Carson's Bookshelf Midwest Review October 2011

When it seems the world is young, the natural world is more than a match for humanity. "Return of the Ancient Mariners: Ice Age Saga of America" is a novel set in the Ice Age following young men Tim and Phil as they embark on a journey through the wilderness with lots to wonder and not much understood. For those seeking a fun read of pre-history. "Return of the Ancient Mariner" is an exciting and very much recommended read.

Synopsis

The inspiration for this adventure story came upon me in the Wilderness of Oregon. For many years I trekked through uncharted regions in search of endangered species such as the Coho Salmon, Chinook Salmon, Bald eagle, Burrowing Owl, Pacific Giant Salamander and Pigmy Rabbit. A healthy ecosystem is dependent upon the biodiversity of the plants growing and thriving outside of the disturbances of civilization. Forests and prairies are ecosystems that perpetuate the biodiversity of life by virtue of the pristine water, fresh air and fertile earth they provide. It is a continuing quest of mine to find wildflowers blooming in their climes and seasons. Balsamroots, Yampah, Shooting stars, Desert Parsley, Lupines, Bearberry, Monkeyflower, Penstemon are just a few mentioned here that are growing in profusion in my story. So you may well wonder as did Phil and Tim after they went back in time via a Solar Tsunami…..is this for Real? Can life be so exciting and bountiful?

excerpt from Return of the Ancient Mariners

Mitomke had studied geography and was an avid sailor like Sulkeya but he doubted that the Nishi would need his help finding coordinates with a sextant. How did they find their way across the vast ocean, he wondered. Yimantiwinyai had told him that they must leave soon as the last of the shearwaters were going south along with the whales. He pointed to flocks of birds, on cliff faces along the coast leaving their colonies to go south. These were the sooty shearwaters. Mitomke knew of their migration route and marveled if ever there was a beginning, if there was a forerunner of this route eons ago. In the spring these birds flew in flocks of thousands from islands in the South Pacific to the Northwest coasts of America. In the fall they made their way back again and points in between depending on the flocks like salmon spawn in rivers. Yimantiwinyai could follow them but how did the birds find the their way? There were other ways the master navigators followed and soon Mitomke would learn on his way across the Ocean. Mitomke with Telalamzi by his side dreamt of going to Hawaii.

Now is the Time to Reforest America

Muir's view?

"Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot run away; and if they could, they would still be destroyed - chased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides. Branching horns, or magnificent bole backbones. Few that fell trees plant them; nor would planting avail much towards getting back anything like the noble primeval forests. It took more than three thousand years to make some of the trees in these Western woods - trees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierra. Through all the wonderful, eventful centuries God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand straining, leveling tempests and floods; but he cannot save them from fools - only Uncle Sam can do that. "

Excerpt from Battle for Oceanus Volume 2 in series

NINE


Nine as one out of the bay of Neah
Nine out to the Strait of Juan De Fuca
Nine rowing of the tribe of Makah
Nine searching for a cetacean
a sea hunt for these Olympians
they glide through waves slicing
thirty six feet of cedar
canoe for the sea heading
but finding white sails in the Sun
blazing ahead of the wind surging
high prows on twin hulls of fir
crew holding oars upright a man
in front holding forth his hand
No not hand but a wing
outstretched his face the likeness
of Thunderbird, Yimantuwinyai
his face dressed in a bird mask
the ancient mariner of Kixunai
in splendor returned like a king
` pointing to a spout of water
in the Strait nine rowed faster
in hot pursuit after the leviathan