"This is the story of my life and it's not a happy one. If you wish to read about me you're welcome to but if you're looking for something to give you hope & joy comfort & inspiration then you had best leave off here straightaway and go find something else. My life has an abundance of frustration and pain plus a fair bit of sex and lots of killing and broken bones but it's got precious little hope & joy comfort & inspiration. It's got some women in it too plus a wife. Dalila is the one you may have heard of and a rare piece of work she was. You may think you know the story but believe me there's more."-from The Book of Samson
From the author of the acclaimed and provocative novels Fallen and The Preservationist comes a tale about a man who believes he is touched by the hand of God-then instructed by that God to slaughter his enemies. It is the story of "this worldly existence of men & brutes desire & unkindness" and of the woman, Dalila, who figures at the center of it all. In The Book of Samson, David Maine has created an unforgettable portrait, a unique and astonishing masterpiece that puts a face on a previously faceless icon. "The combination of archaic language and setting with modern sensibilities again demonstrates Maine's talent for making the familiar intriguing."-Publishers Weekly Starred Review"Provocative and beautifully told-a breakout novel for Maine."-Kirkus Starred Review
A provocative epic of a story we know so well-or do we?
Once expelled from the Garden, Adam and Eve had to find their way past recriminations and bitterness to build a new life in a harsh land.
In Fallen, David Maine has drawn a convincing, enthralling portrait of a family-one driven (and riven) by familiar passions and jealousies. The result is a staggering achievement an intimate, hilarious, and utterly original telling of temptation and murder and of exile and loss.
Praise for The Preservationist:
"Inventive re-imagining of the Biblical flood tale for a 21 st-century audience." - People
"An elegant, inventive book... [that] envisions the events in Noah's life with awe and realism." - The New York Times
"A brilliant, kaleidoscopic analysis of the situation...this debut is a winner." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Author David Maine brings motive and inner dialogue to the story, and narrator Simon Vance brings those elements alive." AudioFile Magazine
The magic comes in subsequent chapters being told from different characters points of view: Noe; his wife; his sons Japheth, Cham, and Sem; and his daughter-in-laws Bera, Ilya, and Mirn. The Preservationist does not deal with matters of faith or historical fact. Instead the author simply, wisely, asks himself what it was like to be there, "when the rain began to fall." He imagines the world before Abraham, before God became involved in international politics, or, for that matter, in organized religious practice. In details small and large, Maine convinces us that the world Noah worked so hard to save is indeed worth preserving.
