Five years ago, as a freshman in high school, sophomore Nathan Steinmeyer jotted down a few notes for what has now become his first novel.
As he sat in his Bible study group, his small groups mentor, Aaron Gallardo Jr., mentioned the Nephilem. They are creatures commonly characterized as giants, or, as Steinmeyer described them, “half man and half angel.”
A few years later, during his senior year, Steinmeyer said he rediscovered those notes and began to develop his storyline and characters.
That obscure mention of the Nephilem in Genesis 6:4 turned into Steinmeyer’s book, “The Dark Days of the Nephilem.” It is the first installment in Steinmeyer’s “Wind Bringer Series.”
Although the Nephilem originated in the Bible, Steinmeyer said his book is not overtly religious. Nevertheless, there are still some Christian themes.
“Biblical stories have had a consequently impacted my writing,” Steinmeyer said.
“The Dark Days of the Nephilem” is set in a fantasized world in which there are two countries: one is governed by Nephilem and the other by humans. In Steinmeyer’s novel, instead of the angelic heroes depicted in the Bible, the Nephilem are the villains.
The Nephilem have enslaved a group of humans who incite a rebellion. “The Dark Days of the Nephilem” begins during the end of that rebellion. Only a few slaves survived the rebellion, and Steinmeyer’s book follows those escaped slaves.
One of the escaped slaves is Benyamin, who is depicted on the front cover of the book.
Senior Meg Prom designed the cover art of Steinmeyer’s novel. She said they decided to put Benyamin on the cover with a dark forest in the background that reflected the book’s title.
Steinmeyer received help from his mother who first edited his book, and then from family friends Sandy Robertson and Cy Robertson who completed the final editing.
Cy Robertson said he loved the immersiveness of Steinmeyer’s novel.
“I felt like I was in the battle,” Cy said. “After a while, you get lost in it.”
Sandy Robertson also had high praise for Steinmeyer’s writing.
“He is not mainstream,” she said. “He is not a run-of-the-mill author. He has a purpose, a many-layered purpose to his writing. If he really wants to, he can take this series a long way.”
Sandy said she was especially impressed with his in-depth character development.
“The characters are well-built, but what I like about Nate’s writing is that the details he builds around the characters — their environment, their thoughts, their experiences — make them who they are,” Sandy said.
Steinmeyer has already decided to take this series to the next level. He said he has written 100 pages of the second installment in “The Wind Bringer Series.”
Steinmeyer said he plans to write four books in this series, each following a continuous plot.
In the future, Steinmeyer said he hopes to find a bigger publishing company that can help with his writing more thoroughly and spread the word about his books.
Fistbump Media LLC published “The Dark Days of the Nephilem.” It was released on Amazon on April 7th at a price of $7.99. Steinmeyer said it should be released in hardcover within the next few weeks for about $15.
The Robertsons said they are excited for his next book and see a future for Steinmeyer in literature.
“My writing style has been improving, and constantly evolving, so I look forward to the future with my books and to see if I can, someday, make a career out of this,” Steinmeyer said.
