Present Tense: Yay or Nay?

Okay, I really need your guys’ opinion on this. Please read the following paragraph.
I followed Marcus into the front room and stopped short. Wow. It was huge. The staircase was like as wide as my bedroom, and the two would-be tall house plants were dwarfed by the towering ceiling. I looked around in wonder. Was this seriously someone’s house?
That is called past tense, and is how the majority of books are written. Now read this paragraph.
I follow Marcus into the front room and stop short. Wow. It’s huge. The staircase is like as wide as my bedroom, and the two would-be tall house plants are dwarfed by the towering ceiling. I look around in wonder. Is this seriously someone’s house?
This is called present tense, and it unusual in published books. In my opinion, though, it’s much more personal and, well … present. It feels as if it’s happening right now. I think it really draws the reader in, as if “I” is, indeed, the reader.
So I need your opinion. Shall I go with the tried and true, which, though not as cool, is more accepted? Or shall I go with the unique, the risky … yeah, you can tell I’m biased. The only thing that prevents me from going with the awesome present is that I’m already committing 2 novel no-no’s with this book. 1, having all three viewpoint characters be first-person (I, me) and 2, it’s gonna be longer than the average novel. So it is really worth it to add to my literary sins and increase the difficulty of getting it published?
Needless to say, I can’t decide. Please comment and give me your honest opinion. I don’t care if you’ve never even considered writing a book. Just tell me which you think would be more desirable – a better book or better chance of it being published and therefore reaching more individuals?

"My Book"

So I figured that many times in this blog I will be mentioning my book. (As it's a pretty big part of my thought life.) And every time I do, I don't want to have to explain about it. Soooo, that's what this is. To link to every time I say “in my book” or “it reminded my of my book.”

So. I'm writing this book. You could call it a novel but that word makes me cringe. So I don't. It's a story, biblical fiction, about the happenings before the flood. Mostly it centers around a girl who happens to be Noah's daughter. Now don't get too worried, let me explain.
It was one of those “moments of brilliance” we writers have, where God gives us an extra burst of creativeness and our imagination takes wing. And they're not too often, so when they happen we have to take note. Anyhow, I just got to thinking, what if Noah had a daughter? It wouldn't be too impossible, since the Bible doesn't mention daughters very much (actually... well just see the last paragraph.) But he DID, then she must not have been on the ark, because it mentions those specifically. Hmm. So I wonder why? Did she die? Did she turn away? But isn't she part of Noah's family, so would be saved anyway? Then why wasn't she?

With that, I just had to start a story. So far I'm in the progress of “researching.” I put it in quotes because there's not much actual writing recorded about before the flood times. The sources I've found so far that intrigue me are the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees. Not Biblical, so it's not like they're true, but I have to create so much about the world anyway that I figured they probably are closer to the truth than theories people make up today.

Anyhow, that's “my book.” My goal is to finish it by the end of the year, or at least have 85,000 words of it finished. It'll be interesting to see if I make it, considering I've never finished a story anywhere near that length. I'm determined though. :)

Before I end I just have to say that I don't actually believe Noah had a daughter. But you never know, right? This is fiction after all. ;)