FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hollywood Screenwriter Pens Controversial Novel: Noah Primeval, Did God Wipe Out a Race of Giants with the Flood?

LOS ANGELES, CA (EPB) - Brian Godawa, the award-winning screenwriter of To End All Wars, says, “The most bizarre passage in the Bible that I never understood was Genesis 6:1-4 about what led up to the Great Flood. I mean, angels mating with humans and creating giants? What is that all about? Can that be real?”

But when the author of the popular book Hollywood Worldviews studied the passage in depth, Godawa soon discovered that not only was it real, but it was an important narrative thread that weaves through the Bible all the way to the New Testament. The Nephilim giants of the Bible have been a hot debate by scholars and religious leaders through history. In his research, Godawa found new insight into the ancient Near East that sheds light on this controversy.

Godawa decided to write a Biblical fantasy novel, similar in vein to The Lord of the Rings, about this wild discovery. That novel is titled Noah Primeval. It’s the first in a series called Chronicles of the Nephilim and is now available in e-book and paperback formats on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com.

Noah Primeval is a fantasy retelling of the beloved story of Noah for a new generation. In an ancient world of darkness, fallen angels breed giants and enslave mankind to evil. Noah, a tribal warrior, has been prophesied to save humanity from the coming destruction of the world. But Noah’s wife and son are captives of these dark forces – and he’s not going anywhere without them.

Godawa is known as an author who both entertains and educates. He has included special appendixes in the book that explain the Biblical research behind the novel such as the Sons of God, the Nephilim, Leviathan, and the ancient Near Eastern Biblical worldview. Peter Enns, Biblical scholar and author of Inspiration and Incarnation, calls the novel, "Imaginative yet well-researched."

Noah Primeval joins a growing body of creative output from those in Hollywood who are examining Biblical stories and themes including the forthcoming films Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, Scott Derrickson’s Goliath, and producer Dan Lin’s Moses.

The novel is already getting the praise from scholars and Hollywood heavyweights alike…

“Wizard schools and teen vampires are child’s play. This is the origin of sorcery and vampire tales. Noah Primeval will keep you on the edge of your seat with its primal struggle of good and evil. Supernatural fiction, fantasy, and Biblical speculation all as a cinematic novel. It reads like a blockbuster movie!”

- Ralph Winter (X-Men, Planet of the Apes)

“Anyone who has read the Lord of the Rings trilogy has silently mused about how fantastic it would be if it were all real—a place on earth that transcended our own mundane reality, a time when the unseen world was tangible. Noah Primeval made me stop wishing and start believing. Brian Godawa re-imagines the supernatural storyline of the Biblical Noah blended with Mesopotamian epics. The result is a stirring tale of gods and men that confronts us with biblical reality through mythical fantasy. Noah Primeval is what Tolkien called “sanctifying myth” that we need in our own place and time.”
– Michael S. Heiser, Ph.D. Hebrew and Semitic Languages; Academic Editor, Logos Bible Software

For more information about Noah Primeval, visit www.NoahPrimeval.com.

Amazon.com Link: http://tinyurl.com/3cey89g

Amazon.com Link Paperback: http://tinyurl.com/65tjsmz

Barnes & Noble: http://tinyurl.com/89m6pce

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To schedule an interview with Brian Godawa,
or to receive a complimentary review copy of Enoch Primordial,

please contact:

[email protected]

(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, “Renaissance Man.”

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 forPBS.

Brian’s 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 Noah Primeval and Chronicles of the Nephilim at:

www.NoahPrimeval.com

Author Photos

Pictures are linked to high resolution files. Click on Image to download high resolution version.

Testimonials

“Wizard schools and teen vampires are child’s play. This is the origin of sorcery and vampire tales. Noah Primeval will keep you on the edge of your seat with its primal struggle of good and evil. Supernatural fiction, fantasy, and Biblical speculation all as a cinematic novel. It reads like a blockbuster movie!”

– Ralph Winter, Producer (X-Men, Planet of the Apes)

“A great, spiritual fantasy full of thought and imagination. Noah Primeval is a provocative look at what could have been the life and times of Noah. The cinema-like action and suspense will keep you turning pages until you are finished, while the themes and concepts will remain long after you’re done.”

– Bill Myers - Bestselling Author, The God Hater

“Anyone who has read the Lord of the Rings trilogy has silently mused about how fantastic it would be if it were all real—a place on earth that transcended our own mundane reality, a time when the unseen world was tangible. Noah Primeval made me stop wishing and start believing. Brian Godawa re-imagines the supernatural storyline of the Biblical Noah blended with Mesopotamian epics. The result is a stirring tale of gods and men that confronts us with biblical reality through mythical fantasy. Noah Primeval is what Tolkien called “sanctifying myth” that we need in our own place and time.”

