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Great to be here, Roxanne. Since October is the month for ghouls and goblins and things that go bump in the night, I thought I’d mention the unusual origins of one of my novels. My tale concerns an ancient shape-shifting Native American shaman whose world changes around him until one day it ceases to be. Desperate to end his immortal existence, his decision literally throws him in front of Dr. Olivia Rosalini…or rather, her car.
I was recently asked to do a book signing of that novel at a local cafe dedicated to the strange and bizarre in a region somewhat famous for strange and bizarre. The dense woodlands and uninhabited expanses of rolling glacial hills are ripe for creepy urban legends. There locals say they’ve seen something strange at twilight or dusk not too far from my home – a wolf walking upright like a man. As if that isn’t unbelievable all on its own, the Great Lakes Native American oral traditions and accounts of the early French fur trappers mention them too. There was nothing for this writer to do but write The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo!
Wolf men aren’t the only weird sightings in that vortex of strange and bizarre. Apparently there’s more. Another creature some describe as a Sasquatch a.k.a. Bigfoot has been seen there too. Hard to believe? Famous naturalist David Attenborough and a renowned authority on primates, Jane Goodall, both believe Bigfoot exists. And they’re not alone. There’s even a field of study for rumored creatures called Cryptozoology. The word is a combination of three Greek words: kryptos, zoon and logos, which mean, respectively, hidden, animal, and discourse; in other words, the study of unknown animals.
Just two weeks ago I saw a news piece that said DNA testing was being done on Bigfoot material gathered from around the country. I suppose “material” could be anything from hair and scat to a Bigfoot body! Don’t you just love when fact and fancy overlap?
Before I continue, this is really not all that farfetched if you think about it. New species are discovered all the time. Global exploration expanded when man mastered the sea. New uncharted-lands held strange plants and animals never before seen. These native legends, rare sightings, and tales of inexplicable bodies seemingly made of parts, weren’t believed to exist. This skeptic’s list from the past had creatures we all know today: giraffe, kangaroo, tapir, beaver, okapi, panda, duck-billed platypus, Komodo dragon, orangutan, the “living fossil” fish, the coelacanth, and the recently verified Giant Squid – quite possibly the Kraken of mythology.
Then we have creatures on the truly odd list. The most famous of these is the Loch Ness Monster. Even Nessie isn’t too farfetched to believe. Not if we follow the legends. Many large bodies of water around the world have purported Nessie-ish creatures – Lake Champlain has Champy, and the Congo River has Mokèlé-mbèmbé. Then there’s that chupacabra from the Americas... I think I feel another story coming on.
The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo
Book 1 – Ashkewheteasu
What does an immortal Native American shaman do when the grave he’s sworn to watch over for all eternity disappears under urban development?
His purpose of guarding his wife’s burial mound gone, Ashkewheteasu seeks to end his immortal existence. In his despair, he assumes the form of a wolf and steps in front of a moving car and into the life of Dr. Olivia “Livie” Rosalini. The veterinarian saves the animal’s life, and in the process saves the man within. Unbeknownst to Livie, the dog she’s taken into her home and grows to love is a magical being seeking to win her heart as a man.
While Ash is learning a new world filled with new love, friendship, and happiness, an old menace makes plans to steal it all away; just as he had 3000 years before.
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Excerpt (Ashkewheteasu finds his wife’s burial mound destroyed)
A large curious field mouse scurried over the top of the burial mound. He watched the people, his gaze pulling time and again first to the fire-haired young woman leaving with the others, then to the slightly older woman who’d stayed behind to spread a blue covering over the soil with obvious care.
Sensing the people were gone, the mouse drew a deep breath. Suddenly his form changed from mouse to rabbit, from rabbit to fox, and then from fox into a wolf with unusual black markings on its face. This higher vantage allowed him to check the area before continuing. Confident he was alone, his legs lengthened as he slowly shifted from wolf on four legs to a wolf on two. His muzzle shortened, as did his ears. A moment later he stood as a man.
His throat tightened as he walked amongst the tables and pails. A small bone caught his eye and he bent to pick it up. He stared a long while, seeing but not seeing the hand it belonged to so long ago. It was his task to watch over this resting place, and his task alone. Coming here later than usual today, there was nothing he could do to stop the white man’s destruction. His eyes filled with tears as his fist closed around the finger bone. Slumping to the ground, he sobbed in anguished sorrow.
There was no sense to this. What kind of people disturb the dead? Couldn’t they see this was sacred ground, a resting place? Composing himself, he wiped the tears from his eyes before reverently setting the small bone back in the opened mound.
Twilight fast approaching, he faced the setting sun, his palms held up to the sky. He hadn’t spoken for a very long time and doing so now, his voice sounded dry and strange to his ears. “Sky Father I have failed, I beg your forgiveness!”
Kneeling, he pressed his hands to the ground. “Earth Mother, I beg forgiveness. I have failed in my task…”
Rising, he turned his back to the sun and held his arms out wide. “Wind Spirits of the East, I beg forgiveness for this failure.” Turning, he croaked, “Wind Spirits of the South, I beg...”
He rasped his plea to the remaining directions and the spirits who dwelled there, and then addressed the mound and the body that lay within, “Aiyanna my love, my heart. I have watched over you through time but I can watch no longer. Please forgive me, I have failed you….” His throat choked close. Swallowing hard, he whispered to the earth that half-covered his wife, “Again.”
Kneeling beside the dirt-encrusted bones, he pulled the cover away to expose them fully. The small bones of the baby he knew laid with its mother had dissolved in the acids of the soil. Gently digging through the loam between the exposed rib bones, his fingers found the bird stone, its cord long since returned to the earth. Holding it now, he remembered...
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