LITERARY SPECULATIVE FICTION · FOR OLDER READERS
The Shape of Blue
The first thing she thought after dying was that Dad was going to be furious.
An atheist daughter. A Christian father. An unfamiliar afterlife that asks more of them than either expected.
Philip Cowherd built his protagonist’s imagined experience around recurring descriptions in near-death and DMT accounts. That is where this novel began: a human question approached through grief, sharp humor, scientific curiosity, and faith.
Includes a fatal car accident and grief. This novel is separate from our young children’s books.
WHERE THE STORY BEGAN
What might the parallels mean?
The novel turns reported patterns into an imagined afterlife. It asks what an experience might mean before everyone agrees on its explanation.
Explore the author’s starting point, links to research, and the distinction between the evidence and the fiction.
Read about the novel’s originsFOR A READING GROUP
Bring a different lens.
- How do the daughter’s atheism and her father’s Christianity shape what each notices?
- Where do observation, interpretation, and hope part company?
- Can scientific curiosity and faith share a question without sharing an answer?