Whispers:

Question of morals versus ethics arise continuously throughout the novel. They speak to the conflict between their time and ours, and the repercussions of continents stolen from their rightful owners in ours. The novel ends by recreating that conflict with the arrival of the Norse in Central America, fleeing christianization in their own lands, and taking advantage of the collapses of the Toltec and Mayan Empires.

It also speaks to the contrast between Alliance and Empire, begging the question of which is more likely to endure. It also asks the reader to choose.

Beta readers report being captivated by the first paragraph and drawn in to the story as it progresses. One posted: "OMG! 35 pages in and I can't put it down, but I've got to go to work!"

Two beta readers have voted 5 stars.

First reviews!

Two Beta Readers came in with the first reviews: BOTH 5 out of 5 stars!

"Very compelling read! Love the characters and the story!" Beta Reader SW

"The meaningfulness of your writing impacted me right away when I started reading." PP, Beta Reader

My first beta reader, except for Nanc, who read each batch of pages as they were finished, came over for a debrief today! I was very pleased to learn that my intent is present throughout. Sometimes the magic does happen.

"The meaningfulness of your writing impacted me right away when I started reading." P.P.

Synopsis

Synopsis: WHISPERS

            In the summer of 1031 AD, a trading ship from the Chinese Song Dynasty follows the currents north, past Japan, then east and south, down the coast of western British Columbia. The captain, ZAHN, a hardboiled Chinese trader seeking new markets, trades first with the Nisga'a and Haida, then on a later voyage travels further south to the Musqueam (Rivergrass) lands around what is now Vancouver.

There Zahn meets with KIAPELANEH, the Rivergrass Chief, and a delegation from the River People (Sto:lo) from up the Fraser River. Zahn offers a trade of technology for furs and copper. Song technology at this time includes gunpowder, metallurgy, tools, and medicine—far more advanced than the local culture. When an agreement is reached, the Song leave four advisors with the locals, to help them produce the trade goods that the Song desire, and introduce the new technologies.

            After Zahn’s visit, the River People and the Rivergrass tribe form an Alliance that develops into a new civilization encompassing the West Coast of North America.

 The experience of the Song with smallpox, which arrives in bolts of cloth with Zahn's second visit, allows the people to mitigate the effects of the disease. They spread their knowledge to all members of the alliance, and further. But Zahn is devastated when he realizes that he is responsible for bringing smallpox to the Haida, almost wiping out an entire village. He commits to guiding the initially naive natives in shaping their Alliance, and dealing with the older cultures that they come in contact with.

            The Alliance grows throughout North America, finding allies in the Arabs and at a Norse settlement on the East Coast, which briefly becomes a refuge for desperate Norse and Rus, including the Varangian Guard, who flee the corrupt influence of the European Church that is going to destroy their culture.

            Zahn, now the Alliance Fleetmaster, is still a trader at heart. He sends BUWEI, a senior captain, to expand trade south along the coast, in search of tobacco, which has become a new trade item for the Alliance. Contacting new civilizations as they go, they spread their influence south into Central and South America where they find fascinating new cultures, and face desperate conflict with unbelievable barbarism from the collapsing Mayan and Toltec cultures.

            The Song Empire finally sends EMISSARY LIU, backed by heavily armed warships, to find out first hand what this Alliance is all about. Are they a threat, or vulnerable to expansion of the Empire? The envoy realizes that they are a unique culture, valuable as an ally, and dangerous as an enemy. With Zahn and the council negotiating for the Alliance, they strike a deal for a joint venture, where the Empire will provide metallurgists and skilled workers to build the infrastructure for a metalworking industry, for a share in the profits.

            In the south, the Norse refugees begin to arrive, and the Mayans become an immediate threat. The first battle is won, but has a devastating effect on both Buwei and his men, and the Norse.

            The Tairuna, a trade league in what is now northern Columbia, and Jocay, a large trading center in modern Ecuador, are vulnerable to an influx of Mayans and Toltecs fleeing the collapse of their civilizations, and both join the Alliance, as the Norse refugees settle in to a toehold in their new home in southern Central America, and prepare for all out war with the Maya and Toltec cultures to the north.

            Zahn is content that he has guided the Alliance well on their path, and established strong trade ties that will support their expansion. With Captain BUWEI in charge of Alliance trade, Zahn retires from all but the council to spend time with his wife and children in Rivergrass.

Dear readers,

WHISPERS is an alternate history of the indigenous Americas, starting in 1031 AD. It chronicles the events and conflicts that begin to radically change the culture and lives of various tribes.

Zahn, a Chinese trader, takes his ship in the opposite direction from his competition, going north past Japan and then east, to a new world. There he finds new civilizations that need new technologies, and have two vast continents of virtually untouched resources to trade.

Trade between the two civilizations turns into mutual respect; when Zahn accidentally introduces smallpox to the new world, it welds him to the people and their future. Together they form a new Alliance that expands in all directions, and gains allies from the Golden Age Arabs, the Song Empire itself, and even the Varangian Guard and the Norse, who are fleeing cultural  annihilation in their homeland.

What emerges is a civilization that is based on Indigenous understandings of the world, even as it embraces new technologies and the realities of becoming a world power.

WHISPERS (95,000 words) is the first novel in a series. I have done extensive research to ensure that the story is accurate, until events in the story diverge from history. I am an ex-tradesman who now has three academic degrees, with concentrations in English, Psychology, and Biology, and I am a fully certified teacher in good standing with the BC College of Teachers, with over twenty years experience. I currently reside in Chilliwack, BC, and host the Seabird Writers Group at Seabird College, on Seabird Island First Nations Reserve, near Agassiz, BC.

Google: whispersbookseries

Afterword to Whispers Evolution

Whispers is an important book for our time. Indigenous Peoples are finally beginning to be recognized as the First Peoples in their various lands, and as people who are entitled to all of their rights as such in our societies. Whispers explores the potential they represented before the arrival of European conquerors, and what they might have achieved.

All of the conditions historically existed for the events of the book to have actually taken place in 1031 AD. All it would have required was one Song trader, on one ship, to keep going north past Japan and the Korean peninsula, where they already traded, and follow the currents east to a new continent.

At the beginning of the novel, the characters and their society are portrayed as they existed at the time. I have taken the liberty of modernizing the dialogue, to a point, simply for the modern reader. Perhaps one day Whispers will be translated into Halq’uemehlem. Until then, English will have to do.

Along the path from villages to nation, the Alliance confronts moral and ethical choices that are still being grappled with today. Some of their choices may startle you, others may reflect issues that we are still deciding today. Would you have chosen differently? If so, how would that decision change the story? Honestly, I would like to know. Feel free to post on the whispersbookseries Facebook page.

My fervent hope for Whispers is that it will help a reader who is First Nations imagine a different past, if only for a while; and for a reader who is not Indigenous to understand who these people really are, how much they lost when Europeans arrived, and what native peoples are capable of, if old prejudices are put aside.