Killing Gods: The Church of the New Gods

This is the third in a series of character and group profiles for my new book Killing Gods (the sequel to Powerless) which is out on the 22nd July. Please note some minor SPOILERS may apply for those who haven’t yet read the first book, so that’s your own fault.

The Church of the New Gods

The Church is run by the charismatic Dr Clifford Gaines, a native Australian who moved to the UK as a child to avoid their powered care policy, whereby all powered children were taken into state protection.

He has run several versions of his Church over the years, both in Australia and Scotland and opened the latest in Element City not long ago. They believe that all people born with innate powers are created in the image of the Gods that created the earth and that the first known hero, The Elemental, will one day return to guide them into a new peaceful future. For Clifford, this means getting as much media attention as possible to draw people to the church in the hope of finding him, although he does have a plan B.

His ‘disciples’ are a group of powered believers who live in dorms above the church hall. They include Emily who can make herself unnoticeable by others, Kevin who can create high energy shockwaves, Mark who can ‘whisper’ thoughts to other people and make them think they were their own, and Grant who is their detector, able to spot if someone has an ability and decipher what it is.

Together they wait for the return of The Elemental, although nobody is entirely sure what their plan for him is should he come back.