FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Novel about Biblical Hero Enoch says, "YES!"
LOS ANGELES, CA (EPP) - Brian Godawa, the award-winning screenwriter of To End All Wars, began a new saga series of Biblical fantasy novels last year with his release of Noah Primeval to phenomenally positive reviews across the internet and on Amazon.
The wait is over. The 2nd book in the saga Chronicles of the Nephilim is now available in paperback and on Kindle: Enoch Primordial.
Enoch Primordial is the prequel to Noah Primeval. It's the story of Enoch, a wisdom sage called by God to pronounce judgment on the fallen angelic Watchers and their giant progeny, the Nephilim, before the Flood. It opens generations before Noah with the original fall of the Watchers from heaven and their secret plan to defy God and dominate the world. When Enoch's parents are killed in an uprising of giants that threatens the land, he and his family escape to a secret hidden city where their ancestors Adam and Eve reside. Enoch and some of his family, including his wife and son Methuselah, will discover the secrets of the angels and embark on a journey that will take them through deserts, mountains, and the waters of the Abyss to fulfill a special calling as God's first Giant Killers.
Talking Points for Enoch Primordial:
• The prequel to last year's Noah Primeval about the world before the flood. Fallen angels, giants, sea dragons, ancient battles, romance, and God.
• A Biblical epic that uses the fantasy genre to express theological truth. Just like Lewis and Tolkien did.
• Maintains respect for the Biblical book of Genesis, while filling in some gaps with imagination based on Biblical images and metaphors.
• Based on the fascinating ancient Book of Enoch that is quoted favorably in the New Testament.
• The origin story of the fallen angels breeding giants that led up to the judgment of the Great Flood. Enoch was the first prophet to denounce them.
• Return of some characters from Noah Primeval, but in their younger years: The randy feisty Methuselah, the snarky archangel Uriel, as well as the villain fallen angels Semjaza and Azazel.
• An appendix that provides the interesting Biblical and ancient Near Eastern research behind the imagination in the novel.
To schedule an interview with Brian Godawa,
or to receive a complimentary copy of
Enoch Primordial for review,
please contact
(310) 948-0224
• • • • •
ENDORSEMENTS
"Godawa is a mind blowing, theologically interesting, adventurous story teller. Enoch Primordial is an imaginative tale that respects and loves the book of Genesis. It is set in the distant past, yet kicks pagan modernity in the crotch. Chronicles of the Nephilim is a saga that deserves our attention!"
– Douglas TenNapel, Creator of Earthworm Jim, The Neverhood, Creature Tech and Ghostopolis
"Enoch Primordial is an entertaining, effective antidote to the pop-culture contagion of ancient alien astronauts. Godawa picks up where he left off on the wild mythopoeic journey he began in Noah Primeval. He skillfully transforms the mild-mannered, stoic biblical characters of our churched imagination into epic warriors. Long live Enoch the giant killer! Despite the liberties taken in his fantasy, the author weaves a high regard for the Bible with a subversive appreciation of ancient Mesopotamia and its mythology. This second volume to the Chronicles of the Nephilim make it the reader's choice for intelligent, theologically-informed fantasy."
– Michael S. Heiser, Academic Editor, Logos Bible Software; author, The Facade and its forthcoming sequel, The Portent.
"Chronicles of the Nephilim represents the new generation in novel writing. It's compact, concise, and fast paced. Intelligent yet entertaining. Godawa brings a screenwriter's sensibilities to the material that will draw in a postmodern audience that prefers books that read like movies."
– Jack Hafer, Chair, Cinema and Media Arts, Biola University; Producer, To End All Wars
"Wow! Are you kidding me? It's almost impossible to find page-turning fiction that is also scholarly, thought-provoking, and wildly entertaining. Looks like Brian Godawa has done it again — an amazing mix of imagination plus deep reverence for the ancient Scriptures."
– Adam Christing, Founder, Clean Comedians, Writer/Director Change Your Life! and A Mormon President
Online Press Materials for Enoch
Primordial:
Amazon.com Link Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/bsfea2h
Amazon.com Link Paperback: http://tinyurl.com/cuo82g5
# # #
To schedule an interview with Brian Godawa,
or to receive a complimentary copy of Enoch Primordial for review,
please contact
(310) 948-0224
Author Bio
Brian Godawa has been a professional filmmaker, writer, and
visual artist for many years. His creative versatility was born of a passion for both intellect and
imagination, both left-brain and
right-brain. The result: Brian is an artisan of word, image, and story that
engages heart, mind, and soul. Just think, ÒRenaissance Man.Ó
He is the screenwriter for the award-winning feature film, To End All Wars, starring Kiefer
Sutherland, and Alleged, starring
Brian Dennehy as Clarence Darrow along with Fred
Thompson as William Jennings Bryan. Previously Brian adapted to film the
best-selling supernatural thriller novel The
Visitation by author Frank Peretti for Ralph
Winter (X-Men, Planet of the Apes),
and wrote and directed several documentaries, including Wall of Separation for PBS.
