The Houses of Time-Jamil Nasir

The Houses of Time
Jamil Nasir
Tor, Apr 2008, $24.95
ISBN 9780765306104

Attorney David Grant has spent much of his adult life chasing women, but as he turns middle aged he finds chasing skirts becoming tedious and wonders if that’s all there is in life while recently thinking of his paragon of the perfect female. He signs with the Trans-Humanist Institute where he hopes Dr. Thotmoses can guide him to fantasize about the perfect woman in a dream state as he has given up ever finding his ideal in real flesh.

However, Grant is shocked when he falls in love for the first time with Thotmoses' daughter Kat. He pursues her in a variety of dream realms as he learns to control his fantasies. Thotmoses persuades him to defend him and his family to God. As he begins to believe he has lost his mind, Grant questions with his womanizing history whether he is worthy to present a defense when God is the judge, jury and executioner.

This is a fascinating New Age look at God through the mind of a person who feels inadequate due to his cavalier treatment of women. David can live his life as the supreme being of his dreams or the reality of a failed maniac in an aging body wondering what if. Although too much time is spent on his doubting Thomas belief that surpasses in length Wayne and Garth making them seem worthy of Alice Cooper, THE HOUSES OF TIME is an interesting look at what is God in the information age.

Harriet Klausner