Speaking of which . . .

The second book in my sci-fi trilogy, The Pod, the God and the Planet, includes a highly familiar character.

Yes, the pope is a character in book 2 of The Worlds!  Hooray!  The book opens in the 2050's so this character is actually a future pope, not the guy below. I have a lot of fun with the little feller and I think regular readers of this blog will get a kick out of the way he's portrayed.

Creating this character was amazing fun. I actually laughed as I wrote the scenes in which he appeared. It was a joyous act of creation. And when and if you read the book, in the end I think you'll agree that I was fairly kind to the man. I do not inspire hate for the character, only empathy. Mind you, he's still an old fool but we understand his motivations and he is not a monster. For an actual monster, see below).