A sequel to Living with the Truth, the book is set in a landscape generated by Jonathan's memories of his past life. In this pseudo-reality he has to face more truths about himself and learns that the universe may not be in safe hands. By the end of the book he realises that you don't always need to get all the answers, and never to say die.
All writers are liars. We make things up, ergo we lie. The odd thing about the lies that writers tell is that they somehow manage to communicate often very profound truths. Jonathan Payne is a work of fiction and therefore his opinions are a work of fiction (it is a big mistake to assume that a character believes what his author does) and yet I wonder how many of you will be able to relate to what he has to say here about lying?
Book Excerpt
Stranger than Fiction
Lying is a life skill. They
should teach it in school: Prevarication for Beginners,
Intermediate Sophistry, Advanced Mythomania. He wondered if lying
was an art or a science. He couldn’t recall ever not being able to
lie. In that respect he was a natural. No one had taught him. He
had discovered his talent through expediency; there were times when
telling the truth really wasn’t an option. So he had invented the
lie. For a time then it was his only, this ability. It came
as something of a disappointment to discover that other people were
doing it too and he wasn’t special. How exactly did he know that
there was something out there as an alternative to telling the
truth? It had to be genetic. So why was it so wrong?
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