Dear —
What has become of the itinerant author and poet, Abdiel LeRoy? Now in Staffordshire, England, with two cats in his care, thanks for asking.
Been musing on Old-Testament stuff of late, including the David-and-Goliath story. It's cited so often to describe struggles against seemingly overwhelming odds. But have you heard Malcolm Gladwell's TED talk where he analyzes the story?
He points out that Goliath had a medical condition of gigantism that affected his eyesight and that he was really no match for David's skilled and sharp-eyed slingshot. I am in a David-and-Goliath fight right now, as part of the 'Audiblegate' movement, as we prepare to take down Amazon's audiobook subsidiary, Audible. I recently stepped in as a new podcast host for the campaign here.
These days, though, I prefer the Moses-and-Pharaoh analogy: A shepherd armed with nothing more than a staff overthrows the world's most powerful political leader and destroys his entire army, along with the institution of slavery! In the era of Covid, the intervention of plague to bring about liberation is a great encouragement and the central theme of my book, The Covid Prophecies.
The Elijah-and-Jezebel analogy rings clearly too from the Book of Kings. A lone wanderer and fugitive defeats the ruling monarchs of his day, along with their idolatry, and curses them to become dogs' meat!
Whatever your views on faith and religion, you have to admit the Old Testament does have amazing stories, and I love to reinvent them. That why I wrote Elijah, my fictional reinvention of the great prophet's life and miracles as an epic poem (or verse novel, if you prefer).
More recently, I followed up with Jezebel's Lament, a prose novela, in which Israel's "harlot queen" breaks her silence after three millennia to tell her side of the story, and uses me as her scribe! Her testament is today enrolled in this promotion of some 40 historical-fiction books, entitled Strong Women in Old Worlds.
I'll sign off now by cheering you on if you have giants of your own to slay. Meanwhile, keep the faith!
"Your loves as mine to you." (To quote Shakespeare, as I often do.)
Abdiel
Website: PoetProphet.com
P.S. -- Don't forget you can get a free copy of Airy Nothing, with sample poems and epic-poetry scenes, for members and new members of my Poetry Readers List. Click here to get your copy and feel free to share the link with anyone else you think might be interested.
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