I have to admit that I was pretty surprised to learn that Archbishop John Myers, with his many degrees and honors, a friend of popes and saints (Mother Theresa and Karol Wojtyła),  was also a  science fiction writer. 

In the introduction to the “Space Vulture”, it states…. “In what might be the oddest literary pairing of all time, Gary K. Wolf, noted science fiction author and screenwriter, best known for creating the Roger Rabbit characters and Toontown, and John J. Myers, former Catholic Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey teamed up to co-write an action/adventure science fiction novel entitled Space Vulture. 
Gary and John grew up together in the small farm town of Earlville, Illinois. Gary’s father ran the pool hall. John’s father was the town milk man. Half a century later, they were still best friends until John’s death earlier this year. In their fast-paced novel, heroic Marshal Victor Corsaire and cowardly con man Gil Terry join forces with a beautiful and courageous widow and her two young sons to battle Space Vulture, the most villainous marauder in the cosmos.”

I’ll be honest with you, I thought this book was going to be a real “dud”. Now I didn’t say this to the archbishop, but in the innermost recesses of my mind, I thought…”paaa-leee-aaasss-eee”. 

Anyway, I decided to buy a copy, and while I’m no literary scholar, I have to say it was pretty good…no, I would say it was good….maybe even really good.

Since Archbishop Myers recently passed away, I thought I’d give it another read in his honor….and you know what, it’s still pretty good…I’m enjoying it. I’m not saying it’s a classic…it’s not another “War & Peace”, or “Tale of Two Cities”, or “City of God”, or  “SpongeBob Wins The Nobel prize” …. but it’s “not bad”.

What I enjoyed about the book was that “character and good” ultimately wins out over “evil”. I always enjoy that happening , especially when it seems not to happen very much in our world today. So, if the virus and politics are weighing you down a bit today, check out our hero, Victor Corsaire… although a bit odd, he’s someone you can root for. And remember to say a prayer for John Myers…another good man.