– Michael S. Heiser, Ph.D. Hebrew and Semitic Languages
Academic Editor, Logos Bible Software

“Imaginative yet well-researched. As a Biblical scholar, I have a great appreciation for imagination in religious storytelling of the past. I was enthralled with Godawa’s grasp of the Mesopotamian world and enchanted with his modern adaptation of antiquity into an entertaining action fantasy. Such a fictional adaptation may be a big problem from some religious believers with strict views of the Bible, but in my book, Godawa brings to the surface the drama of the original story. He gives to us the Noah of the Bible in a fresh and provocative way.”

– Peter Enns, PhD. Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

Author Inspiration and Incarnation

“Noah Primeval 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

“When it comes to supernatural fiction, all the publishing industry seems to think about these days are vampires. Then, fortunately for us, along comes Brian Godawa to shake things up and remind us all where good and evil really come from. Noah Primeval is the kind of story that will make you think, and allow you to see the world in a different way.” “Brian Godawa's imagination is incredible. When he writes, he conjures up worlds that make you re-think what’s possible. Noah Primeval is a fascinating new take on an ancient story that makes the word ‘epic’ seem far too small. Pick up the book, but don't expect to put it down until you're finished.”

– Phil Cooke, filmmaker, media consultant,
author, Jolt! Get the Jump on a World that's Constantly Changing

“Here is a disturbingly powerful novel that “sings the Lord’s song in a strange land” at the same time it sings a strange song in the Lord’s land. Godawa captures the spiritual and theological truth behind the biblical story of Noah with an action packed fantasy adventure that reminded me of C. S. Lewis’ Narnia, or the graphic novel Watchmen. If you are religious or not, believe the Bible or not, know the story of Noah or not, but you have an imagination, you will love this novel.”

– Leonard Sweet, best-selling author, professor (Drew University,
George Fox University), and chief contributor to sermons.com

"Noah as a Robin Hood-type rebel in the forest? I'm skeptical about some of the exegesis but not about the essential worldview nor the future of this rollicking tale: Every page screams Movie!"

– Marvin Olasky, Editor-in-Chief, World Magazine

Published Books, Articles, Awards

Published Books

2010 Omnibus V: The Medieval World, Veritas Press, published chapter,

“History of Dramatic Arts.”

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 “Storytelling and Persuasion.”

2002 Hollywood Worldviews, Intervarsity Press, published book.

2002 The Christian Imagination, Shaw, Ed. Leland Ryken, published chapter, “Redemption in the Movies.”

Published Articles

2011 BioLogos Foundation, BioLogos.org. Contributing writer.

1995-2011 CRI Journal, Charlotte, NC, published articles.

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

School’s 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

A dream vision of Enoch introduces the back story of rebellion in heaven. Angels fell from heaven and became gods over men. These “Watchers,” revealed evil secrets to mankind and interbred with humans, creating a hybrid race of demonic giants called Nephilim. But Elohim, the Creator, prophesied a Chosen One who will end the rule of the gods and the evil of mankind.

We meet Noah, a warrior patriarch of a tribe of nomads, the last of uncorrupted humans. Noah receives a dream from Elohim to build a large box to escape the coming judgment of God. But Noah rejects his call because he lacks faith and prefers to avoid evil and be left alone.

Lugal-anu, the priest-king of the city of Erech, visits Noah to secure his submission to the gods. Noah refuses and his entire tribe is wiped out, and Noah made a slave. But Noah is rescued by his guardian archangel, Uriel, and plans an uprising against the gods using the slave forces as his army, and a few close relatives.

What Noah does not know is that his pregnant wife Emzara has been captured and made a servant of Lugal-anu. What’s more, the priest-king tries to woo her to become his wife. But Emzara is loyal to the memory of her beloved.

Meanwhile, Noah fails to start an uprising at the slave mines. Only a handful join him. Noah decides he will hunt down the Watcher/gods one by one to destroy them. But he soon discovers a band of assassin Nephilim are hunting him. And they always get their prey. Unless that prey jumps into the one place where Nephilim are too afraid to go: Sheol. In Sheol, Noah experiences a bizarre and frightening world from which no one has ever come back alive. He finds himself imprisoned in a deep pit, but finally hears God’s call.

After a daring rescue by Uriel and a band of archangels, Noah gets back to the upperworld, only to discover that in Sheol, time stopped, while many years have passed by in the upperworld, which is more wicked and evil with Elohim’s judgment approaching.

Noah finds the remnant of his tribe that has now multiplied, and began building the box from the plans Noah had left behind. Noah finishes building the box with their help; but then he discovers that his wife, Emzara is alive in Erech with his grown son, Ham, and they are both servants to the god Anu and his priest-king Lugal-anu, the man who destroyed Noah’s tribe.

