Religion makes a great many assumptions about the workings of the universe. Many throw rational thought out of the window, delivering dogma as fact. While this can cause some very heated debates with non-followers, none do it quite so humorously as the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
If you are unfamiliar with the Flying Spaghetti Monster, wikipedia has a nice article on His Noodly Goodness, or you can go to the Church's website at venganza.org. In short, the FSM is a divine being who does not issue commands, rather "I really rather you didn'ts". He flies, and is made of spaghetti. He is a lovable deity, even if some of his key bits of dogma are not very family friendly (heaven features beer volcanoes and stripper factories, for example).
In the collection "Amazing Stories of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" (edited by Cameron C. Pierce, author of Abortion Arcade) we see interpretations that somewhat stray from the core image that His church presents. They are weird, funny, and engaging. From the light-hearted "Grumpy Old Gods", to the more serious "Hot Dogma", and even some self-deprecation in the form of Mykle Hansen's "How I Became a Famous Author", we see the FSM through other meatball eyes. It is enlightening, but fills the stomach nicely.
Each story paints a different Sistine ceiling of His Noodly Goodness: at times He is very human, just another sentient being getting on in the universe (Adam Bolivar's "Down and Out in Mythos City, e.g.) In other stories He is strictly divine, all mystery and enigma (Kirsten Alene's "23, 28"). All of the tales collected here are sure to delight those both new to His word and faithful Pastafarians alike.
Like a made-from-scratch Italian dinner, "Amazing Stories..." is sure to leave you satisfied. You can't go wrong with this anthology. In the words of the Pastafarians: RAmen.
