New Evidence of Ancient Civilizations Is Frequently Uncovered

Image via Wikipedia

A frequently used plot device in fantasy, action/adventure and science fiction is the discovery of an ancient civilization. Perhaps the most familiar example includes the many fictional adventures of Indiana Jones. A reader might wonder, with humans constantly crawling all over the globe, with 3D satellite mapping going on, and with all the other new scientific tools available, are there any amazing ancient secrets left to be discovered?

The answer is, amazing discoveries are made all the time! Just this week there are news reports that a new, unheard of ancient Sumerian city has been discovered in southern Iraq.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1WrVAB/www.suite101.com/content/a-new-sumerian-city-has-been-discovered-in-southern-iraq-a230390

The ruins are located south of the Sumerian city of Eridu. Isn't it amazing that with the endless warfare in Iraq over the past few decades, the invasions and retreats involving hundreds of thousands of troops, and chaos and looting of ancient ruins, this new discovery has been made. Presumably in the years ahead, work on these ruins will help shed more light on the civilization of Sumer and Akkad some 4,000 years ago.

My fantasy novel, Gettysburg Passage, from Amazon, uses a similar plot devise to drive the fast-paced action of the narrative. Mixed together are: 1) a mysterious, powerful, newly discovered ancient artifact; 2) a strange burning cave portal found near the Gettysburg American Civil War battlefield; 3) odd, real-live sightings of long-dead famous warriors; and 4) through mystics and dreams, an appeal for help from a lost civilization from the ancient past (Sumer, Babylon, Greece, Egypt? I am not saying!).

Read the reviews and check out a free, sample chapter. http://www.amazon.com/Gettysburg-Passage-ebook/dp/B00408AOMW

Gettysburg Passage, only $2.99 from Amazon.

Related articles

• FYI - Spy satellites watch ancient ruins. (jwitness.wordpress.com)
• Ruins of the Ancient Past (joannapary.wordpress.com)
• 30 years on, 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' inspires real adventures (cnn.com)
• Why did Egyptian and Sumerian civilization develop differently (wiki.answers.com)
• What happened with that Sumerian 'sivathere' figurine after Colbert's paper of 1936? Well, a lot. [Tetrapod Zoology] (scienceblogs.com)
• The History of Bricks: Mesopotamia (janestreetclayworks.wordpress.com)

Found Treasure & Ancient Artifacts Are Not Just the Stuff of Fantasy Novels

Image via Wikipedia

You may have missed this news over the long Easter Weekend....several years ago a man enlarging his backyard garden pond in Austria dug up obviously old artifacts -- jewels and rings and belt buckles and silver plate and the like. He didn't bother to clean them, just placed the dirt encrusted objects in a box. He stored them in the basement and like most of us who store stuff in the basement, he forgot about it. Then he recently decided to move and in his moving preparations he came upon the box again. He cleaned up the artifacts and found....treasure! Ancient treasure! Treasure and artifacts now being called invaluable and something out of a fairy tale. Stuff more than 650 years old. Buried in his back yard. The treasure trove will soon be on display at the Presidential Palace in Vienna.

Here is a link to the story: http://www.pasthorizons.com/index.php/archives/04/2011/significant-mediaeval-treasure-found-in-austria

Who could make this stuff up?

The fantasy novel, Gettysburg Passage, available from Amazon, actually has a similar plot twist.

A group of friends living around Washington, D.C. have their lives changed when one of them finds an ancient artifact. This artifact is not jewelry, but rather an ancient royal staff or mace -- a symbol of authority and power. The artifact still has power, in fact, and begins to affect their lives in amazing ways. Actually, the mace appears to be drawing them to a mysterious cave near the Gettysburg battlefield just north of Washington. The mace and the cave come together to draw the friends into an opportunity -- save an ancient civilization and at the same time perhaps preserve the modern, complex, interconnected world we know today in the 21st Century.

Will the friends take advantage of the opportunity to make history? Find out by reading a free sample chapter of the book at Amazon.com today. Read the reviews, read a sample chapter or buy Gettysburg Passage, only $2.99. Book link: http://www.amazon.com/Gettysburg-Passage-ebook/dp/B00408AOMW

Related articles

• Discovery of buried treasure revealed in Austria (cbsnews.com)
• Austrian Buried Treasure A 'Fairy Tale' Find (huffingtonpost.com)
• Austrian authorities reveal find of buried treasure (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• 'Fairy-tale' treasure unearthed by Austrian digger (cbc.ca)
• Austrian athorities reveal find of buried treasure (sfgate.com)
• Medieval riches unearthed in 'fairy-tale find' (msnbc.msn.com)
• Oyster shells are a scientific treasure trove (physorg.com)
• Man finds 650 year old jewels while digging pond in back yard (americablog.com)

Around 6 million years in Africa human history began

Image via Wikipedia

That is the central nugget of a wonderful new essay in The Guardian, one of the UK's leading newspapers, a thoughtful media portal better than anything in America today. Basically, you have to go back some 6 million years to find a common chimp-human ancestor. Since then, humans have been on a separate path that has led -- with many branches and dead ends -- to where we are today.

The link to the essay is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/apr/25/evolution-human-history-apes  The essay is called The Untold Story of Evolution but of course the story has been told many times and is discussed daily in classrooms. It is well written and honestly addresses they many puzzles and questions still bedeviling scientists. What drove the ancestors out of Africa? What led to upright walking? Why the long legs and large brain? What sparked the creation of human language?

