Deus Irae is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel started by American author Philip K. Dick and finished with the help of American author Roger Zelazny. It was published in 1976. Deus irae, meaning God of Wrath in Latin, is a play on Dies Irae, meaning Day of Wrath or Judgment Day. This novel was based on Dick's short story "The Great C". Origins Dick started the novel, then realized he did not know enough about Christianity to finish it. He asked science fiction editor and author Ted White to collaborate on the manuscript with him, but after reviewing the manuscript, White never began the work. Zelazny found the manuscript in White's home in early 1968, read it, then contacted Dick about working on the project. Work proceeded sporadically over several years as each author, in turn, forgot about the book. At one stage, Zelazny's cat took the opportunity to urinate on the original manuscript. The novel was completed quickly, though, in the spring of 1975 after the publisher, Doubleday, demanded either the manuscript or a repayment of the advance paid to Dick. The editor discovered that Zelazny had sent photocopies of a number of the manuscript pages and demanded the originals as per Doubleday's policy; much to Zelazny's chagrin, he had to send in pages stained with cat urine. Zelazny said later that he always wondered what the editor made of them. Plot After 1982, the world experienced a devastating nuclear war. Fallout and radiation has caused widespread mutations to human and animal populations alike. There is a new messianic religion, akin to gnosticism. The members of this religion, known as the Servants of Wrath or SOWs, worship the creator and detonator of the war's ultimate weapon, Carleton Lufteufel (from the German words "Luft," meaning "air," and "Teufel," meaning "Devil"), ex-chairman of the Energy Research and Development Agency of the United States of America - ERDA/USA. In Charlottesville, Utah, there are ample debates between the Servants of Wrath and the diminishing congregations of Christians left in existence. The Servants of Wrath's faith is based on an "anger-driven" traditional perception of godhood, compared to that of the Christian survivors, and it is from this that the book derives its name- deus irae, Latin for "God of Wrath". Tibor McMasters is an armless, legless cyborg phocomelus artist who has been commissioned to paint a mural of Lufteufel, though nobody knows where Lufteufel