N. Charles Beardsley

N. Charles Beardsley (Norm) was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1949. As he grew up in the north side area of the city, he recalls tossing water melons from an overpass on cars below, breaking into a civil defense equipment building, and thinking himself very lucky for not continuing in these juvenile activities. Norm married his sweetheart, Susan in 1970. They had their first child, Jessa in 1976. Their second child, Joshua, was born in 1979. Norm started a career with WTCN TV in 1974. Norm worked as a studio camera operator and became the Assistant Chief Engineer in 1986. That same year they renamed the station KARE TV. Norm has enjoyed creative writing and history since his high school and college days. Norm wrote Mine is the Kingdom in 2009 and started another novel shortly after. His daughter, Jessa died in 2012 and he gave up writing. Norm wrote the sequel to his first novel in 2019. The novel, Divided Kingdom, continued with the story of many of the characters in the first novel.

After Herod the Great’s death in 4 BC, three of his sons, Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip are awarded parts of his kingdom. Herod’s will is read in Rome in the presence of the three sons. Abishua, son of Geuel, who spent the last years of the King’s life helping to comfort him in his insanity, inherits a box. Abishua finally receives the box ten years after the death of Herod the Great. In the box he is deeded a large home on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. As Abishua makes plans to marry, he is not aware that the beautiful house is used in the summers by Herod Antipas. A legal battle ensues, with the decision residing in Rome, controlled by the emperor. Abishua is also not aware that Antipas has sent out an assassin, an evil dwarf by the name of Ratson, to make sure that Antipas keeps his summer residence.

Divided Kingdom picks up the story where Mine is the Kingdom ends. A common man, Abishua cannot understand why his life is intertwined with the insanity of the Herod family. His life, and the lives of his loved ones are in constant danger because of the great King and his sons. The backdrop to the story highlights the historical and biblical events taking place in a kingdom that will soon end, and the birth of a new kingdom.