BrianÕs scripts have won multiple awards, and his articles
on movies and philosophy have been published around the world. He has traveled
around the United States teaching on movies, worldviews, and culture to
colleges, churches, and community groups.
His popular book, Hollywood
Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment has been released in
a revised edition from InterVarsity Press and is used as a textbook in schools
around the country. His book Word
Pictures: Knowing God Through Story and Imagination (IVP) addresses the
power of image and story in the pages of the Bible to transform the Christian
life.
His main website is www.godawa.com.
Check out the trailer and other goodies for Enoch Primordial and Chronicles of the Nephilim at:
www.ChroniclesOfTheNephilim.com
Author Photos
Pictures are linked to high resolution files. Click on Image to download high resolution version.
Published Books, Articles, Awards
Published Books
2011 Noah Primeval, Embedded Pictures
Publishing, novel.
2010 Omnibus V: The Medieval World, Veritas
Press, published chapter,
ÒHistory
of Dramatic Arts.Ó
2009 Word Pictures, Intervarsity Press,
published book.
Hollywood Worldviews, Intervarsity
Press, published book, revised edition.
Apologetics for a New Generation,
Harvest House, Ed. Sean McDowell, published chapter ÒStorytelling and
Persuasion.Ó
2002 Hollywood Worldviews, Intervarsity
Press, published book.
2002 The Christian Imagination, Shaw, Ed.
Leland Ryken, published chapter, ÒRedemption in the Movies.Ó
Published Articles
2011 BioLogos Foundation, BioLogos.org.
Contributing writer.
1995-2011 CRI Journal, Charlotte, NC, Contributing
writer.
Scr(i)pt magazine, Los Angeles, IL,
published articles.
Sacerdos magazine, Rome, Italy,
published articles.
samizdat.com, French online magazine,
published articles.
Reformation in Poland, Poland, published
article.
SCP Journal, Berkeley, CA, published
articles.
Cornerstone magazine, Chicago, IL,
published articles.
Center for Cultural Leadership,
LaGrange, CA, published articles.
razormouth.com, online magazine,
published articles.
Rutherford Institute Magazine,
Charlottesville, VA, published article.
PRODUCED FILMS
2011 Descent of the Gods – (Feature)
Screenplay, Direction, in pre-production.
Golden Leaf Pictures, CA
Alleged – (Feature) - Screenplay.
Two Shoes Productions, MI
SchoolÕs
Out: Academic Freedom vs. Political Correctness – (Documentary)
Screenplay & Direction, in post-production.
Boulevard Pictures, Culver City, CA
2009 Lines That Divide: The Great Stem Cell Debate – (Documentary)
Screenplay & Direction.
Boulevard Pictures, Culver City, CA
2008 Change Your Life (Feature) - Screenplay.
Transcendental Media, Long Beach, CA
Choices You Can Live
With (Promo video) – Screenplay & Direction.
Westside Pregnancy Clinic, Los Angeles, CA
2007 Wall of Separation – (Documentary PBS) – Screenplay
& Direction.
Boulevard Pictures, Culver City, CA
Cruel Logic
(Narrative Short) – Screenplay and Direction.
2008 Emerging Cinematographer Award – International Cinematographers
Guild
Secret Believers (Promo video with narrative) – Screenplay.
Open Doors, Secret Believers.org
The Conspiracy Show (Comedy Short) – Screenplay and Direction.
Highway Video Productions
2006 Our First Liberty (TV
special) –
Screenplay.
Alliance Defense Fund, Phoenix, AZ.
2005 The Visitation (Feature) – Screenplay.
Namesake Entertainment, PeeWee
Valley, KY.
2002 To End All Wars (Feature) – Screenplay.
Argyll Film Partners, Culver City, CA.
FILM AWARDS
Alleged
2011 – Best
Narrative Feature, Audience Choice Award, FreedomFest
Film Festival.
Best Michigan Film Award, Flint Film Festival
Best Narrative Feature, Made-in Michigan Film Festival
Wall of Separation
2007 – Nominated, Silver
Gavel Award, American Bar Association.
Cruel Logic (Short)
2008 – Emerging Cinematographer Award – International Cinematographers Guild
2005 – Official Selection: Dusk Till Dawn Fest, Golden Star Shorts Film Fest, Great Lakes Indie Film Fest, Shriekfest, Bluegrass Indie Film Fest.
