Antediluvian

About the Book

We assume a relatively primitive level of civilization for those who lived prior to the Great Flood of Noah.  Yet, the biblical materials suggest that within a handful of generations of Adam (and several generations preceding Noah), people were using iron tools.  A remarkable thing, considering that it is clear archeologically that the common use of iron didn't begin in the Ancient Near East until at least 1200 BC.  Yet the flood predates that date by thousands of years.

What if, for the sake of fiction, we assume that the antediluvians developed a high-tech civilization?   And what if we can tell the story of the end of a high-tech society by Noah's Flood in a way that remains faithful to the narrative of Genesis?

 Imagine the last, wild days before the end of civilization and a cast of familiar characters thrust into unfamiliar settings:

Methuseleh - the world's oldest man: a despotic Kingpriest ruling the Solar Union, a political grouping of the warm inner worlds of the Solar System.  A grumpy individual, he's planning a war of extermination against the Outworld Federation, an association composed of the cold moons of the distant gas giants.

Noah - the great-grandson of Methuseleh: that little old wine maker -- with a government sponsored monopoly on the bubbly. Johnson Shipyards has just received a strange request from him for a very large boat.

Shem - Noah's oldest son: on his way to Mars to accept a teaching position at the University of Mons.  His trip is not without its difficulties, however: someone on the space liner seems to want him dead.  Is the assassin an agent for the Federation?

Ham - Noah's number two son: a drunk geneticist with marital problems. He's also attempting to make a genetic map of the Sea Dragon.

Japheth - Noah's youngest son: gets himself kidnapped by agents of the Outworld Federation, who spirit him off to Titan City, Titan (a moon of Saturn).  But he'll escape and get the girl.

God - Creator of the heavens and the earth: tells Noah that the world's days are numbered, with a boat being a good idea, unless he can tread water for a long time.

Methuseleh and the Solar Union plan on destroying the Out-world Federation. The Outworld Federation has similar plans, only in reverse.

So the question, of course, is who will destroy the world?  The human race, with a nuclear holocaust, or God, with a lot of water?  Or will it be a joint effort, with the great flood as a simple mopping up operation?

About the Author

R.P. Nettelhorst was born in Ohio in 1957. He finished an MA at UCLA in Semitic languages in 1983. Currently, he serves as Academic Vice President of Quartz Hill School of Theology. Married, with three daughters, he lives in Lancaster, California.