The survivors' affair

Abstract

In this project, the opening chapters of a novel, a fifty-foot man falls to the ground in Athens, Ohio. He is pronounced dead at the scene. What begins as a bizarre happening in a small college town soon spirals into an event with global repercussions. The federal government puts together a team of four scientists: Peter, a biologist; Jonathon, an archaeologist; Alexa, a forensic scientist; and Carly, a geneticist. As politicians, the media, and religious figures latch on to the giant man, the scientists try to determine if the body is real. Meanwhile, a religious cult develops in Athens. The cult believes the body is the Judeo-Christian God because it resembles images of God in popular and classic works of art. The giant man came from up in the clouds, has a white, billowing beard, and is old. Cult members tie bandanas around their eyes because they believe humans are not meant to look upon the body of God. The novel is told from a third-person omniscient point of view and shows the far-reaching consequences of such a fantastic event in our contemporary world. The novel delves into the mind of the Pope, a mortician, a lawyer, clergymen, students at Ohio University, the mayor of Athens, and a four-year-old boy, among many others. These characters try to come to terms with what it means to have the unreal and the impossible happen in their ordinary lives.