Update: This synopsis was written in 2019 before I revamped the series as “Age of the Kingdom” and released the first book Quest for a King, available now.
Having finished two novels in the Backlash series, I’m hoping to soon release Thine Is The Kingdom, potentially the first book in a trilogy about the united monarchy of Israel 3,000 years ago. While I self-published the Backlash books, I’m hoping to find an agent to represent Thine Is The Kingdom to a traditional publishing house.
You can read a short description of Kingdom here and a longer synopsis here.
If it works out, Kingdom, which covers the reign of King Saul, would be the first of three books, the second would be titled The Power and the Glory and would tell the story of King David’s reign, and the third (Forever and Ever) would continue through the reign of Solomon.
Doing this first book has required a tremendous amount of research, because our culture is so different from theirs, removed by 3,000 years and many thousands of miles. Although it’s unusual for a novel, I’ve given the reader a look over my shoulder through a preface, two appendices and extensive end notes, which explain why the story includes certain features, since many people think they know the stories because they are Sunday School favorites. Yet, when you delve deeper, there are many surprising elements that show up.
For example, in the first chapters of 1 Samuel in the Bible, the young Samuel hears the audible voice of God and tells him that the house of Eli, the high priest and Samuel’s mentor, is under a curse. That curse manifests itself through repeated tragedies that afflict the family through no less than six generations.
In the title, I’ve referenced the fact that, for Israel, the Kingdom was unlike other monarchies in that God was the ultimate ruler, even though this first book is devoted to the bipolar behavior of the first king, who was sometimes paralyzed and other times acted rashly.
