SEE THE SPARROW FALL THE CONQUEST
OF CANADA FARMERS MARKET VERUS AND THE GRAND ASSEMBLY
OF BELIEVERS ROUGHING IT
IN THE BUSH UNDER ENEMY EYES

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VERUS and the Grand Assembly of Believers	The scientists of the EU, to escape humankind’s most evil and persistent delusion, have a plan to upgrade the human race. The road to this brave new world connects in a fundamental way with the West’s Roman past.	It's the twenty- second century. The world is dying. Belief is at its last gasp. The harried bishop of Rome fights for survival. The U.S. is a brutal fundamentalist theocracy.
Review: A Stimulating Fantasy “Verus, the main character, is a street beggar who speaks only Latin and claims to be an ancient Roman...Although set in the future, the novel features characters that seem realistically historic, including Pope Innocent XIV and Gregory. Gregory, a Catholic monk and a top official in the Vatican, is a closet atheist. The dialogue between Verus, Gregory, Innocent, and others propels the plot forward. While the story line is clearly a fantasy, this isn't so much a fantasy novel as a fanciful, yet serious meditation ... The reader is prompted to contemplate the structure of human values, human motivations, and especially, human potential /.../ If this seems heavy going, it's not. The story is written in an uncluttered style reminiscent of Ursula LeGuin, but with a sharper, more satirical edge. For example, the voluptuous Bibi keeps the high-minded philosophical discussions between the male characters grounded in base human instinct... The characters are rich, vibrant, and contemporary, as well as historically realistic. The moral debates are deep, yet accessible and escapist. ” Amazon customer review Read full review
Résumé from the book's cover: In the middle of the twenty-second century a street person hanging out at Toronto’s Union Station, speaks only Latin. He calls himself “Verus” (pronounced “Werus”). The only memory he has, is of ancient Rome. The world’s last surviving Latin expert, Vatican Latinist and Minim friar Gregory O'Riley, is called upon to solve the mystery surrounding Verus. The monk Gregory is a renowned neuroscientist and is in charge of an EU mission to escape the continuing failures of humanity. Gregory’s transhumanist plan is to upgrade homo sapiens to homo mirabilis, a superior being. Death will at last be conquered. Humankind will break definitively with nature. Because of his expertise in Latin, Gregory is much relied upon by Pope Innocent XIV. Gregory is the Pontiff’s confidant and companion. But he is hostile to religion. He taunts Innocent and tries to convert him to atheism. Pope Innocent possesses great energy and ambition, but the numbers of the faithful are dwindling under the pressure of rational imperatives and the advance of knowledge, while in the world’s backward societies, superstition and fanaticism run rampant. A wall separates Canada from the US, now a backward fundamentalist theocracy. Gregory is giving homo mirabilis a Roman program. Once the citizens of the EU get the upgrade, they will necessarily speak Latin. Gregory intends to build a transhumanist future by resurrecting the Roman Empire. In this ultimate contest between faith and reason, the road to Gregory’s brave new world connects in a mysterious but fundamental way with street person Verus, and with the West’s Roman past.

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VERUS

and the Grand Assembly of Believers

The scientists of the EU, to escape humankind’s most evil and persistent delusion, have a plan to upgrade the human race. The road to this brave new world connects in a fundamental way with the West’s Roman past.

It's the twenty- second century. The world is dying. Belief is at its last gasp.

The harried bishop of Rome fights for survival.

The U.S. is a brutal
fundamentalist theocracy.

<i>Verus and
The Grand ASSEMBLY of Believers</i> Cover

Review: A Stimulating Fantasy

“Verus, the main character, is a street beggar who speaks only Latin and claims to be an ancient Roman...Although set in the future, the novel features characters that seem realistically historic, including Pope Innocent XIV and Gregory.

Gregory, a Catholic monk and a top official in the Vatican, is a closet atheist. The dialogue between Verus, Gregory, Innocent, and others propels the plot forward.

While the story line is clearly a fantasy, this isn't so much a fantasy novel as a fanciful, yet serious meditation ... The reader is prompted to contemplate the structure of human values, human motivations, and especially, human potential /.../

If this seems heavy going, it's not. The story is written in an uncluttered style reminiscent of Ursula LeGuin, but with a sharper, more satirical edge. For example, the voluptuous Bibi keeps the high-minded philosophical discussions between the male characters grounded in base human instinct... The characters are rich, vibrant, and contemporary, as well as historically realistic. The moral debates are deep, yet accessible and escapist. ”

Amazon customer review

Read full review

Résumé from the book's cover:

In the middle of the twenty-second century a street person hanging out at Toronto’s Union Station, speaks only Latin. He calls himself “Verus” (pronounced “Werus”). The only memory he has, is of ancient Rome.

The world’s last surviving Latin expert, Vatican Latinist and Minim friar Gregory O'Riley, is called upon to solve the mystery surrounding Verus. The monk Gregory is a renowned neuroscientist and is in charge of an EU mission to escape the continuing failures of humanity.

Gregory’s transhumanist plan is to upgrade homo sapiens to homo mirabilis, a superior being. Death will at last be conquered. Humankind will break definitively with nature.

Because of his expertise in Latin, Gregory is much relied upon by Pope Innocent XIV. Gregory is the Pontiff’s confidant and companion. But he is hostile to religion. He taunts Innocent and tries to convert him to atheism.

Pope Innocent possesses great energy and ambition, but the numbers of the faithful are dwindling under the pressure of rational imperatives and the advance of knowledge, while in the world’s backward societies, superstition and fanaticism run rampant. A wall separates Canada from the US, now a backward fundamentalist theocracy.

Gregory is giving homo mirabilis a Roman program. Once the citizens of the EU get the upgrade, they will necessarily speak Latin. Gregory intends to build a transhumanist future by resurrecting the Roman Empire.

In this ultimate contest between faith and reason, the road to Gregory’s brave new world connects in a mysterious but fundamental way with street person Verus, and with the West’s Roman past.