After two years of work, Jeremiah’s Last Call has been published. But it wasn’t easy. Some people (name withheld) prefer to do things the hard way. Such was the case late in 2019 when I got the idea to write a novel about Jeremiah with the ambitious, all-inclusive title, Jeremiah. I did so only to be in compliance with the well-known, important and unwritten rule that insists that every creative effort, whether it be a novel, opera, fight song or whatever, must have a working title. The logic behind the rule is simple. It makes no sense to write something and name it afterward. That would be like building a treehouse in the garage then heading out to the woods to find a perch for it.

A good working title will set limits on a project and provide the writer with critical hints about what he or she is doing; but I chose Jeremiah, which did none of that, and began writing anyway. Jeremiah, the man, had outlasted five Judean kings. He had, in fact, outlasted Judah, and is said to have authored both the Book of Jeremiah and Lamentations. The books are also filled with personal details, so we know more about Jeremiah’s life and nature than perhaps any other Old Testament prophet save Moses.