For years I have thought about the Genesis account after Creation and before the Great Flood. There are long lists of people noted in Genesis 4 & 5 who were descendants of Cain and of Seth. However, very little is spoken about them in scripture. What were their stories? How would life be different for society if an average person lived hundreds upon hundreds of years? For example, Adam lived for 930 years yet we know virtually nothing about him after he and Eve were banished from the Garden. How did this banishment affect him as a man? Then, there is the question of the Nephilim; who were these beings that walked the Earth? Again, why did Noah wait 500 years before having Shem, Ham, and Japeth? These and many more questions leave the door open for a fictional narrative to answer in a creative but Biblical way.
So, in 2011 I began writing a story set in this time period that would be both interesting and clever. My goal was to create a narrative that would engage the reader with the broad concepts of the Bible by creating a situation where someone from the Last Age of Man is brought into the First Age. In developing the narrative I took all that we are told in the first chapters of Genesis in the Old Testament as well as from references made by Jesus, Peter, Jude, and the writer of Hebrews in the New Testament. In addition, I added concepts to this series found in the works of the ancient historian Josepheus. Finally, while I do not consider the apocryphal writings of the Book of Enoch and Jubilees as authoritative, I thought it appropriate to borrow from them a few names of people and places. With these bits of information functioning as anchors for the story, I crafted a narrative to explore and expand upon what we know of that doomed age and how its troubles mirror our own.