What I like about the topic are the many "holes in the data." Why did humans begin burying the dead? Why did we begin to believe in life after death? Where were the first societies located where complex communities came into being?

In my novel, Gettysburg Passage, I envision a group of five friends -- two couples and a priest -- who are suddenly linked to a complex, ancient society. These friends don't yet realize it, but when they find an artifact in downtown Washington, D.C., they are magnetically drawn, through dreams and other evidence, to a portal that gives them access to our complex past -- if they choose to go.

One of the friends knows all about this ancient history because he's been there before -- but he's not talking about it unless he has to. Unfortunately for him, the past begins to come alive in modern Washington. In a strange twist, the portal exists as a burning cave located near the Gettysburg battlefield. This leads to all kinds of modern mayhem, including several Civil War characters suddenly making appearances in today's modern world. And just in time for helping to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War ;-)

Gettysburg Passage is available from Amazon.com for $2.99 US. It is a thoughtful, fast-paced fantasy novel that has received some very good reviews. Why not sample a free chapter? Go here to check it out. Thank you!

Related articles

• Timing of Human Brain Evolution (brain4biz.wordpress.com)
• Evolution: the end, or a new beginning? (thestudentreview.co.uk)
• Scripps Lecture Tracks Human Evolution through African Desert Discoveries (surfencinitas.wordpress.com)
• Fresh Evidence Adds Weight to Human Ancestor's Identity (wired.com)
• The next step in human evolution (creativeme2k10.wordpress.com)
• Eric Logan: Did Climate Change Make Us Human? | The Resilient Earth (theresilientearth.com)
• Proof Cavemen Walked Tall (foxnews.com)
• FYI - Human ancestors have identity crisis. (jwitness.wordpress.com)
• Fossils may look like human bones: Biological anthropologists question claims for human ancestry (sciencedaily.com)
• Human ancestors walked 3 million years ago (cbc.ca)
• Is Marginally Winning: Social Development and Weapons Propelled Human Achievement - NYTimes.com (nytimes.com)
• Special Issue: Supremacy of a Social Network (nytimes.com)

Civil War Commentary and Fantasy Fiction

Image via Wikipedia

There is interesting commentary in a South Carolina newspaper -- a state known for its defensiveness about its complex and combative history -- that you might wish to check out. His thesis is that many "top of mind" opinions on America's bloodiest war are too simple. Southerners want to talk about anything but slavery. On the other hand, during the time of the hostilities, citizens of the North harbored incredibly racist attitudes that would be considered intolerable today. It was an ugly time. Here is a link to his column. Another story in The Washington Post is a review of Gary Gallagher's new book, The Union War. In that book it is documented that Northern attitudes were also complex -- and generally not so pure. Essesentially, Northern soldiers went to war to preserve the country. Emancipation was secondary. Here is the Post link.

While you are checking out those thoughtful pieces of journalism, please consider also checking out my modern action-fantasy novel, Gettysburg Passage, only $2.99 from Amazon. Gettysburg Passage is a fast-paced modern story of people discovering an ancient artifact with mysterious powers. That artifact turns out to be a "key" that opens a portal to save a lost civilization. The portal happens to be very close to the Gettysburg Civil War battlefield.....all kinds of mayhem ensues!! Check out the great reader reviews here or try a sample chapter from the Amazon book site.

Related articles

• The Civil War never ended - it just gave way to an uncivil one (theglobeandmail.com)
• Gary Gallagher, "The Union War," at New Dominion April 8 (cvillewords.com)
• An American Romantic Goes to War (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Wilcox Named New Dean at South Carolina (leiterlawschool.typepad.com)
• Slavery and the Causes of the American Civil War (britannica.com)
• Civil War anniversary kicks off in South Carolina with concerns over racial divide (pennlive.com)
• Why the U.S. Is Still Fighting the Civil War (time.com)
• The American civil war battles go on | Amanda Foreman (guardian.co.uk)
• What happened 150 years ago at Fort Sumter, South Carolina? (quipshots.wordpress.com)

Civil War Intrudes on Modern Day Adventure Novel

Image by Ken Lund via Flickr

The American media has re-discovered the Civil War. It happens every 25-30 years, especially around major anniversaries like 150th year of the start of the conflict. While the war has always been popular in nonfiction, it's not a typical setting for a lot of mainstream novels today.

It was with some anxiety that I named my fantasy novel Gettysburg Passage. While Gettysburg, PA plays a role in the climax, I was afraid many potential readers would assume the novel was strictly in the genre of war-related historical fiction -- which is actually a secondary influence.

Gettysburg Passage, from Amazon,  is really about how a group of modern people living around Washington, D.C., New England and Paris, come to a decision about whether to help out -- or not -- the remnants of a mysterious society about to be overwhelmed by barbarous invaders. That society is potentially reached through a portal found near the Gettysburg battlefield. And the historical battle plays a role in the modern-day decision to help out or not.

So to the extent the Civil War anniversary draws some attention to Gettysburg Passage -- that is a good thing. Just remember that the book, just $2.99, is also a fast-paced, modern-day fantasy, action and adventure e-novel, with a dash of Civil War action thrown in for good measure. Go to Amazon.com and try out a sample chapter today!

Find Gettysburg Passage reader reviews here.

Related articles

• 10 best novels about the US Civil War (csmonitor.com)
• Re-Enactors Gear Up For Civil War Anniversary (npr.org)
• Civil War fascinates 150 years later - Cincinnati.com (news.google.com)
• Salazar announces land acquisition at Gettysburg (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Gettysburg battlefield adds property (cnn.com)