, I had the means to be anyone or anything I wanted to be, including God or a bad boy. And, perhaps, on occasion, both?
The Creator, the title which He prefers, announces, “In the beginning… I was born.” Which may not have the head-spinning, neck-breaking torque of “What if God was one of us?”, but hopefully it provides enough of a twist to give your imaginations a turn toward the path I chose to follow.
The Creator explains that He once lived a life much like ours. He did not create the Universe. He exists within it, but He does claim credit for the creation of the tiny bit, among a galaxy of minute sparkly bits, that we call the universe. The Creator did not invent sex, much as He would love the credit. It predates Him, but it has been and remains one of His favorite things. He did not invent sin, another concept commonly attributed to but predating Him, which He has concluded is a recurring creation of our own making. So, there is no need to seek His forgiveness, only that of those whom, through our actions, we have harmed, and I would add, from ourselves.
If “What if God was one of us?” implies, as my imagination believes it does, “One of us was God.” How might that come about?
Before dismissing such speculation as utter nonsense, consider: Not near so far back as ‘In the beginning,’ but ‘Once upon a time… a long, long time ago’ an audacious ape dared to stand on its hind legs, raise its head above the others, and, yes, consider itself superior. Jump ahead a few million years to the first written words of this ape’s descendants, our ancestors, which I believe are the first documented proof of our being active participants in our ongoing creation, that of our reality, and of the universe in which we exist. Are we not creators? Therefore, minor gods, on the rise, and who knows what the future might hold if we don’t destroy ourselves before fulfilling our ultimate potential.
In light of how far we’ve come from that first self-important, entitled, bipedal ape, imagine explaining your Smartphone to the Inquisition a mere five hundred years ago. Then, looking ahead five hundred years from the present, consider what explanations, if given the opportunity, we would undoubtedly
demand of our descendants for all the wonders that will have become as common a part of their daily lives as Smartphones have become to ours. If they were to show up in our time with such unexplainable wonders, would we, if not burn them as witches, cancel them? Or run for our lives in terror? And, considering the current ever-accelerating pace of technological and medical innovation, how far
into the future before the descendants of our descendants, and far more distant descendants of that audacious bipedal ape, would appear to us to be gods, perhaps immortal, with powers as incomprehensible to us as those of Greek mythology? Given this, are there any limitations, beyond our imaginations, to what we might ultimately become?
Full circle, The Words grew into the central narrative of the first three books of The Ghostwriter’s Series, the epic tale authored, or ghostwritten by Jonathon Fry, the autobiography of the Creator, or perhaps merely fiction, the fancy of an old man wanting to deny his too-rapidly approaching mortality, since it contains the secret to immortality, the map to the Fountain of Youth. A book edited and published by his wife, Annie, the signed and inscribed copy of which was a gift from him to his then-six-year-old great-grandson, Sammy. Who took it seriously enough for that precious signed and inscribed first edition to remain on his mantle a little more than a thousand years later, on Sammy’s one thousandth birthday, so likely not entirely fiction. It has also been misappropriated as the Holy Book of the Faith, a prominent religion of the day, and Sammy’s nemesis.
Other Titles in The Ghostwriter’s Series
