Shannon here: Brennan S. McPherson shares an except from his latest Biblical Fiction title, Eden. All comments or answers to the question will go in last Monday’s drawing. Deadline: April 11th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Brennan:
Excerpt from Eden by Brennan S. McPherson:
This excerpt is when Adam wakes up and meets Eve (newly created from his rib) for the first time.
I looked around, but found the only other creature with me was . . .
I didn’t know what, exactly. Only that she was new, and she was like me, only different. Her skin was dark like coal, and the richness of the hue drew my eyes. Her figure resembled mine, yet her shape differed. Where my body was hard, hers was soft. And sleek and strong. A strange, new vision of complex beauty.
I struggled to a stand, still shaky. We stared at each other.
Her long, smooth hair fluttered in the breeze. Her dark eyes regarded me with a piercing intelligence that none of the animals held. I felt, in that moment, that she understood my very thoughts.
She lifted her slender hand and pointed behind me. “Why did he leave us?”
I followed her finger to an opening between the trees leading out of the grove.
“I don’t know,” I said and dared two paces closer. “What do you remember?”
“I woke to the Light, and he commanded you to wake. Then he left.”
One more step, and I could reach out to touch her. Her voice warmed me in a way wholly different from the Light. Hers was a dizzy, buzzing heat. I stretched out my arm and traced my finger down her torso. A shiver shook my shoulders.
She shifted closer, breath pulsing fast like the rhythm in my wrists. She felt it too. The fascination. The wild, young excitement. Pure and powerful, like the rush of a river overflowing its banks.
Helper, he had called her. But as I drank in her form, other sounds clustered to form a name that attached itself as a banner across her arm.
I opened my mouth and pronounced it slowly. “Completion.”
“What?” she said, her voice a whisper, breath gently brushing my neck.
Completion only carried a portion of rightness. More words took shape until they overlapped to form a greater concept.
“Woman,” I said.
She tipped her head, as if to ask if I was referring to her.
Yes. She who was formed out of me, to me.
I set my hands on her shoulders. She started to pull away, but I gently urged her to stay, and she examined me. With a nod, she straightened and pressed her chest against mine.
I tilted my head, our noses touching.
She closed her eyes and kissed me.
Yes, she was that way from the beginning. As though the rib God formed her from contained the greater part of all my resolve.
I saw, in that moment, that she was more than the sum I had given. For the weight of her pull felt impossibly heavy. The warmth of the sun faded at her touch. The memory of the Light dimmed behind the gleam of her eyes.
We held each other, happy.
Complete.
For a moment.
Until the Light returned.
We let go and faced him as his feet brushed the grass and left little imprints that slowly disappeared.
She stepped toward Father and said, “Where did you go?”
“There,” he said and pointed. “To give you time to meet.”
My mind began to clear in his cleansing Light, and I realized those moments with her had been a gift from him. I couldn’t hold back a smile. “Out of all the creatures you have shown me,” I said, “I found no creature like this. At last, this is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. We are the same, and yet so beautifully different. In her softness, she upholds me. And in my strength, I long to hold her gently.”
“Have you yet named her?”
I nodded. “She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
Our Creator tipped his head, a smirk at the corner of his mouth. “But is that a proper name?”
She looked at me, hands on her hips, head high. That confident, almost haughty, look of hers. “Yes, is it?”
I cleared my throat and shifted on my heels, which sank softly into the moist ground. “How about . . .” I stared at her again, letting the sounds return and cluster. “E-v-e . . .?”
She raised her brows. “Eve?” Then squinted as if tasting the word and finding it pleasant enough. She shrugged. “And you are Adam?”
Adam. Man. Yes, that was my name. And Eve, for she would be the mother of all.
I smiled again at my Creator. “You’ve taken a portion of my beauty and formed it into a work of surpassing beauty, intelligence, and worth. A precious living creature, the likes of which I have never seen.”
Father nodded, his Light catching rainbows in the mist that began to fall. “Precious, she is. More precious than the world. Treat her as such.”
About Brennan: Brennan S. McPherson writes epic, imaginative biblical fiction with heart-pounding plots and lyrical prose, for readers who like to think biblically and feel deeply. Visit him at Brennan’s Newsletter to sign up to his weekly devotional and download two free e-books.
About the book – Eden:
“You want me to tell you of how I broke the world.”
It’s the year 641 since the beginning of everything, and when Eve passes away, she leaves Adam the only man on earth who remembers everything since they walked in Eden.
When Enoch, God’s newly appointed prophet, decides to collect the stories of the faithful from previous generations, he finds Adam in desperate need to confess the dark secrets he’s held onto for too long.
Beside a slowly burning bonfire in the dead of night, Adam tells his story in searing detail. From the beginning of life, to how he broke the world, shattered Eve’s heart, and watched his family crumble.
Will Enoch uncover what led so many of Adam’s children away from God? And will Adam find the redemption and forgiveness he longs for?
What other’s are saying:
“Eden is in a class by itself. It’s biblical fiction with an emotional depth that laid my heart bare. Not only does Brennan McPherson vividly describe the first days of human awakening; he also masterfully unmasks sin’s effects through the broken relationship of Adam and Eve.” – Mesu Andrews, Christy award-winning author of Isaiah’s Daughter
Get your copy now! Eden – Amazon
Question for Readers: What do you love about Biblical Fiction?
Come back April 7th for Candace West!
if it stays true to the Bible,it is good . but if it strays it isn’t
Yes, it stays completely true to Scripture. The problem is that many people have ideas about Genesis that are not based on Scripture, such as the idea that it never rained before the flood. This idea is erroneous, never stated in Scripture, contrary to the laws of physics (which were put into place in the first 6 days of creation), and based on a blatant misinterpretation of a verse talking about Day 3-4 of creation. I did an enormous amount of research for this book, and conclude the book with a 12 page study on Genesis 1-4. For another article from a trusted source on the erroneous idea of it never raining before the flood, see the following article: https://answersingenesis.org/creationism/arguments-to-avoid/was-there-no-rain-before-the-flood/
If you would like to see the care and passion I have for following Scripture, check out the weekly devotional that I write here: https://brennanmcpherson.com/blog/
Blessings!
I enjoy biblical fiction. I find myself going back to the Bible to check fiction against fact.
the characters
I love reading Biblical fiction because I always have my ideas challenged by what the Author presents. Sometimes we have our own preconceived ideas based upon Sunday school lessons or commentaries, but I enjoy when I’m offered a different perspective that challenges those notions. I always despised Leah and considered her a villain-she stole her sisters beau for pity’s sake! But after reading Liz Curtis Higgs Highland series, I realized that Leah was possibly more a victim than a villain.