My first book, Freeing Eden, will be released on May 29th. That’s right around the corner! So between now and then, I’m hoping to share some of my thoughts about this book, and perhaps some vital background information as well.

Yes, it’s science fiction. You can read a short description of the plot on the book page at Amazon if you’d like. In fact, I’d be glad if you would, but that’s not what this post is about. This post explores why the planet is called Eden and what makes it particularly Eden-like.

The book initially came about because I began wondering about the story of the Garden of Eden in the Bible. Why should it be the case that simply knowing about good and evil is enough to be banished from Eden? At this point, we are not talking about Adam and Eve having committed evil. Sure, maybe a little deviation from the letter of the instruction, but evil? That would be a stretch. And yet, they were cast out.

In order to understand why this exile might be necessary, I had first to imagine a place that would be very Eden-like. Yet it also had to be a place where real people live. What would such people be like? They would be gentle and welcoming, surely, and they would also be simple and honest. They would abhor any kind of violence to others. But wouldn’t that make them easy prey for anyone else? Particularly if their Eden was full of riches that other people might want for their own?

Could it even survive for very long?

Facing loss of the paradise they live in, and their culture that preserves it, it seems to me that the Edenians would develop a style of nonviolent resistence that might not overcome outside oppression, but it might create a kind of stasis in which what they value most is preserved despite everything.

Into this conflict-ridden Eden, I have placed the very man meant to break the deadlock and save Eden. He’s been cloned from Eden’s great resistance hero and best hope, but somehow the brainscan programming that was supposed to make him an exact double of his maker has been interfered with, so that he remembers nothing.

Can a person of such innocence remain innocent for long on conflict-torn Eden? And for him, is there such a thing as learning too much–such a thing as coming to know good and evil?

Let’s say this happens. Let’s say our protagonist comes to know good and evil–and chooses good. Now, let’s just see how long he can stay on Eden.