“What could we call it? We could call that a little piece of your makeup. A crumb off the crust of your structure? A fragment of an atom of your being? For want of a better word, a soul. You’ll never know it’s gone.”

FROM THE DUST JACKET OF

DEALS WITH THE DEVIL, DIALOGUES WITH DEATH

A dying young man at the very gates of Heaven is offered eternal life, youth and health in exchange for something he doubts exists. He accepts and begins a long odyssey through generations in what becomes a search for self. Often near him are two angels: Satan, the purchaser of his soul, and Death, displeased that one who had been harvested slipped back to the world of the living.

The Devil and Death take various forms as they walk the Earth—young or old, man or woman, visible or unseen. The forever-young man often encounters the introvert Death and the extrovert Satan.

He also comes to know an unchanging demon. Lilith, vivacious, lustful and hot from Hell, rises to satisfy her dark desires, to savor and sometimes cause human suffering.

The forever-young man sees much suffering as well. He wonders if  Satan is guiding him from tragedy to tragedy. To deaden the last traces of his humanity? To provoke him to exercise the clause in his contract that will spare him miseries on Earth but send him to Hell?

He wonders if The Devil knows the future, knows his ultimate fate, and presses Satan on what is known and unknowable.

The Devil denies that ultimate power, but his actions suggest otherwise.

Does God know the future? Does free will exist, or is Mankind only acting out a drama written before the beginning of time?

Free will versus predetermination be damned—Satan continues to barter for souls. His well-honed sale pitch is, for some, irresistible.

“You really don’t believe that I’m the Devil, do you? Then why don’t you put it this way: you’re humoring me. What good is a soul, anyway? It’s sort of like an appendix, these days, particularly since it doesn’t exist in the first place.”