Shaggy God Story
Entry updated 28 September 2026. Tagged: Theme.
Term coined by Brian W Aldiss for the once-common sf Cliché of crudely rationalized Biblical myth. A typical specimen would derive its entire impact, or lack of impact, from the revelation that two experimental lifeforms released to populate an empty world are in fact Adam and Eve (which see for further discussion). Defining "shaggy god story" in his short-lived "Dr Peristyle" column for New Worlds [see "further reading" below], Aldiss claimed that sf magazine editors "get approximately one story a week set in a garden of Eden spelt Ee-Duhn." [DRL]
see also: Christ; Gods and Demons; Icons; Wandering Jew.
further reading
- Brian W Aldiss, anonymous. "Dr Peristyle" (October 1965 New Worlds) [mag/]
- Michael Moorcock. "God in a Spacesuit" (1965 Tangent #2) edited by Rog Peyton and Chris Priest [British Science Fiction Association: mag/]
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