Noah, his other sons, and Uriel sneak into the city to rescue his wife and Ham. But they are captured, Uriel tortured, and Noah set to be sacrificed at the New Year Festival the next day by the new high priest: Ham, Noah’s son! Emzara will become the forced wife of Lugal-anu. But Elohim has not been slack. His archangels have gathered the last forces of humanity to wage a war upon the wicked gods and their minions. How will they stand against such impossible odds and how will Noah escape his predicament and get back to the box before judgment rolls down like waters?

An Interview with Brian Godawa

Q: Why a story about Noah?

A: For one thing, he is the most beloved Bible heroes of all time and all cultures. Every culture around the world has a story or legend about a Great Flood, and the major religions all see Noah as a hero, so he’s a pretty unifying character.

But I also got to thinking about how much our own cultural bias affects our image of ancient people like Noah. The Bible actually doesn’t say much about Noah at all. And much of what we think of him is itself a fiction created by well meaning Sunday School teachers.

For instance, the Bible doesn’t say what Noah was: a farmer, a nomad, a shepherd? So I thought what if he was a warrior? A tribal leader who refused to worship pagan gods? I tried to keep true to the facts of the story while filling in a hero’s journey that fits well with the spirit of it.

I wrote it in a similar vein to Lord of the Rings and Narnia, because I think that the ancient world before the flood was so different from ours that it would seem magical to us.

Q: What inspired your unique take on the story?

A: I have always considered THE most bizarre passage in the Bible to be Genesis 6:1-4 that talks about divine beings called Sons of God coming down out of heaven and marrying daughters of men who give birth to giants called Nephilim.

This has always been a controversial passage. But I did some study of the matter, and what I discovered blew me away. Israelite’s ancient neighbors, the Sumerians, the Canaanites and others also wrote about “sons of God”, divine/human hybrids and Giants. So this wasn’t just a bizarre obscure passage in Scripture. It made sense in the ancient world.

So my goal was to incorporate the scholarship of the ancient Near Eastern world into the Biblical picture in an imaginative way that might explain the origins of myth and reality.

It’s speculative imagination. But it follows the storytelling technique of ancient Jewish literature like the Book of Enoch: Retelling Bible stories with theological interpretation while staying true to the spirit of the original.

Even the obvious fantasy elements in the novel are based on imagery and metaphor taken from the Old Testament.

Q: Do you believe the story of Noah was just a myth or made-up fantasy?

A: I believe Noah really existed and there was a Great Flood. But the extent of that flood, how long ago it was, and even the literary genre of the story is still hotly debated amongst scholars.

But since the 19th century discovery of thousands of ancient Near Eastern texts, we now know what our forefathers did not: That the Bible does show an influence of ancient Near Eastern storytelling and imagination.

And that storytelling had a lot to say about gods and their power.

So, I thought, “What if the “gods” of the ancient world were real? What if they really did have supernatural occultic powers?” Only, they weren’t gods, they were fallen angels seeking to be gods with their own plans of rebellion and worldwide domination. This would seem to match up with the Bible when it says in Deuteronomy 32 that the pagan gods were demons who were alotted territories of power by God himself. So really, even though I admit this is a fictional fantasy approach, it is actually based upon a theological interpretation that I believe is very possible.

Q: Tell us about your research behind the project?

A: The Biblical research I did for 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 Biblical meat to chew on.

So I put one hundred pages of appendixes at the back of the novel covering the Biblical foundations for some of the imaginative elements in the story. The Divine Council, the Sons of God, The Nephilim, Leviathan and the Mesopotamian worldview are all examined in the creative vein my readers are used to from my books such as Hollywood Worldviews and Word Pictures.

Q: You are a Hollywood screenwriter. Why is Hollywood fascinated with the Bible all of a sudden?

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 Aronofsky’s Noah, Producer Dan Lin’s Moses, Director Scott Derrickson’s Goliath, and two other King David and Moses movies.

In fact, Noah Primeval is already adapted as a movie script as well. The problem is that it takes so long to make a movie and so many of them often never get made. And let’s face it, people are reading less books these days. You’ve 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 novel 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 your done.

Q: Noah Primeval is the first in a series. What can you tell us about that series?

A: Noah Primeval is Book One in a series called Chronicles of the Nephilim. While I can’t reveal my secrets, you can get a sneak preview on the website of the rest of the series.

Babylon Inheritance, Canaan Conquest, and the prequel, Enoch Primordial, all chronicle the spiritual thread that is connected to the sons of God and their hybrid offspring, the giant Nephilim and their war as the “seed of the Serpent” against the “seed of Eve.”

If you sign up or subscribe on the website you’ll be the first to hear about new developments and volumes of Chronicles of the Nephilim.

Check out the trailer and other goodies for Noah Primeval and Chronicles of the Nephilim at:

www.NoahPrimeval.com