Reign of the Nephilim

Last week I published my latest novel on Amazon, Reign of the Nephilim. I talked about this book before, it was my NaNoWriMo project last year, and after a long editing process, I finally got it together and ready to publish. So now you can all read my take on the book of Genesis.

Reign of the Nephilim actually started out as a video game idea, God of War meets Darksiders. The central idea was an adventure regarding the Nephilim before the flood with a twist, the Nephilim were actually the gods of other world mythologies. What makes this twist so interesting is that I'm suggesting a world where all religions have an element of truth. The two main characters of the story are Shem and Ham, two of the three sons of Noah. These two men are important because Shem is the ancestor of the Jews, the Muslims and Christians as well, and he is a critical hero because he begins a legacy that affects the rest of the history of the world, so his role in this story is to be the first true hero of mankind. Ham on the other hand was the one son that Noah cursed, meaning that if the good guys are the descendants of Shem, the bad guys are the descedants of Ham. It's true, Ham's son Cannan is the ancestor of Cannanites who are the antagonists of the Jews throughout the Old Testament. This story explains that rivalry while mirroring it with the brother rivalries of other cultures. However, the biggest revelation is the true nature of God and the Devil, which I will leave for you to find out by reading the book.

I also throw in a little more obscure mythology that I didn't entirely make up. Actually, I made up rather little and just tweaked existing mythology to fit a narrative that made sense to me. There are two guardian angels, Kamiel from the Kabbalah and Kanjahiel one of the Ophanim mentioned in the book of Ezekiel. Kanjahiel spends most of his time singing God's praises in the form of the Tehil, the first psalm, actually part of Psalm 119, but before any of the other psalms were written so it is the only psalm and it is referred to in the original Hebrew.

The story begins with the building of the Ark, but Shem, Ham and Kanjahiel are sidetracked by Nephilim from the Egyptian Pantheon, then they are abruptly transferred to the Greco-Roman Pantheon, and finally face the nearly forgotten Mesopotamian Pantheon, all before the Flood changes everything. These stories are actually biblically relevant because much of the Bible shows the chosen people of God being antagonized and oppressed by these other cultures, so this narrative foreshadows what is to come.

The really big deal here is that this story takes place in a time when gods were real, meaning thta this is a world in which holy wars are not simply fought by religious zealots crying the names of their gods as they go into battle, the masters of the impossible are actually part of the battle reshaping the world around them and leaving mortals highly vulnerable in a realm of unrestrained chaos.

So, whether you are a devout believer who's looking for a more interesting take on the Book of Genesis or an agnostic who just likes high fantasy, this book has a little something for everyone.