"Birds of a Feather: short stories & miscellany" is the debut work of fiction by Arik Bjorn, who recently ran for U.S. Congress as the 2016 Democratic Party / Green Party fusion candidate for South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District. With these five short stories and one slaphappily true essay, the author responds to his fundamentalist Christian background and counters with rebel angels ("Indiana"), resurrected humanists ("Vonnegut Lives ") and imbibing ministers ("Birds of a Feather")-plus divinely-disappeared red states and farting orange tabbies. Bjorn imagines a fresh Christian...

Civilization exists, right? After all, humans have walked on the Moon and sent robotic rovers to Mars. But Arik Bjorn argues that humanity has only just begun taking baby steps toward Civilization. Otherwise, there would be far more advances in global food programs and virtually no public sacrifices of zoo giraffes and Parisian cartoonists. In this collection of essays, Bjorn examines the ape hate that still reigns inside us-from Haiti's Auschwitz to squashed caterpillars to the Confederate Flag-and makes the case that a global foundation of Reverence for Life must be laid before True...

"The R-Rated Theologian" is an anthology of unabashed Progressive Christian essays by Arik Bjorn, frequent contributor to Patheos and Forward Progressives. From same-sex marriage to Heaven & Hell to the biblical canon itself, the author tackles all of the sacred cows of Christian theology-including the dreaded Mark of the Beast, 666. (Or is it 616?) While dodging Adam's snake and Revelation's horny beast, Bjorn discovers a commonsense Progressive Christianity, where it's perfectly acceptable to stand beneath a Cloud of Unknowing without an umbrella, yet where age-old standards like Bible...