The 21st Century heir to Kurt Vonnegut, Kanan Gill’s debut, Acts of God, is a madcap futuristic romp that dares to question the meaning of existence—with equal parts reverence and hilarity.
In a post-nuclear future—beset by an endless winter, but free from borders, war, poverty, and overpopulation—the smartest man on the planet is working on the most illegal thing imaginable. Once a celebrated genius in service of The Authority, Dr K has resigned as the head of the Scientific Institute. He now spends his days in a hungover, crotchety haze, obsessively creating simulated universes and, when they fail to achieve what he wants, terminating them.
One would assume that The Authority (or the laws of quantum physics) would pose the biggest threat to Dr. K’s crimes, not a bumbling private detective named P. Manjunath. But in the wake of Manjunath’s investigative meddling a Danish policeman accidentally becomes a science-hating cult leader and infamous nudist, a sentient piece of wall struggles with the limits of its artistic expression, and a lapel pin’s irritating habit of giving profound advice induces global chaos.
With inventive and uproarious storytelling, Acts of God marks the evolution of one of the finest voices in comedy.