Advancing on Chaos

A theological clash threatens to mar the yearly Southern Decadence festival in New Orleans.

Reverend Jessie Ray Elder makes a point of annually protesting the LGBT festival. His dogmatic and rigid views have driven his wife, Madeline, away from their Evangelical church. But Elder ignores her advice and remains committed to his cause because he thinks he’s ridding the city of devilish influences.

This year, a rival—the homeless former English professor, Zarathustra the Second—publicly challenges Elder.

As befitting his name, Zarathustra the Second treats Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra as his personal bible. Like his idol, Zarathustra the Second believes God has disappeared and seeks to convince others of this fact.

Elder is outraged when Zarathustra’s antics divert media attention away from his own protest. To add insult to injury, Zarathustra names Elder’s son, Nicholas, as his first apostle. When Zarathustra the Second predicts that New Orleans will be destroyed by a hurricane, both his and Elder’s faith in their beliefs are put to the ultimate test.

In this wickedly funny, thought-provoking novel, no one, religious or secular, is safe from critique.