Background: A couple of months ago I got my wife to start reading the RJ series and now, the Adversary Series. When she finishes a book we always discuss how she liked it and other thoughts about it. She finished REBORN today and during our regular discussion she posed two questions that I could not answer so I thought I would pass them on to you.
First: The events in REBORN, if I recall my time line, take place around 1968, it doesn’t have to be exact, just that general time period. Twice in the book it mentions dialing 911. Did they really have 911 in the late 60’s or even the early 70’s?
Second: If Rosalom was able to enter into the clone fetus because it didn’t have a soul, how can the series dismiss GOD since the soul is a religious concept?

<disclaimer>The post that follows is my opinions and guesses only. In no way am I attempting to answer either of these questions in any definitive manner.
</disclaimer>

First: The events in REBORN, if I recall my time line, take place around 1968, it doesn’t have to be exact, just that general time period. Twice in the book it mentions dialing 911. Did they really have 911 in the late 60’s or even the early 70’s?

Well, to be fair, I think the answer you're really looking for is 'no'.

But...(from 'Brevard County, FL'..."The first 9-1-1 call was placed on February 16, 1968 in Haleyville, Alabama."

So the service did exist in 1968, but I doubt it was widespread, so I suspect this is one of the small anomalies that you'll come across as a result of Jack having fought the Rakoshi in the mid-'80's and in the mid-'90's, when we next see him in a novel it's only a year later, in the timeline of the story.

Second: If Rosalom was able to enter into the clone fetus because it didn’t have a soul, how can the series dismiss GOD since the soul is a religious concept?

A much tougher question to answer.

My answer is that the series doesn't dismiss 'God'. It redefines 'God'.

Different cultures have had different, conflicting, gods for ages. They can't all be right. But they do have some things in common. I've resolved the question you asked by asking what/who exists that could lead to all these different beliefs? The Ally (at lest for me) satifies that concern.

Folks feel an affiliation with the Ally, and that makes them a 'normal' part of this world.

Or perhaps they feel an affiliation with Rasalom, and are 'evil' by our 'normal' standards.

Either way, the child being born as a clone, with no 'affiliation' to either side, allowd Rasalom an entrance back to this world that he wouldn't otherwise have had.

I don't know if this helps in any way at all, but it's how I resolved those concerns in my mind.

FPW could of course answer these questions in such a way as to prove I'm completely full of shit, but until he chooses to, those answers at least made sense to me.

Volsh

or he could let the readers draw their own conclusions. What author doesn't like the random things people tend to think while reading their stories?

FPW could of course answer these questions in such a way as to prove I'm completely full of shit, but until he chooses to, those answers at least made sense to me.

Volsh

First: The events in REBORN, if I recall my time line, take place around 1968, it doesn’t have to be exact, just that general time period. Twice in the book it mentions dialing 911. Did they really have 911 in the late 60’s or even the early 70’s?

[SIZE="3"]The fancy name for this is anachronism. A simpler term is author goof or, more to the point, author f**k-up.[/SIZE]

[SIZE="3"]The fancy name for this is anachronism. A simpler term is author goof or, more to the point, author f**k-up.[/SIZE]

Thanks! That explains it. We did not get 911 here in Texas until… well, much later than that. As far as the second question since the soul is for after we die and neither the Ally or the Otherness seems to give a flip about us as individuals it must be chalked up to the quirks of fiction.

Second: If Rosalom was able to enter into the clone fetus because it didn’t have a soul, how can the series dismiss GOD since the soul is a religious concept?

[SIZE="3"]You're putting a character's words into the author's mouth. The character speaking was a Christian fundamentalist and so the interpretation is filtered through that world view. I leave it to you to fill in the blanks come up with your own explanation.

Even so, the concept of a soul was not initially connected to God.[/SIZE]

... Second: If Rosalom was able to enter into the clone fetus because it didn’t have a soul, how can the series dismiss GOD since the soul is a religious concept?

Interesting, I hadn't contemplated this before. However, I'm not sure that the series actually dismisses God at all. Various characters along the way will have their interpretation of what's going on, but I can't think of any specifics in the books that say "Ally - Otherness" is the only powerful forces around.

Possibility (just my brainstorming): Maybe God created these other forces as well as everything else, and lets them have their free will? Kinda like, if you've read "The Silmarillion" where one all powerful being creates other powerful ones.

or he could let the readers draw their own conclusions. What author doesn't like the random things people tend to think while reading their stories?

Yep, I agree.

-MarcC.

[SIZE="3"]The fancy name for this is anachronism. A simpler term is author goof or, more to the point, author f**k-up.[/SIZE]

The Bluesman to the rescue! The first working 911 was in the prosperous little berg of Fayette, Alabama, 2/16/68! (Ain't it amazin' what computers can find these days? I'm tellin' yez...)

Of course 911, or 9/11, has a very different connotation now.