I haven't been here in a while because I've been finishing up my sci-fi/horror novel, "Xmas Carol". Now, don't cringe. There are no witches or goblins or spells in "Xmas Carol". I don't believe in nonsense. It's about something that may soon come our way, if some scientists are right.

The book is what I call a "stealth atheist novel". Every character is an atheist and the story is one big slap in the face of Christianity. But make no mistake -- it's a fascinating horror story based on…

I'm a fiction writer and I attack god and religion in my novels. That's not the main thrust of my sci-fi and horror novels, but it's a constant in all my books (3 1/2 so far). I'm still unpublished but hope that will change this year. So, here is my question.

I wrote a sci-fi novel that takes place about 50 years in the future. One of the characters in the book is the pope of that era. What name should I use for him? Ideally, it would be a name that religious folks see as possible for…

For those who blog outside of Atheist Nexus, do you cross-post here? I find myself pretty blogged out by the end of the day. I'm a fiction writer and I write my books during the day and in the evening I think about plots and do some light blogging for my public blog. By the time I get here, I'm pooped out.

So I wonder if you guys who have a public blog post something there and then cross-post it here. I guess I could do that but I already cross-post to a no-graphics blog for dial-up…

Recently I wrote a post on my public blog about my Aunt Eleanor, who was a terrific influence on me when I was a teenager. She was an artist and interior designer, a beatnik (this was in the late 50s) and a freethinker.

She introduced me to philosophy and to people who actually lived and breathed it. Finally I was with people who wondered what life was all about and considered the big questions.

Of course, my major inspiration in life came from books, in the long run. But Aunt…