I recently discovered that copies of my novel RETRIBUTION are currently on sale at CBD.com for only 99 cents. Many of my fans believe, as I do, that RETRIBUTION is the best novel I’ve published.
RETRIBUTION is book #3 in my City of God series, a time-travel series of novels set in first-century Jerusalem shortly before the Jewish Revolt. Two of the characters, Rivka and Ari, are visitors from the 21st century, stranded in the first century after a physics experiment gone horribly wrong.
Rivka is a nice girl from San Diego who grew up in a Messianic Jewish family and then went to work on an archaeological dig in Israel.
Ari is a nice guy who grew up in Israel and got his Ph.D. in theoretical physics and got mixed up with a not-so-nice experimental physicist and wound up on the wrong side of a wormhole with the girl of his dreams.
Both Rivka and Ari know that Jerusalem is going to burn and all her people will be killed or carted off into slavery in just a few years. So they ought to be united in doing everything they can to get out of town.
But they have a serious personal conflict. They’re married, and they’re really, truly in love with each other. But Rivka is a devout Christian girl and she’s never going to change. And Ari is a devout atheist turned devout agnostic turned loyal Jew, and he’s never going to change. So they’ve got some religious differences and there’s no way in the world to resolve those.
Plus, Ari’s got some physics skills that come in incredibly useful to his friends who are plotting to destroy the Roman overlord. Ari’s a pacifist, but he’s also a loyal Jew and he would do anything to help his people. Rivka is a historian and she knows beyond any doubt that Rome can’t be beat, and the best thing to do is run for the hills. Both of them are right and both of them are wrong, because there just isn’t any good answer.
Rome is intent on exacting retribution from the Jewish freedom fighters. And in this part of the world, at this time in history, Rome gets whatever she wants.
I’m a physicist myself, but it’s not widely known that I also have a long interest in history and I know an awful lot about Jerusalem in the first century. I spent about 20 years researching the books for my City of God series. I taught myself to read Hebrew. I follow the world of Israeli archaeology — and got myself mixed up in one the biggest archaeological fights of the decade, the debate over the alleged Jesus family tomb. Why? Because I like to. Some people are just sick, sick, sick research puppies. I’m one of them.
You can find out about all of my books on the Books page of my personal web site.
I hope everyone takes advantage of this offer. Retribution left me panting for more of the story. There are probably three more sequels that you could write, and I’d still be hungry for more.
Transgression
Premonition
Retribution
Three of the best books I’ve ever read. The characters are marvelous. I’d like to see them through to old age and down to the third generation.
Do you have the other books completed? or are they just outlines waiting for a publisher?
Randy sez: The other books are waiting for their day in the sun, but they’re not written yet. Publishers, naturally, need to be profitable to stay in business, and this series didn’t reach my publisher’s expectations, so it got cut short. It happens. My current plans are to release all my out of print novels later this year in e-book format. If those do well (I think they will), then I intend to finish the series as e-books. This is the year e-books have really taken off, so it’s finally possible to finish this series the way I want to.
I loved Transgression and somehow missed Premonition. I will certainly get Retribution.
The title of your blog today would make a good book title too: GET RETRIBUTION FOR 99 CENTS