My Brother the Messiah by Martin Vopěnka is out in the USA!

April 11, 2023

The ‘chillingly beautiful’ sci-fi from Martin Vopěnka is finally out in the USA after an excellent reception in the UK in 2021.

It’s 2103 and Earth is baking. Scientists attempt to cool down the planet. With the coming of rain, a messiah is born.

Eli is a technophobe haunted by premonitions of what will come. His strange magnetism draws many to his cause. For his brother Marek, Eli has always been a messiah. After his short and powerful life, Eli’s most haunting prediction comes to pass: children stop being born.

Thirty-five years later, only The Followers of Eli bear children. Marek leads his commune under the glare of the entire world. Marek recounts his brother’s story to his new lover, Natalia. When she is snatched from him, Marek suspects both the followers and outside forces are to blame. Lessons from Marek’s past and revelations from his present inspire one final journey in his brother’s footsteps.

My Brother the Messiah explores spirituality in the twilight of human civilization and presents a dark, vivid future of our world.

Martin Vopěnka is a Czech writer, traveler, and thinker with Jewish roots. The son of the famous mathematician Petr Vopěnka, Martin studied Mathematics and Physics at the Czech Technical University in Prague, but was always intent on being a writer.

His first novel, Kameny z hor (Rocks from the Mountains) recorded memories and emotions from a journey across the Romanian Carpathians. The themes explored in his books go beyond the local themes of much Czech literature. He views the contemporary world with caution, and contributes polemic articles to the national daily paper MF Dnes. In 2016 his Nová Planeta (New Planet) won the country’s premier Golden Ribbon Award.

He is also a successful publisher and since 2013, he has been serving as the chair of the Association of Czech Booksellers and Publishers.

A note from the Author:

As a result of the war in Ukraine, the book My Brother the Messiah has become even more relevant. It turned out that the peaceful future of Europe is not certain. The Europe of my novel is plagued by extreme drought, then extreme winter, violence and the demise of democracy. At the same time, it also brings a flame of hope.

A News Bulletin from Prague in 2096, performed by Martin Vopenka: