Original fic news- The Prometheus Saga
In October, I was asked to join the Alvarium Experiment. That's the Facebook page, but there's a website in the works. Currently, it's a group of thirteen writers banning together to collectively work on fiction projects. 'alvarium' is latin for 'hive'. Our first project is The Prometheus Saga, a collection of short stories and novelettes which all in some way feature 'Prometheus', an alien probe housed in a human body. For all intents and purposes, Prometheus IS human, with all that entails. Prometheus knows its unique because it changes bodies and sexes and is basically immortal, but it doesn't know what it is or what the occasional voices in its head are or if other people hear them. Some of the stories share Prometheus's point of view and some the reader is left to discern which character housed Prometheus. The stories are set anywhere from 40,000 years ago to modern times. Several feature well-known historical settings or people.
My story, 'Manteo', is set on Roanoke and involves the British colony into which Virginia Dare was born and which was 'lost' when her grandfather, Governor John White sailed for supplies in August 1587 shortly after the colony's establishment. The Spanish Armada interfered with his plans to return before the winter storms hit. When he finally returned three years later, the colonists were gone, their houses dismantled and missing and the stockade walls had been rebuilt into a stout defensive fort. The only indication of the colonists possible evacuation was the word 'Croatoan' carved on a tree and 'Croa' likewise carved into a post. The sign agreed upon to indicate distress, a maltese cross, was not found. An incoming storm and promises of lucrative piracy further south motivated the ship's pilot more than John White's pleading to sail for Croatoan Island to see if the colonists had joined the native Americans living there, one of the few tribes still willing to help the colony at the time of his original departure. He never returned to America and no one has ever discovered what became of the John White's daughter Eleanor and granddaughter Virginia Dare.
The Croatoans did, in all likelihood help the colonists move on from Roanoke, which was a dangerous location for the colony and also in the midst of a three year drought. Manteo, a Croatoan, lived among them. He was one of the first two native Americans to travel to England. My story focuses on the demise of the colony and Manteo, a man divided by wanting the best for his people, the rich culture and technology of England, but also seeing the ways in which the coming of the English hurt all the tribes they contacted, including his own. Samuel, John White's African slave, provides an outsider point of view of both the colonists and Manteo's quiet angst and change of perception as the colony struggles to survive.
All the stories of the Prometheus Saga will be available on Kindle on January 26.
Prometheus Saga trailer!
My story, 'Manteo', is set on Roanoke and involves the British colony into which Virginia Dare was born and which was 'lost' when her grandfather, Governor John White sailed for supplies in August 1587 shortly after the colony's establishment. The Spanish Armada interfered with his plans to return before the winter storms hit. When he finally returned three years later, the colonists were gone, their houses dismantled and missing and the stockade walls had been rebuilt into a stout defensive fort. The only indication of the colonists possible evacuation was the word 'Croatoan' carved on a tree and 'Croa' likewise carved into a post. The sign agreed upon to indicate distress, a maltese cross, was not found. An incoming storm and promises of lucrative piracy further south motivated the ship's pilot more than John White's pleading to sail for Croatoan Island to see if the colonists had joined the native Americans living there, one of the few tribes still willing to help the colony at the time of his original departure. He never returned to America and no one has ever discovered what became of the John White's daughter Eleanor and granddaughter Virginia Dare.
The Croatoans did, in all likelihood help the colonists move on from Roanoke, which was a dangerous location for the colony and also in the midst of a three year drought. Manteo, a Croatoan, lived among them. He was one of the first two native Americans to travel to England. My story focuses on the demise of the colony and Manteo, a man divided by wanting the best for his people, the rich culture and technology of England, but also seeing the ways in which the coming of the English hurt all the tribes they contacted, including his own. Samuel, John White's African slave, provides an outsider point of view of both the colonists and Manteo's quiet angst and change of perception as the colony struggles to survive.
All the stories of the Prometheus Saga will be available on Kindle on January 26.
Prometheus Saga trailer!
Click to view