999 B.C.

About the Book

Book Description This novella is a humorous take on the biblical tale of Jonah and the whale related in the Book Of Jonah. As the bible tells it, Jonah heard the voice of God commanding him to go to Nineveh “for its wickedness hath come before me.” When he took his assignment lightly, the Lord wreaked His vengeance, and the poor boy ended up spending three days inside a whale. In 999 B.C. we learn that Jonah disobeyed God because he was chasing the woman of his dreams and that his mission to Nineveh led inexorably to the history-changing conquest of the Hebrews by King Tiglath of Assyria. The story is told in the voices of five principal characters: Jonah--a scribe in the Royal Library of Samaria, capital city of the southern Hebrew kingdom; Joel--fellow scribe and Jonah’s good friend; Abigail # 42--prophetess at the Bureau Of Divine Wisdom, an office adjacent to the Royal Library; Philo, the Philistine--their wily boss; and Princess Deborah--heir to the throne with ambitions of greater glory. Other characters include the formidable Hebrew queen, Azubah; her hen-pecked husband, and compulsive womanizer, King Jeroboam; O’Badiah, bodyguard and herald of King Jeroboam; and King Tiglath of Assyria, a notorious tyrant who turns out to be not the man he was reputed to be. The people and episodes in this story are freely adapted from historic sources. God’s warning to Jonah that Nineveh would be destroyed, his survival in a perilous storm at sea, his claustrophobic three-day residence inside a giant fish and his recognition as a Hebrew prophet are related in the Old Testament. Jeroboam was the name of several Hebrew kings of the Northern Kingdom, whose capital city was Samaria. The Philistines and Hebrews took turns conquering one another, the former ending up with the short end of the stick, their name serving as an epithet to this day. And archeologists credit the Assyrian King Tiglath with conquering most of what we now call the Middle East about three thousand years ago. Book Description (continued) We know few details of events in those “pre-ancient” times. But this story was created on the presumption that the expression, “love makes the world go round” was as true then as it is today. The novella, 999 B.C., is based on the book I wrote for a musical play of the same name. To create songs for that musical I wrote lyrics for a dozen big-band jazz instrumentals that were popular in the ‘40’s and 50’s. Songs and Scenes from the musical, 999 B.C., are listed in the Appendix. You can listen to some of the songs in the musical and other songs by the author at SongsByBobLarimer.com.

About the Author

Bob Larimer This is the author’s first book, but he has been writing musicals since his college days at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he grew up. His musicals include the Broadway production of But Never Jam Today and Off-Broadway productions of King Of The Whole Damn World, Jack & Jill and Blue Roads. His songs have been recorded by Cher, Judy Collins, Marlene Dietrich, Burl Ives, Marie Osmond and Jerry Orbach. The book, 999 B.C., is based on a musical of the same name for which the author is seeking production.