The Days of Laméch — By Jon Saboe — Outskirts Press — 2011 — Novel — Trade paperback: 503 pages — ISBN: 978-1-4327-4643-8.

In the aftermath of the Family Wars, the Semyaz arrive from unknown lands with a message of peace and hope. Their advanced technology and wisdom helps to rebuild the fallen cities, and their teachings that all people are Children of the Light promises to ensure that such horrific wars are a thing of the past.

But there are those who don’t trust their motives—or their stated promise to improve the human race. Are the Semyaz altruistic benefactors, or do they represent the ultimate enslavement—or even eradication—of humanity as we know it?

The youthful and reckless Laméch is ripped from his comfortable city life and thrust into a centuries-old resistance where he discovers the true nature of the Semyaz and their multi-generational designs on humanity.

Numerous clandestine operations bring him face to face with their secret research facilities, his long-absent grandfather—and a beautiful dark-haired prisoner who teaches him the true meaning of love and sacrifice.

Laméch learns a new kind of warfare that entails trusting the plan established by his grandfather—even though it seems destined to grant the Semyaz certain victory.

— From the cover

As you have probably discerned, Jon Saboe’s latest book takes us back to a time before the Great Flood, with the period after the Flood being previously covered in The Days of Peleg.

It’s pretty obvious Saboe has done his homework — and a lot of thinking — about what that time could have been like: the people, the customs, the politics, and the science and technology. (In particular, he adds a new dimension to the phrase “pyramid power”. The notion that ancient peoples were primitive knuckle-draggers cowering in caves when thunder rolled down the valley is arrant nonsense predicated upon baseless Darwinian presuppositions.)

“And Laméch lived an hundred and eighty and two years and begat a son … saying this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands …”

The result of Saboe’s research is a big but compulsively readable novel, as much historical fiction as SF.

Laméch, the central character, is nicely delineated. His progression from a callow, self-centered individual to a responsible social leader — and, if you will, a “man of destiny” — is interesting to follow, in the grand tradition of the Bildungsroman.

At first, resisting the Semyaz is simply another way for Laméch, the spoiled rich kid, to indulge in daredevil action for its own sake, without any deep convictions; but gradually, through several encounters with his adversaries, he comes to understand that he hasn’t just embarked on a grand adventure but is rushing headlong into a confrontation with pure evil. In so doing, he will experience emotions he’s never had to deal with before: fear of dying, for one, and selfless love not just for his friends but also for people he hardly knows.

“… and the earth was filled with violence … and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.”

As in Peleg, when it comes to depicting “action” Saboe excels. Reading Laméch put me in mind of James Bond, Alistair MacLean, and the Mission: Impossible team as often as it did of Moses or C. S. Lewis.

Highly recommended.

You can buy The Days of Laméch here.
The Days of Peleg is for sale here.

Jon’s website is here.

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Contents:

Introduction
A Map of the Antediluvian World

Part I: Escape
Part II: Engagement
Part III: Elucidation
Part IV: Exchange
Part V: Extinction

Afterword: Fact vs. Fiction
“In attempting to ascertain the technological potentials of antediluvian humanity, I came to the conclusion that the only form of technology that would not have been available to the ancients was anything based upon hydrocarbons or petroleum ….”

Appendix A: Danel’s Soliloquy
“Some day I am certain to enter the place that was specially prepared to provide torture and anguish for me and my kindred. I am now also betrayed by my masters, who assigned my corporeal mission, knowing this would be my fate.”

Appendix B: Prelude to Aenoch’s Third Disappearance
“Far in the distance, to the east, were two columns of black smoke ascending into the sky. As they watched, the sun began to rise, its face bisected by the two dark lines. They both took a deep breath, contemplating the scope of their final mission.”

Appendix C: Infant Prince Constellation
“Everyone knows the dismay at being unable to actually visualize the characters that are supposedly represented by random grouping of stars [in constellations], and the idea that disparate, unrelated ancient cultures happened upon the same groupings requires vast reserves of credulity.”

Appendix D: Catastrophic Plate Tectonics
“… we can see that the Earth’s history has not been a serene, uniform one of gradual change, but rather one with great upheavals that are consistent with the universal stories of a global flood, found in all ancient and indigenous cultures.”

Appendix E: Recommended Reading
Eighteen primary resources.

Appendix F: Glossary
Nineteen terms.