My Novel: First Page

This week, I handed off copies of my manuscript to two trustworthy people to edit. Here is the first page of my book.

Year Xero

prelude

The Mountain rises from the Puyallup delta. Twice cratered, snow covered, mother of waters, taller than the skyline. A thick, green rain forest stretches from it to the coast. It keeps its secrets in great, quiet folds. Circles inside fallen trees show the footprints of fire, flood, and drought. Its memories lie in layers of soil and rock. Stream beds are water tracks, lifeblood trails, carving a path of least resistance from domed peak to sharpened sea.

The rhythm of our lives, like the forest at the foot of the Mountain, is a union of change and permanence, each season different, every year the same. History repeats itself, is repeating itself. Things that should not have been forgotten, were. We are telling ourselves the wrong story. One that is no longer true.

I am an old man, but I was once young, strong, and generous. What is happening, in the gray shadow of the shy Mountain, has happened before. This is that story.

Firsthand accounts were compiled through extensive interviews, Comber cameras, Face2Face, and facsimile-hood feeds, some of which were shared with me, others I hacked. Logs, kept by everyone from Servants of the Science to Reality Force Soldiers, were integral to the timeline.   

I also relied on my own memories. I survived the age they called Year Xero.   

The Song of Brom begins:

Believe the power of the few, To make the world anew/
Those who sang the outlawed tunes, Made all sad things come untrue

This is the story of how it was written. How we found and rescued Eden. The story of a mother’s love, a father’s sacrifice, a long journey, and a narrow escape. It is filled with enemies, evil, darkness, and death. Perhaps you will wish that I left things out, but you must remember that it is a true story, and if that means anything, it means that it ends well.

Mt. Rainier, May 2021.

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In the coming weeks I will be focused on three things: writing a query letter for the novel to secure an agent, applying for a graduate school program, and applying for jobs. I will also be posting here on Thursdays, at least through the summer. Thank you for your continued interest and support.