To End All Wars
2003 – Showcase selection,
Cinema for Peace, Cannes Film Festival
2002 – Grand Prize Best
Picture Crystal Heart Award, Heartland
Film Festival
Commander
in Chief Medal of Service, Honor & Pride, Veterans of Foreign Wars
Picture of the Year, Santa Barbara Film Festival
Played
in 13 Film Festivals, being given either opening or closing position.
Novel Summary
The story opens up with the fall of Watchers from heaven to Mount Hermon in the West. The Watchers are ÒSons of God,Ó a myriad of divine beings who surround the Creator Elohim on his throne. These rebel angels plan to set themselves up as gods over men. The two lead Watchers take on new identities as the high god Anu and his consort Inanna, goddess of sex and war. They also begin to mate with human women who ultimately give birth to hybrid giant progeny called ÒNephilim.Ó These giants soon fill the land as generations pass.
We first meet Enoch as a wisdom sage to a king in Mesopotamia. Some giants now rule the people under the gods, but most of them provide the manual labor to build cities for the gods.
EnochÕs son Methuselah
is an apprentice sage, but is more earthy than his
father. The two are always at odds about the importance of experiencing this
world or focusing on the next. Methuselah falls in love with a lowly temple
virgin that does not sit well with his father either. But they are family and
they are devoted. And we will see this importance of family to the very end.
Eventually, the giants revolt in an uprising. The gods arrive to put down the rebellion and reestablish law and order. But grave damage is done. EnochÕs wife is killed in the uprising and the giants are now outlaws.
The creator God Elohim visits Enoch for the first time in a dream. He tells Enoch to reject his gods and become a prophet of Elohim. Enoch balks at the offer until the gods try to kill him and his palace family to start a new regime. So Enoch takes his family on the run to safety in search of this ÒElohim.Ó
What he finds is the secret tribe of Adam and Eve who are hidden from the world in an underground city, but who will also teach Enoch and his family the lost art of giant killing called Òthe way of the Karabu.Ó
Years later, Enoch, Methuselah and their family band of Nephilim hunters discover that the original Nephilim rulers who killed their beloved wife and mother are still alive and hiding out in the West. So they embark on a journey to get revenge, only to discover that the goddess Inanna is on to them and has sent her own mercenary to take them out. But she is not their only enemy as they are accosted by giant snakes, demonesses, Anzu thunderbirds, Leviathan, and Behemoth.
Their journey takes them through the alluvial river plains of the Euphrates, across the harsh desert of Arabia, the forested mountains of Hermon, the volcanic world of Sahand, and a few other surprise locations hosted by monsters known to readers of Noah Primeval.
They discover a new plan of the Watchers that is so evil, it will ruin the universe as they know it forever, unless God can stop them. And EnochÕs little band of warriors happen to be GodÕs chosen few to do the job. Can they rise to the call? Elohim has a few tricks up his sovereign sleeve in his legal throne room in heaven. But we donÕt want to spoil the myriad of surprises in store for the adventurous reader of Enoch Primordial.
An Interview with Brian Godawa
Q: Who is Enoch?
A: We know almost nothing of this enigmatic holy man from the Bible. All Genesis really says is that he Òwalked with God, and was not, for God took him.Ó Scholars believe this is not a reference to dying, but to being translated into heaven as Elijah was. But who was this man and why was he given such special mention in Genesis? We just donÕt know. But we do know he was around at about the time that Genesis chapter 6 speaks of the ÒSons of GodÓ mating with humans that give birth to hybrid giants in a very violent and evil world.
But there is an ancient book that is not in the Bible that does tell us more about Enoch. It is called the Book of 1 Enoch. ItÕs an ancient book written about a couple hundred years before Christ. It tells a more expanded version of the Genesis 6 story. In 1 Enoch, we read about Enoch being a holy prophet of God who has dreams from God and is told to go pronounce judgment on the rebellious Sons of God (called ÒWatchersÓ) and their evil giant hybrid progeny. This violation of GodÕs order is an abomination and becomes one of the reasons for God sending the flood.
But that is not all. The Watchers also revealed occultic secrets to humankind such as war, spells, charms and other black magic, as well as astrology and the art of genetic crossbreeding.
1 Enoch is not Scripture but it has a rich tradition of respect in Church history from Church fathers like Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, as well as modern commentators like Gordon Wenham, Claus Westermann, and the Jewish scholar, Umberto Cassuto.
Q: But if 1 Enoch isnÕt in the Bible, is that
inappropriate to mix it with Scripture?
