Nailed: David Fitzgerald talks about religion, getting published, and the whole enchilada

Today's guest speaker is David Fitzgerald, a friend of many of the pens and to writers throughout the Bay Area through his work with Sisters in Crime. He spoke to the Pens about writing the book, getting published, and his thoughts on history and religion.


Hi David, and welcome to the Pens! First off, many congratulations on your new book.

Before we get into the meat of it, I’d be interested in hearing about your path to publication. How did you get this tome written, edited, and published?

DF: Thanks - I’m a big fan of the Pens Fatales femmes, so it’s a real treat to be here. You know, I never actually set out to write an exposé on Jesus (let alone devote ten years of my life to it!) and it was a very, very twisted path from inspiration to completion.

One day I began wondering what Jesus really said and did, and how much was just legendary baggage added later. I started researching, and quickly became convinced that the official story just didn’t add up. In fact, now I don’t see how there even could have been a Jesus of Nazareth.

Needless to say, this just blew my mind. I started telling people about it, and a friend asked me to speak to his atheist group. That talk became a multimedia presentation that I‘ve since given all around the country, The Ten Thousand Christs and the Evaporating Jesus. Audiences loved it, and everyone began asking, “When’s the book coming out?”

I spent the next few years writing what I thought would be the final word on the subject, which grew into a 700+ page behemoth. Meanwhile, I attracted the attention of an agent, who came out of retirement to shop it around New York. A couple editors were interested, but ultimately the book didn’t survive the in-house acquisition fights. My agent suggested I break it up into a trilogy, which I did, and then approached smaller publishers. Again, three smaller presses were interested, but all were over-contracted. After a couple years of this, my agent sadly said she had done all she could.

Then I was contacted by one of the interested publishers, who told me about a writing contest being sponsored by a consortium of secular New Testament scholars. I took my monster of a book and distilled it down to a 100-page essay called Ten Beautiful Lies About Jesus. The essay attracted a lot of positive attention from historians, and I took their feedback, made corrections, added even more material and made a brand new book: NAILED: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed At All.

I had refused self-publishing for years; nothing says “crackpot” like a self-published history book. But now that I had glowing reviews from all these preeminent historians, suddenly it made a lot more sense to self-publish! So with the heroic help of proofreaders and fact-checkers, I published this summer through Lulu. Woo Hoo! I’m a published non-fiction author!

In addition to non-fiction, you also write fiction, right? Tell us a little about your fiction, and some of the differences in how you write/market/publish in different genres.

DF: Yes, ironically enough, while I was waiting to hear from publishers on my Biblical History epic, my girlfriend secretly sent a sexy story of mine to her publisher. They liked the way I write, and I got in several anthologies and even wrote a novel that also came out this summer, and they want me to write another novel asap – I’ve created a monster. So yes, I’m a biblical historian AND erotica writer! It’s a funny old world…

I know you’ve been interested in the subject of Nailed for some time, and you’ve lectured quite a bit. Did those lectures morph into the book, or vice versa? And how did interactions with audiences –both skeptical and supportive—influence the final product?

DF: It’s been an interesting evolution. The arguments keep going through the crucible and a lot of early ideas and arguments failed the reality check. But the ones that hold up have become really strong as a result. Twice I’ve had historians in the audience stand up after my talk and announced that I’ve changed their minds! It’s very humbling and gratifying.

You’re a friendly, easy-going guy. I would imagine that your writing angers a lot of people. Why do you feel compelled to put yourself out there like that?

DF: I’ve been an atheist activist for half my life now, so I don’t mind going out on a limb. Growing up, I was a very devout Christian, so I have a lot of sympathy for believers, and I think that comes across in person.

Why is this subject so near and dear to your heart?

DF: The idea that there was no Jesus shocked me so much, I’m still reeling after ten years. It fascinates and amazes me to see how this huge enchilada called Christianity came about, and I have no doubt that its origins are even wiggier and convoluted than any of us will ever know!

Thank you for joining us today on the Pens!

Writer and public speaker David Fitzgerald has been called “The Ferris Beuller of San Francisco.” He is Event Coordinator of Sisters in Crime–NorCal, and serves on the board of San Francisco Atheists and Center for Inquiry-SF. He is the founder and director of the world’s first Atheist Film Festival and San Francisco’s oldest annual Darwin Day celebration, Evolutionpalooza! He writes erotica under the name Kilt Kilpatrick as well as biblical history. His newest book is NAILED: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed At All.

Want to know more about the book? Visit David Fitzgerald's Facebook page!