Welcome to the far-future City, a post-scarcity Utopia with no disease, no war, and no want. The people worship AIs as gods through ritualized sex, and in return, the gods provide anything anyone could ever want from Providers in every room. But in this City, the gods demand a price for their benevolence. They make use of those who worship them, for in a place with no scarcity and no money, the only thing you have to bargain with is your body. Three very different women embark on three separate paths to become the Sacrifice to, and Avatar of, their gods. The lives of each of these women will be forever altered by their experiences.
Welcome to the City. In this place of peace and plenty, with no disease, no suffering, and no want, people find meaning in service to their gods. They know the gods were created by humans, of course. But the gods protect and provide for the people, so why wouldn't the people serve the gods? In a Utopian society, what better way to express service than through pleasure and faith? For Kheema and her seven fellow Potentials, that means entering the temple of the Sun God to undergo months of training and practice to determine which of them will be chosen as Sacrifice. On the day of the summer Solstice, the one chosen as Sacrifice must recite the entire litany from atop the temple, while enduring nonstop forced orgasms from dawn 'til dusk. For Terlyn, service means becoming part of the Garden, bound naked and asleep while worshippers help themselves to her body. Terlyn wakes in ecstasy over and over, only to fall asleep again. The experience changes her, and her relationship with her friend and lover Donvin, who visits her while she is part of the Garden. Ashi's service to the god known as the Wild entails competing with other worshippers in a forest that appears overnight to demonstrate her resilience and will, so that she might become part of a ritual involving an altar, a long row of cages, and the complete abandonment of the self. The three stories brush against each other, revealing the heart of the City, as the people of the City serve, or ask for enlightenment from, multiple gods at once.
In examining the visual culture of the "classic" African and Jewish diasporas, contributors address different aspects of the multiple viewpoints inherent in diasporic cultures.
Are you floundering in your walk with God? Does it feel like your prayers never accomplish anything? Are you struggling to make an impact in the lives of those around you? Are you desperate for spiritual renewal? One of the reasons many believers struggle in their Christian walk is because they don’t know how to pray biblically. Through a clear, insightful, and practical exposition of Scripture, Road to Renewal takes the reader though seven prayers in the Bible that, when rightly understood and properly prayed, can help bring about spiritual renewal.
In this sweeping approach to the history of disease, the author, a historian chronicles perceptions and responses to plague and pestilence over two thousand years of Western history. He frames disease as a multidimensional construct, situated at the intersection of history, politics, culture, and medicine, and rooted in mentalities and social relations as much as in biological conditions of pathology. He shows how diseases affect social and political change, reveal social tensions, and are mediated both within and outside the realm of scientific medicine.
