I may prefer to read your fiction than force you to write a textbook, but I would like _someone_ to write it. It's _all_ invention. Religion, language, commerce, culture, art, and so on.
What is so remarkable about The Five is your ability to write how religious practice _feels_. We read the books and participate in the rituals to learn about religions. If you want to know a religion, work in the front office. There, you get to see the interplay between the practitioners and the clergy, the fuss from that one officious volunteer who oppressively cleans, and the full life cycle of the individuals and the organization.
Your work captures the beautifully flawed microcosm of religion, and it is sublime.
What is so remarkable about The Five is your ability to write how religious practice _feels_. We read the books and participate in the rituals to learn about religions. If you want to know a religion, work in the front office. There, you get to see the interplay between the practitioners and the clergy, the fuss from that one officious volunteer who oppressively cleans, and the full life cycle of the individuals and the organization.
Your work captures the beautifully flawed microcosm of religion, and it is sublime.