I asked Michael Z. Lewin about his new book,
which is a bit of a departure from his two critically well-received and popular
mystery series. Here is Mr. Lewin’s response:
Confessions of a Discontented Deity is a different kind of book for me, for sure. A novel, yes, but not obviously a mystery
except in the mystery-of-life sense. But
that doesn’t mark a sea change in my oeuvre
or my interests. I’ve always been more
interested in people than in poisons, more interested in why people do things
than how they kill each other. A writer
friend of mine, Carter Wilson, responded to my previous book (Family Way) by saying that as a mystery
writer I was like a surgeon who got into the slicing and dicing before he
realized blood and guts were involved.
Nor
is the God who narrates these Confessions
much of a stickler for what one might call the genre of religious forms and
practices. The basic idea is that if God
created man then to understand God all you need to do is look at man, men, and
work backwards. That reasoning offers
you a geek who likes to play with His toys, get laid, and avoid hassle.
Yet
men can change — well, some of them. So
God too can change. And in Confessions He reconstructs the latest
time when He discovered Himself to be changing.
And He tells what He did about it.
In the course of the reconstruction He explains about Life, on earth and
elsewhere in the Universe. And why men
(and women) came to be created. And
what’s going to happen next.
There’s
even a chapter in which God solves a crime.
 |
| Michael Z. Lewin |
This
is not my first book that has been “different,” and I’ve never been one to
stick even to a single series. In the
late ‘90s I published Rover’s Tales. In that book Rover narrates his adventures as
an “independent” dog, but in many ways it’s really a book about humanity,
looking up from ground level. Well, now
“dog” has reversed itself and become “god” and instead of looking at man and
womankind from below, Confessions is
a view looking down from the heavens. So
maybe it’s a new series. Dog, God… What’s next?
The Ogds? Whatever they are. Meanwhile
Rover, though unnamed, does make an appearance in Confessions.
A
long time ago it was a revelation to me that for the tax folks instead of being
a writer I was a “small business.” If I
were a better businessman I would have been writing versions of the same book
over and over, like many of the most successful crime folks seem to do. But I’m not much of a businessman. So here, instead of more Albert Samson, is
God. How good a writer I am is up to you
to decide.
However,
for those interested in Samson, just let me say that I’m just finishing a
Samson short story. It is the fourth in
a series in which he has the same client.
The first of these stories, “Who I Am” is the one honored by the Private
Eye Writers of America with the short story Shamus this year. It was followed in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by “Good Intentions” with “Extra
Fries” yet to be published. And, I hope,
the fourth and last in what amounts to a mini-series. MZL
Michael Z. Lewin has
written more than 20 novels and numerous short stories as well as stage and
radio plays. A resident of Indianapolis for many years, he lives in Bath,
England.
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