Jerusalem Author Announces Giveaway for 'Biblical Harry Potter'

Ancient walled cities, such as Jerusalem, celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim one day later than the rest of the world. To celebrate this unique holiday, Jerusalem author Dave Mason announced today that the ebook version of The Lamp of Darkness, the first book of The Age of Prophecy series, will be given away throughout the day. "The holiday of Shushan Purim is only celebrated in cities that were walled during the time of Joshua's conquest of the land, over 3000 years ago," said Mason. "Given that The Lamp of Darkness is set so close to that time period, I thought Shushan Purim the perfect day to celebrate the book release and give the book away for free."

The Lamp of Darkness is set during the times of Elijah the Prophet and King Ahab, approximately 500 years after the time of Joshua. The book, which has already been dubbed a "Biblical Harry Potter," explores the world of the prophets and is deeply rooted in the Jewish oral and mystical traditions.

Jerusalem is one of the few cities in the world, and the only location in Israel with a significant population, that celebrates the holiday of Shushan Purim. Everywhere else celebrates Purim one day earlier.

"The reason for the separate Purim celebration is that at the time of the Purim story itself, there was an extra day of fighting in the capital city of Shushan, thus their celebration fell out one day later than the celebrations held in the rest of the Persian Empire," explains Mason, who is also an Orthodox Rabbi. "To commemorate, the Sages decided that a small percentage of the world would celebrate Purim a day later, on the day it was celebrated in the city of Shushan. So why determine the locations based on which cities were walled in the time of Joshua, a thousand years before the Purim story? Because during the Purim story itself, Israel was in ruins, so they wanted to connect it to a time when walled cities still stood strong in Israel.

The ebook version of The Lamp of Darkness is currently enrolled in Amazon's Select program, which means that the sale version will be exclusively available through Amazon. Further background into the story and complementary materials can be found on The Age of Prophecy website at http://www.TheAgeofProphecy.com.