Ralph Mitchell

The Electronic Prophet: a Novel Ralph Mitchell

REVEREND SAM: THE TECHNOLOGY OF SALVATION. This is the promise of Sam, brainchild of George Henderson. George, a religious speechwriter with little faith in anything except his own cynicism, is facing pecuniary ruin due to his association with evangelical libertines. He divines an absurdity of an idea: a robot preacher who would be faultless. All that would have to be supplied would be prerecorded sermons written by George, for a nominal fee, of course. With the support of his financier cousin, Eric, and the animatronics genius of Louis O'Cain, George sets his plan in motion. Sam's speeches soon become both popular and inflammatory. Everyone from a suspicious government to spurned business partners begin pressing from the shadows, leaving George walking a fine line between fortune and sedition.