The name Jovah comes from Jehovah, the name of God in the Old Testament. Some of the place names also come from the Bible. Most of the characters’ names in this series come from the Bible (Old and New Testaments, and Apocrypha), or are saints’ names. Much of the series can be read as if it is a fantasy world, ignoring the science fiction elements.

The settlers abandoned their advanced technology, and began living a more primitive lifestyle, the exceptions being the music players in the angel holds and the equipment in the oracle retreats for communicating with the ship. The angels were created at the time of settlement by genetically modifying humans. It is the ship’s intelligent computer that receives and responds to the angels’ requests, and is programmed to act in certain ways. The ship is in orbit around their planet. We eventually find out, but not until the second book, Jovah’s Angel, that Jovah is actually the spaceship their ancestors arrived in long ago, to the world of Samaria from a planet called Eleison (centuries after humans left Earth). The oracles communicate with Jovah and let people know the god’s instructions. There is also an oracle’s retreat in each of the three provinces: Mt Sudan in Gaza, Mt Sinai in Bethel and Mt Egypt in Jordana. One of these leaders becomes the Archangel, who is ruler of Samaria. The angel who is the “leader of the host” at an angel hold is the ruler of the province. This is destroyed at the end of Archangel, and replaced with Cedar Hills. In Jordan, the original angel hold is Windy Point. In each province, the angels live in an angel hold: Monteverde in Gaza, the Eyrie in Bethel. The continent of Samaria is divided into three provinces: Gaza, Bethel and Jordana. (Angels are forbidden to interbreed with each other: the progeny tends to be monstrous.) The union of an angel and a mortal may produce either an angel or a mortal. (The Edori people call the god Yovah instead of Jovah.)Īngels are able to interbreed with mortals. And, if necessary, to call down lightning bolts for destruction.

They fly into the air to sing to their god Jovah, to make requests, such as to adjust the weather, to receive blessings on the harvests, for seeds and for medicines. These are flesh and blood angels, both male and female, essentially a variety of human, but with wings, higher body temperatures, attractive appearance and beautiful singing voices. In the world of Samaria, angels live among ordinary humans (mortals). This is a science fiction series with a fantasy feel, and with romance.

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