A: Just because a book is not in the Bible does not mean it has no truth. But as a matter of fact, the Bible itself quotes from the book of 1 Enoch, so I am in good company. The New Testament author Jude quotes from 1 Enoch 1:9 when he writes:
ÒIt was also about
these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, ÒBehold, the Lord
comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to
convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have
committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly
sinners have spoken against him.Ó (Jude 14-15)
And in the verses before that, Jude writes about the Òangels
who did not keep their own domainÓ in heaven, Òbut abandoned their proper
abodeÓ (by coming to earth) and are now Òbeing kept in bonds under darknessÓ
because of their sexual immorality of violating the human/divine flesh
separation – just like the book of
1 Enoch talks about!
I am engaging in speculative imagination in Enoch Primordial. But I am emulating the storytelling technique of ancient Jewish literature like the Book of 1 Enoch: Retelling Bible stories with theological interpretation while staying true to the spirit of the original.
Q: Why a ÒBiblical FantasyÓ? Do you believe the Bible
is just myth?
A: I chose to use the genre of fantasy to highlight the theological nature of the story rather than attempt to write an ÒhistoricalÓ account of events about which we know almost nothing. In this case, both fantasy and historical genres would be equally fictional. Fantasy allows me to use the mythopoeic imagery in the Bible literally in order to make the imagination come alive and understand the spiritual import behind the text.
The BibleÕs own appropriation of pagan imagery such as the many-headed Leviathan, or the divine ruling Rephaim of Sheol, illustrates a mythopoeic interaction with surrounding culture that is a common feature of subversive storytelling: One retells the cultural stories through oneÕs own paradigm. ItÕs really what all storytellers do.
I wanted to integrate all the prevailing mythologies of the time period in order to give my metanarrative of their true origins, and illustrate the corrupting process of human nature. ItÕs not unlike NarniaÕs mythological creatures being under the Lordship of Aslan.
Q: Tell us about your research behind the project.
A: The Biblical and ancient Near Eastern research I did for Enoch Primordial, as with Noah Primeval, uncovered so many fascinating theological and spiritual surprises that I knew I just had to provide those who were interested in going deeper with some research meat to chew on.
So I put an appendix of 56 pages at the back of the novel covering the Biblical foundations for some of the imaginative elements in the story. While I clearly engaged in creative license, I based it all on Mesopotamian and Biblical memes and motifs. The Divine Council, the Watchers, The Rephaim, Leviathan, Rahab the sea dragon, Lilith, the satan, the mushussu, the Anzu thunderbird, the slithering Ningishzida, and almost every other character that shows up in Enoch Primordial were drawn from the mythopoeia of that time period and incorporated into my story with an intent to keep them as close to the original ideas as possible. I even used names of giants that were recorded in the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient documents as the names of some of my giant characters.
Q: You are a Hollywood screenwriter. Why is Hollywood
fascinated with the Bible these days?
A: Hollywood studios have had a sudden surge of interest in making movies of Bible stories.
There are several of them being developed around town right now. Director Darren AronofskyÕs Noah, Producer Dan LinÕs Moses, Director Scott DerricksonÕs Goliath, and others.
The problem is that it takes so long to make a movie and so many of them often never get made. And letÕs face it, people are reading less books these days. YouÕve got to be interesting and entertaining to keep their attention.
So I decided to take my skill as a screenwriter and apply that style to a series of novels so that it would give a reading experience that would be like watching a movie.
No thousand page plodding historical details, no long interior monologues. Just a short novel fast-paced fantasy action adventure that will keep you on the edge of your seat and leave you with some meaningful spiritual thoughts to explore when youÕre done.
Q: Enoch Primordial is the second book in a series.
What can you tell us about that series?
A: Enoch Primordial is Book Two in a series called Chronicles of the Nephilim. While I canÕt reveal my secrets, you can get a sneak preview on the website of the rest of the series.
The point of the series is to tell a storyline that is in the Bible from Genesis 6 all the way to the conquest and kingdom of the Promised Land. That storyline is the War of the Seed of the Serpent with the Seed of Eve. It is not pure fantasy, it is in the Bible, but IÕm bringing it to light through the fantasy genre of storytelling.
The next book is going to be a surprise. People will recognize it when I give the title, but they wonÕt realize how relevant it is to the storyline until they read the novel. So IÕm keeping the title a secret until I get closer to release. IÕve given a few clues, but fans will have to figure it out.
If you sign up or subscribe on the website youÕll be the first to hear about new developments and volumes of Chronicles of the Nephilim.
Check out the trailer and other goodies for Enoch Primordial and Chronicles of the Nephilim at: