My latest novel is called BLUE GOSPEL. It could be available as early as this summer.

But this week I got cover art finalized, so I am happy to show off the new book.

BLUE GOSPEL is a 20th century update of the biblical gospel story from the perspective of the minor characters.

Many novelists have undertaken to riff on Bible characters in fictionalized accounts of Old and New Testament stories.

But they are almost always still set in the ancient Near East: sandy, hot, agrarian, ancient Mediterranean scene, everyone dressed in robes, everyone pretty much lives on bread, primitive tools, etc.

BLUE GOSPEL story is set in the modern world—with cars, guns, telephones…but also demons and magic. The ruling priesthood is a mafia syndicate.

The high priest, Don Caiaphas Emiliano, has the difficult task of keeping The Feds—the occupying foreign invaders—from razing the whole country on one hand, and quelling the resistance leaders, the messiahs, who always seem to pop up, gain a following, and cause trouble.

This latest troublemaker, the one they call The Mystic, is merely the latest big talker, going around doing miracles and whipping the people up into a lather. And he needs to be silenced.

BLUE GOSPEL narrates the backstories of the ordinary people who encounter The Mystic and discover he is more than just the latest leader of a rebellion against the Feds. The demon-possessed gun owner, clinically-depressed Lazarus, Mary the prostitute & Martha the orphan courtesan, Nicodemus the thug turned Mystic-sympathizer, gang member Andrew and assassin Judas “Judo” Iscariot, and others are the subjects and their stories culminate with a transformative encounter with The Mystic.

Several familiar parables are reimagined in modern garb to apply to current issues and conditions. For example, the Pharisee and the Tax-collector is now the parable of the Evangelical Churchman and the Lesbian.

There are many very tender scenes. But there are many people who are broken in unpleasant ways whom the Mystic encounters.

This novel promises to be controversial, and ultimately supportive of contemporary efforts to understand the original story that changed the world 2000 years ago