What In God's Name

What In God's Name

God is CEO of Heaven Inc. From the Sunsets Department and Geyser Regulation to the Department of Miracles, Heaven Inc has the earth covered. Unless of course someone is away from their desk. But these days, God is kind of disillusioned. He knows he should be keeping an eye on the genocide happening on Earth, but he finds himself drawn instead to watching the Church channels on satellite TV. His first priority is the team of angels he's asked to get Lynyrd Skynyrd back together.

Meanwhile, Eliza has been promoted from the Prayers Department to Miracles, and Craig, a workaholic angel devoted to averting accidents, has to show her around. Having totally turned the Prayers Department around, and instituted a system for dealing with the millions of pleas that came in every day, Eliza is shocked by the casual attitude of many of the angels in her new department. And she's even more shocked when she discovers that, despite her elaborate prayer-answering system, God has never looked at, let alone answered, a single one. Eliza is furious, storms into God's office, and suggests that if he doesn't care about the Earth, why bother?

'You're right,' he says, 'I'll destroy Earth in 30 days and open an Asian-American fusion restaurant instead.'

So Craig and Eliza, who really care about humans, must come up with a plan to save Earth. And maybe even get a promotion, too.

Simon Rich is a twenty-seven year old graduate of Harvard University, where he was president of The Harvard Lampoon. He was the youngest writer ever hired by Saturday Night Live, which he worked on for four seasons. He is now writing a film for Pixar. He also contributes to the New Yorker. He lives in California.

What In God's Name
Allen and Unwin
Author: Simon Rich
ISBN: 9781846688485
Price: $27.99

Interview with Simon Rich

Question: What originally inspired the story for What In God's Name?

Simon Rich: When I fell in love for the first time, it felt like the most important event in the history of the universe. I wanted to write a novel that dramatised that emotion. So I invented a story where the survival of Earth depended on whether two awkward humans could work up the courage to kiss.


Question: What was the best thing about creating the character of Eliza?

Simon Rich: Eliza is by far the most courageous character in the novel. She even has the guts to stand up to her boss, God, which is something I would never do (at least not in person.) I'm a very cowardly person and so it was a lot of fun to write from the perspective of someone that brave.

Question: How important is comedy writing, to you? Would you be interested in writing another genre?

Simon Rich: I've tried to write in many different genres, but for whatever reason, my fiction always come out funny. Once in 8th grade, I turned in a horror story to a creative writing teacher and when he read it he burst out laughing. I love to read all sorts of genres but comedy seems to be the only one my own brain can produce.


Question: Can you talk about the experience of writing for Saturday Night Live?

Simon Rich: Saturday Night Live debuted about a decade before I was born. I grew up watching it and was an obsessive fan for my entire childhood. Writing for the show was incredibly fun and completely surreal. I was there for four years, which sounds like a long time, but that's barely 10% of the show's history!


Question: Are you currently working on any other books?

Simon Rich: My next book is a collection of bizarre love stories called "The Last Girlfriend on Earth." The book features time travel, exorcism, terrorists and a global apocalypse. Somehow, though, it's a comedy.


Interview by Brooke Hunter