"Bruce Sterling - Sneaking For Jesus 2001 (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sterling Bruce)

Larry Burkett has taken this way-out sectarian extremist theo-gibberish
and made it into a techno-thriller! The result is a true mutant among
novels. How many science fiction novels begin with a disclaimer like
this one?

"My biggest concern in writing a novel is that someone may read too
much into it. Obviously, I tried to use as realistic a scenario as
possible in the story. But it is purely fictional, including the
characters, events, and timing. It should not be assumed that it is
prophetic in any regard. As best I know, I have a gift for teaching, a
talent for writing, and no prophetic abilities beyond that of any other
Christian."

I was so impressed by this remarkable disclaimer of Mr Burkett's that I
tracked down his address (using the CompuServe computer network) and I
succeeded in interviewing him by phone for this column. I learned
that Mr Burkett has received some six thousand letters about his novel
ILLUMINATI from eager readers, many of them previously aware of the
Illuminati menace and eager to learn yet more. And yes, many of those
readers do believe that the Mr. Burkett novel is an inspired
prophecy, despite his disclaimer, and they demand his advice on how to
shelter themselves from the secret masters of the coming Satanic
computer-cataclysm.

Even more remarkably, a dozen correspondents claimed to have once been
Illuminati themselves, and they congratulated Mr. Burkett on his
insights into their conspiracy! Mr. Burkett described this last
category as featuring "three or four letters that were fairly lucid."

Mr. Burkett himself seems quite lucid. He was clearly "having some
fun" with notions he considers serious but not all *that* serious, and
in this he is not much different from many other SF authors with active
imaginations and vaguely politicized concerns. Now a financial
consultant, Mr. Burkett was once a NASA project manager, and

dealt with
early mainframe systems for the Gemini and Mercury missions. As a
father, grandfather, best-selling author and head of a successful
investment-counseling firm, Mr. Burkett seemed to me to have at least
as firm a grip on consensus reality as say, Ross Perot. In talking to
Mr Burkett I found him a calm, open and congenial gentleman.



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However, Mr. Burkett is also a committed "dispensational Christian" and
he believes sincerely that abortion is an act of murder. He is
therefore living in a basically nightmarish society in which hundreds