Only Begotten Daughter

Only Begotten Daughter is a 1990 fantasy novel by American writer James K. Morrow, setting the stage for his later Godhead Trilogy. The book shared the 1991 World Fantasy Award with Ellen Kushner's Thomas the Rhymer. It was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1990, and both the Locus and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards in 1991. His humor provides a thin layer between the reader and troubling questions. For example, his character Julie wonders what sort of deity she is: "A deity of love, or of wrath? Love was wonderful, but with wrath you could do special effects." Morrow uses Only Begotten Daughter to suggest that what many believers seek in religion is the "special effects."

Rubenstien adds,