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US writer James Frey and British author John Niven will both publish books imagining return of Messiah to contemporary New York It’s as awkward as two socialites wearing the same dress to a party. Hard on the heels of news that US author James Frey ‘s new novel will be a second-coming story entitled The Final Testament of the Holy Bible , comes word that a novel on a stunningly similar theme, this time by a British writer, will also be published in April, just days before Frey’s book. Frey’s story will feature the return of the Messiah in contemporary New York, in the form of Ben Zion Avrohom, an alcoholic bisexual who impregnates a prostitute. John Niven ‘s novel The Second Coming features Christ returning to earth in contemporary New York as a struggling musician who, as the author puts it, “smokes dope and gets laid”. Niven – whose literary CV will be no more reassuring to the Christian right than Frey’s, given that his book Kill Your Friends was described by Guardian reviewer Jane Housham as “an orgy of mad, gleeful nastiness” – is philosophical about the uncanny coincidence. “It’s not that unusual to have a couple of novels published in the same ball park, but it’s slightly freakish scheduling that they’re so close together,” he said. “But the atheist debate has raged in non-fiction in recent years and now it’s moving into fiction.” Niven’s story is more lighthearted than Frey’s appears to be: his Christ-figure lives by just one true commandment – “Be Nice” – and realises his best chance of winning the hearts and minds of the American people is by entering a TV talent contest. The author describes it as very much a “comic novel”. But Niven, like Frey, is anticipating some controversy – and like Frey, he has run into issues over publication in the US. Frey has chosen to avoid mainstream publishers with his new book, preferring instead to publish with the Gagosian gallery in New York, although in the UK he is sticking with John Murray, who also published his previous works. John Murray managing director Roland Philipps said: “James knew he didn’t want to publish in the traditional way in the US because it has a much more charged relationship with religion. He anticipates death threats, book burnings and bannings. In the US, James couldn’t see a publisher standing by him.” Philipps added: “I’m sure there will be people who are offended, but I think what he’s done is an entirely valid attempt to create a mythology around imagining what it would be like if a Messiah figure came down today. It’s a worthwhile exploration of the nature of belief.” Niven has yet to find an American publisher for his novel at all, although both his previous books have been published there by HarperCollins. “We had an incredible reaction to this novel in Europe – a big sale in Germany, an auction in Italy,” he said. “But in America the publisher who had published my last two declined to publish, citing commercial reasons.” Niven hopes that in the “relatively sane” culture of the UK, any controversy will be muted. But he admits that one episode in the novel, in which God calls a board meeting of all the saints, including Mohammed, does occasionally cause him to wake up bathed in sweat. “From the reading I did, I gathered you’re not meant to have a physical representation of Mohammed, so I changed it so that he was only on speakerphone,” Niven said. “But I did still get a text from a friend saying ‘I look forward to seeing your be-hooded pleas for mercy on Al-Jazeera.’ I very much hope it won’t come to that.” Niven and Frey’s Easter novel clash is one of many such examples. Novelist David Lodge was unlucky when his 2004 novel Author, Author, about writer Henry James, was eclipsed by the close publication of Colm Tóibín’s The Master, on the same subject. Meanwhile Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of Truman Capote in the Oscar-winning 2005 film Capote took the limelight from Toby Jones’s portrayal of the same writer in the film Infamous, released shortly afterwards. James Frey Christianity Religion Fiction Benedicte Page guardian.co.uk