Biblical Fiction
Reading Biblical fiction together, Ron and I loved how Bible characters came to life. Here’s the story of how we started writing it!
The Generations Series
1) A Little Lower than the Angels – Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel
2) Then the Deluge Comes – Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah and his sons (ends when God shuts ack’s door)
3) Replenish the Earth – Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and their sons (time on the ark and afterward)
4) Children of Eber – Abraham and Sarah, Issac and Ishmael
This series is at least partially the reason why I’m a published author today. Back in the ’80s when my husband drove a taxi for a while, he read…a lot. One of the books was titled Noah and His Ark, but O’Pa would tell our wide-eyed students years later at school presentations–that it should have been Joe and the Big Boat because it had nothing to do with the Noah of the Bible. That was the book that convinced him we could write and get published.
The first version of A Little Lower Than the Angels came from our original, handwritten, three hundred eighty-page manuscript titled In The Beginning. Enoch was its main character. My daughter-in-love transcribed it, so we could submit it to New York publishers, certain they’d soon come with bags of gold to give us for our story!
Ah, the innocence of youth. All we got were many, many rejections until we actually considered publishing it ourselves which took us to a printer to check some prices. He asked if I’d been to the DFW Writers’ Workshop. No, but Ron and I found it and went, eager to read for them–again sure they’d ooo and ah. That was in 1993.
But, the manuscript was chock full of every possible mistake a new writer could possibly make. No POV (point of view), full of passive verbs–not active, and no story goal or scene and sequel. It proved attribution heavy, and the stilted, unnatural dialogue made it boring and unbelievable.
When I think back, God had to have put the confident idea that we held any promise into the minds of published authors there for they took us under their wings and mentored us. We met weekly and hardly ever missed–a handful of times in fifteen years, soaking in the craft of writing creative fiction. They gave us the tools we needed to construct a story.
It came out of the computer files a few times through the years, but after the Simon and Schuster contract on the historical romance, the Lord sent a Word to go back to the beginning. And so, I got it out again–God’s timing.
His first confirmation was sending my proofreader, Lenda Selph, my new sister-friend and the first to read it through. His second came when I started my search for a cover for the first volume and ran across this magnificent original art. I contacted Judy Downs Levine in Arizona, a stranger then–another new beloved sister now–and she was thrilled to have me use it, blessing me immensely by wanting to do the covers–all her original art–for the whole series.
Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, a matter is established. My third confirmation with the partnership with Joseph Narducci, the narrator for the first two stories in this series’ audio books. And so I know God is a partner in this project and am so honored that He chose me to be a part of it. There are four volumes of The Generations published now, plus one more very special story, I AM My Beloved, and more to come.
A Little Lower Than the Angels, volume one, is the story of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and someone you don’t know–Sheriah, a sister created to be the wife that Cain ‘knew’ after he went to Nod. Both Lion and Lamb are characters, and readers will meet a wonderful ancient angel named Namrel in Paradise along with a few others. Each book has a ‘Search the Scriptures’ section at its end so that readers can better understand how I came to the conclusions I did.
Volume two, Then the Deluge Comes, begins as eight generations surround the deathbed of Father Adam and Eve. Readers will walk with Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah, and the building of the ark commences. I’ve created a wife for Noah named Hattimas–my proofreader came up with her name. We know he had one, but she isn’t spoken of in the Scripture. This story ends the day the rain begins, shortly after Methuselah’s death. Did you know his name meant, when I die, then the deluge comes?
Cover art for all by JUDY DOWNS LEVINE. Prints and canvases are available at her website, as are coffee mugs, afghan throws, and many more mediums with her beautiful art!
In volume three, Replenish the Earth, readers will experience the days aboard the ark. And did you think like Hattimas and the rest the voyage would only last forty days and nights? Ah, but no. That was only the first storm when the firmament that once encompassed the earth and protected humankind from the sun’s harmful rays–rained down on earth until every peak was covered over by fifteen cubits! Over a year, those eight souls rode out the journey with all those animals to care for. The work involved must have been overwhelming. You’ll get a good taste in Replenish the Earth.
And volume four, Children of Eber, takes readers to the time Abram is called to a strange, pagan land by the God of his fathers. Shem still walks the earth, then at his death, his great-grandson Eber becomes the patriarch. Abraham–never the oldest living firstborn–is rewarded with power and riches for his obedience to God. Still—though the Lord has promised him an heir—his beloved wife remains barren. Almighty God visits His prophet, talks with him, forgives his indiscretions and cleans up the messes he makes. The Lord promises amazing things including all of the lands where Abram walks for him and his heirs as a possession and that nations will come forth from his loins—descendants too numerous to be counted. The well-known story of the Father of Faith comes to life. Walk with the man honored by today’s the three major faiths.
Other Biblical Fiction
And now, the story of a virgin queen, Abishag, David’s last queen and Solomon’s inheritance was also loved by Rehoboam–who wouldn’t love the beauty filled with love for the Lord? Meet this little-known woman of the Bibles and see if this story doesn’t ring true according to the scriptures! While writing this one, I often had to stop, tears streaming down my face, and worship the Lord. He took me there to see the first temple be built. Even now, just remembering it, glory bumps rise on me! Please, if you only read one, read I AM My Beloved!
What exactly happened during those three days from the Lord’s lifeless body of flesh being placed in the tomb and His glorious resurrection? Hints throughout the Scriptures give clues to what transpired—how He got to Paradise to be with the thief on the cross that same day.