The formatting for Alliance Metamorphosis is in progress! I've sent an advance copy to a book review blogger, and am madly trying to wrap my head around all the other little things I have to do to prepare to publish. Hey, it's my first go at real publishing! Stress? Someone hand me a cat to cuddle! Meanwhile I'm working on the second book: Alliance Evolution. It's in better shape than I remembered, so I think it will come together much faster than the first one. BTW, I have two affectionate cats so chances are I won't blow a cork.
I think this endeavor will come together quickly over the next few days. I've invested five years of my life in the Alliance series and learning the craft, so my first publication day will be a true milestone in my life. I feel good about the end product and am looking forward to reader reactions.
Here's an excerpt from Alliance Nation, Book 3 of the Alliance saga:
Midnight’s Cove
***
Fall 1047 AD (Spring in the South)
A solid Norse dragon boat is not too hard to purchase on the southern isthmus, nor was it difficult to find a small number, eighteen to be exact, of Byzantine Norse veterans to crew her. I believe they just wanted to go on an adventure at sea after too long on land building their settlements. Also along is a scout, one Far-rider from the Plains Cree people. It was me doing the asking, and no one refused.
My old friend Hardbein volunteered to captain my new boat, named Skammeløss, which means ‘Shameless’, a name of honor. We set off from the southernmost of the Sudthrlond towns on the east coast of the long isthmus linking north and south continents, headed mostly east, then southeast. We pass Arawakan, the easternmost Tairuna Trade Consortium member, without stops. We have supplies and I want to spend some time there on the way back anyway. All of our exploration and expansion of the Alliance has been along the west coast.
We follow the coastline. Far-rider uses one of the newest model Song compasses, and Adthelbrikt makes his observations using a sunstone. Occasionaly they have quite entertaining heated arguments as they compare readings and together make the map as we journey. From Arawakan we enter new territory, unexplored and unknown to any but the inhabitants. We mostly see rampant jungle. Passing close to the coast, we hear a constant cacophony of shrieks and birdsongs, along with an occasional roar. Frequently, clouds of birds erupt from the forest and wheel about before settling again. We occasionally see signs of villages with cultivated fields at the horizon between forest and beach. Without Raventongue to work out the language we just sail on. We round a great nose of land, shift straight south, then follow it southwest for a sevenday or so. The shoreline runs straight south for another two sevendays, then southwest for another. The coast generally trends southeast—sometimes more south—sometimes more east. The purpose of this voyage is mapping; possibly contact if we find something interesting, but that is best left to the traders. We do see smoke rising from fires, hidden by the wall of trees and brush above the sandy beach, sporadically. They are all small, clearly not brush fires and consistently about the same size, suggesting cook fires, but we see no one.
The unrelenting jungle in the north gradually shifts to a mix of grasslands with hardwood forests, and some few softwoods mixed in. Our kegs of water almost all empty, I spot a lush cove with a waterfall feeding into it, nestled in a sheer curved wall of stone studded with ferns and bird nests. Above the water line lies a beach of fine golden sand, and I feel like we are entering some sacred space, a place to rest. Perhaps to heal. The spirits are here if anywhere I’ve been.
Relieved that we have found water to fill our kegs, I shout: “Fresh water! Let’s fill the kegs.”
We run Skammeløss into the cove and nose up on the beach. Adthelbrikt leaps over the rail into waist deep water and catches the coil of rope, uncoiling it as he heads for the nearest tree and ties it off. Walking back to Skammeløss’s stern he tosses the coil back to another sailor, who uses it to pull the stern close into the shore so that she lays parallel to the beach, rolling a bit to that side to make loading the full kegs easier.
I leap the slanted rail and just stand on the sandy beach for a moment. The cove is breathtakingly beautiful. Bird cries are a song sung by hundreds, with a rythm of grunts and shrieks that I think are monkeys, and perhaps other players. I just stand there and let the experience envelope me for a time. I may have wandered some, lost in the spell of this place. I remember thinking, back when this all began, that I had never seen the spirits of the land our stories tell us about. I believe I have felt them now.
The sound of my name brings me back. Hardbein is waving me to board, a smile on his face as I see we are the last two ashore. I laugh and pull myself over the rail, noting the kegs are already aboard and secured.
Long-rider coils the rope as he walks back to Skammeløss, then tosses the coil over the rail and pulls himself aboard, with help from a couple of other sailors. The oarsmen all push against the sandy bottom on the shore side, and Skammeløss slips free into deeper water.
I take a seat next to Adthelbrikt, as they spin the ship seaward, and lean over to him. “Be sure to mark this place on the map. I dearly hope to return here one day.”
He grins. “I have already marked it….as Midnight’s Cove.”
I wrap my arms around him in a fierce hug. “Thank you.”
***
Other than a few isolated and scattered coastal villages, we have seen no ports, or towns, let alone cities. In places where we can see a distance inland, we see nothing. There was one sighting of a small group with long spears on the shore, but they disappeared inland when they saw our boat.
I conclude that there just are no civilizations, as we have become accustomed to think of them. There are people, but they seem still to be at the hunter gatherer stage. I smile to myself. ‘Much like we were, seems like a lifetime ago.’ I thought.
Finally, I confer with Hardbein and the mapmakers. “We have seen no organized towns since Arawakan. The coastline here trends eastward, suggesting to me that the land is coming to a point somewhere to the South. I don’t see any reason to keep going. These may be interesting people that we may contact in the future, but there is no trade to be had, that I can see and whenever we contact new people there is a possibility of new diseases, both ways. I don’t see that it’s worth the risk.”
Hardbein nods, “I agree completely. There is risk for no gain. Shall we turn north then?”
I chuckle, “I haven’t been to Arawakan yet. They have a reputation as a lively place. Let’s stop there for a day or two. We’ll show the Alliance flag, if nothing else, and I could do with a hot, delicious meal cooked by someone else!”
I’m answered with a heartfelt cheer and we turn back north to Arawakan.
