Gettysburg, the Trojan War and Modern Archaeology

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One of the common threads of my opening action and adventure novel, Gettysburg Passage, and the books that follow, is that commonly held beliefs about our history evolved, and how we got to this spot in the modern world, are too simplistic. My thesis is that civilizations matured earlier than suspected and that we have a lot to learn as we continue to investigate ancient settlement sites and records.

A good example of how modern science is proving me correct is the latest news out of Troy. German archaeologists now find that the area believed to be Troy has been settled at least since the Bronze Age, stretching back more than 3,000 years. The period roughly aligned with when the Trojan War would have occurred matches a sophisticated complex of settlements and defenses that existed on the spot believed to be Troy.

Here is the link that tells more: http://heritage-key.com/blogs/ann/project-troia-bronze-age-troy-just-keeps-growing

I won't do a spoiler but there is a link between the characters in my novel and the migrations of ancient people that would settle the lands through Asia Minor into the ancient Middle East and North Africa. These ancient migrations brought people to the area where Troy was founded. A great battle was fought and a legend and literature born.

Some prominent people living in the American south about 100 years ago considered their heritage (the losing side of the American Civil War) to be a lost cause, much like poor Troy facing the overwhelming invading forces of King Agamemnon. Many threads.....in any case, my novel mostly takes place in the present day but many of the issues discussed above come into play as the central character, Rick Reynolds, attempts to understand why an ancient artifact appears to be drawing him to fateful cave, a passage in the mountains near a battlefield in Gettsyburg.

For more information on Gettysburg Passage, go to Amazon.com.

tags: Troy, Rome, Egypt, Sumer

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What if Gen. Custer Wrote You a Traffic Citation?

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One of the ongoing challenges of writing a novel is making it entertaining while at the same time keeping it real. Consumers are more than willing to suspend disbelief if the entertainment value and fit with the plot outweighs a hurdle of believability. Gettysburg Passage, my novel available at Amazon.com, uses elements of fantasy, fast action & adventure, history, and a touch of science fiction to keep the plot moving forward.

Fairly early in the novel, several prominent figures out of American history make brief appearances in the present. "Guest" appearances are made by George Custer, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and John Reynolds.

Of course, George Custer is the famous general and later Indian fighter. What readers probably don't know is that he got his early war fighting experience in northern Virginia and in particular in Washington suburbs. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. is a world famous American Supreme Court Justice. But as a young man he was wounded in one of the very first battles of the Civil War, Balls Bluff, again in the Washington suburbs.  John Reynolds is famous as one of the most admired Federal Civil War generals. He was very active in and around Washington.

In my novel, all of the actions of these famous historical figures fit closely into the plot, based on actions in their lives, helping to move the book relentlessly forward. Like I said, make it entertaining while keeping it as "real" as possible ;-)

Check out Gettysburg Passage on Amazon.com.

tags: ancient civilizations, Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indo-European

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1863 Around the World and Just Outside Your Door

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1863.

President Lincoln freed African American slaves. King George assumed the throne in Greece. Thomas Crapper invented a new toilet in England. Colombia was formed. Cambodia became a French Protectorate. The Red Cross was organized in Geneva. Rugby was invented. Coastal Holland experienced devastating floods. In America, it was a period of constant war. North versus South. Federal versus Native American.

No matter where you live in the world, how would you react if a little bit of 1863 suddenly visited you one day? Maybe it would be something you spotted just as dusk was settling in. Or maybe it would arrive with a knock at your front door. Or perhaps you were lost and directions given pointed to something from 1863. Perhaps the experience would be fleeting, a few moments at most.

Would you tell someone? Or would you ignore it and hope it wouldn't be repeated? These are questions that characters in Gettysburg Passage face. They are modern men and women, living today,  just like you. Suddenly their world changes just a little bit. What should they do? What would you do? What if your decision could change the fate of the world. Would you act? Even if you faced great danger?

To learn more, go to Amazon.com and look up Gettysburg Passage, by John Callahan. Just $2.99 by download to your Kindle, PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android smart phone. It's easy. Do it!

Tags: ancient civilizations, Sumer, Babylon, Indo-European, Greece, Hittites

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Washington, Gettysburg, the Black Sea and the Pontic-Caspian Steppe

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Concerning my novel Gettysburg Passage, readers have told me that they quickly begin to get a feeling that the action-adventure story operates on several levels. On the easiest level, people living today around Washington, D.C., in the Northeast and in Paris, get caught up in what is to be done with a discovered historical artifact that my be immeasurably valuable. Obviously one could just bundle it up and go drop it off at the Smithsonian and be done with it. But we are talking adventure here with a dash of fantasy, and that option isn't desirable. So dealing with the artifact becomes a central driver in the plot.

But there are clues sprinkled liberally throughout that other forces are in play. In that spirit, I would like to briefly highlight an area of the world remote from the heavily forested eastern Seaboard of the U.S. I will then tie this discussion back to the completed first novel and other volumes to follow.

The Pontic-Caspian Steppe is a vast grasslands that is actually part of the great Eurasian Steppe. It stretches from Hungary in Europe around the Black Sea and Caspian Sea all the way to Mongolia. Steppes in general have cold winters and hot summers, are mostly flat, support trees only along streams and rivers and are dominated by plentiful grasses. The Pontic-Caspian Steppe resides in Asia closest to Europe and it here that researchers believe that humans used their inate intelligence to develop complex social organizations.

It is on this vast steppe that the seeds of ancient civilizations took root. Here tribesmen and women first cast up their gazes to the great sky God with chanted names strikingly like Deus and Zeus. The tribes first tamed horses (ekwos,equus/equestrian) and trained them for warfare, crafted the wheel for carts and chariots, made weapons like spears, swords, knives, bows and hammers. Livestock was gathered and grazed to form tribal and family wealth. Cereal grain seeds were collected for primitive farming. Most importantly, many modern languages used throughout the West and in India were first formed here. The language is called Proto-Indo-European. Many, many things valuable to us now were first conceived of on the Pontic-Caspian Steppe.

It is here on this vast steppe that tribes organized concepts of uplifting spirituality and social organization, and violent theories for vast warfare and plunder campaigns. And somehow, influences stretch back and bounce forth, from the spicy bog fires in camps along the Caspian Sea where storytellers chant to rapt listeners heroic poetry somehow influencing and being influenced by those frequenting the affluent and trendy pubs and restaurants of the western suburbs of modern Washington, D.C.

The journey begins in the novel Gettysburg Passage, available from Amazon and instantly downloadable to your Kindle or as a Kindle app on your iPad, iPhone, Android phone, Mac or PC. Please buy it, read it and review it today!