A List of My Novels and Credits

CREDITS

"WILD AS LIFE" 1998 EDITOR'S PREFERENCE AWARD FOR LITERARY EXCELLENCE: FIRST PLACE

"FALL'S FIRST STORM" 1998 EDITOR'S CHALLENGE AWARD FOR LITERARY EXCELLENCE STARBURST JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AUTHORS AND ARTISTS

"LIFE IS LIKE SAND" 1996 EDITOR'S HONORABLE MENTION

"BY FIRE I SIT" 1998 EDITOR'S HONORABLE MENTION

"TRUTHS, MYTH'S: THEIR IMPACT ON SOCIETY" 1998 - A CONDENSED VERSION OF AN ESSAY FROM THE NOVEL "THE LORD WITH NO NAME" BY PATRICK NATE

UNIVERSAL TRUTHS THEMES AWARD OF FIRST PLACE

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSAL MIND

INTERNATIONAL PROFILE : BIOGRAPHY AND SELECTED WORKS 1998

"INFORMATION FOR NEW AUTHORS" A WWWWWHO ARTICLE EDITOR'S CHALLENGE AWARD 1998

"PONY WARRIOR" WESTERN PROSE CATEGORY WINNER OF "TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT" STARBURST JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AUTHORS AND ARTISTS

A CASE FOR CONSENSUS EDITOR'S PREFERENCE AWARD - INFINITY MAGAZINE - SPRING 1999, AND THIRD EYE MAGAZINE 1999

MOLECULAR IDENTITY EDITOR'S PREFERENCE AWARD - INFINITY MAGAZINE -SPRING 1999, AND THIRD EYE MAGAZINE 1999

Molecular Identity
The Keys to Understanding Life's Mysterious Evolution

By Patrick Nate
Copyright © 1998

The course of history is sweeping in concept, from the birth of all matter, to the intricate relationships of all our human history. Human beings have remained less than sure of destiny and purpose, beginning with our realization of ourselves as having the ability to somehow, with intent, change our environment to fulfill ancient purpose. It never seemed to matter whether we knew for whose purpose or benefit, or how much, or how little we tinkered as we evolved. We have never been satisfied with the answers gleaned since that moment purpose to achieve stellar status seemed inevitable. Philosophers and scholars have called this phenomenon by many titles. The Dawn of Man, The Age of Reason, Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt, are but a few examples of how humanity has aimed at deciding who we are, and from whence we came this way.

Categorically, humanity has been able to shed some rays of light on the beginnings concerning human quest of self-knowledge. At least enough light has befallen upon our inner-visionary illumination to keep the quest active. There have been many reassessments of our visage; our roots in the realities that has surrounded us in near space. Later, as our abilities to comprehend other concepts brightened, humanity looked to the heavens and marveled at the cosmos in the darkness of space. We as the sons and daughters of humanity, can only speculate what those ancient relatives must have imagined the images they received that became amplified by their optical nerves awakened. What they were seeing in the heavens was already relative history, transmitted across the vastness of space. Perhaps this light was our initial contact with our molecular history amongst the stars. These stellar distances, or their relationship with anything in that vast view, ancient humans did not yet conceive, or remotely understand. As the light passed from nerves to brain, and the mind began to activate synapse, or concurrent links to chemical actions that produce continuance known as thoughts, reactions took place that caused other synchronous data to be stored and linked. As those proverbial souls turned away from their heavenly view, already an awakening had begun. A journey had transpired that has no end. That journey is the quest for humanity's universal identity, born in the cosmos, and predicated by the laws of physical nature.

Humanity has never been comfortable with the concept of being alone in the universe. What awakened these thoughts? What elemental keys were established through transference of light that coursed those early optical nerves? How are we linked and identified to our cosmic beginnings? Are we alien in this world, guests in an adoptive environment? Are we looking beyond our horizons, when in reality, we should be looking within?

The actual chronological history of humanity is indeed a mystery. Science and religion have shared a burden of discovery. At times, one body or the other may have wrongly claimed total and selective directives deciding the who, what, when, why, and where of our history. Oral historians in earlier societies, or tribes were able to espouse long lineage, that is, until the beginning of the printing presses' influence arrived. James Burke, the famous historian, scholar, and writer gave us a visual history of events that "changed the universe" from man's perspective in his The Day the Universe Changed. Mr. Burke helps us view history from the standpoint of significant changes that altered the path to discovering our world, and ourselves. John Romer gave us an archeological appreciation of man's religious past in his series of discoveries chronicled in Testament. H. G. Wells offered other conclusions about our existence. None of these works or those of anyone else have unlocked the universal keys to knowledge. The compilation of human history is spotty at best.

Humankind has been as aggressive in its insistence on destroying knowledge, as it has been in obtaining and preserving knowledge. This means that vital early records are lost. It is as if suddenly, we leapt to our agricultural beginnings, and then collectively humanity decided to archive history all over the world simultaneously. This lack of fundamental continuity has burdened humanity with the task of providing logical reasons for such a leap-ahead progression of civil thought and cooperation.

While many scientist, and religious scholars debate human beginnings, the truth of the record is somewhere, waiting to be discovered. In the past decade, research into molecular biology has stirred public, religious, and bureaucratic interest. Humans continue to fear inference that creation's boundaries can be broached. There is fear that the myth of the Centaur could become a reality. Concerns arise that science will not withstand the temptation to experiment freely with genetic material, thus causing a calamity, either religiously based, or biologically founded.

As humanity obtains the creative tools afforded by knowledge, and as we have searched our world, conquering the land and seas, we have paused. Societies have taken stock on their history, as individual freedoms expand and develop. All the while we have looked to the distant cosmos, and searched the world over. Still we find no answer to the riddle of from whence we have come.

Alien life, if the concept is valid, is still life. Beginnings of any being, remotely connected to man, must be derived from similar forces, pressures, and atmosphere to support carbon based life. Life can exist at great extremes of temperatures and pressures, while being sustained by exotic sustenance. This adaptability is essential for life forms to evolve in their own evolutionary niches. The temperature ranges for humans, and much of the rest of earth's inhabitants is most limited in actuality, yet intellect has extended human capabilities. All these clues, lead us to focus, on a much smaller scale as to just where the secrets reside that will tell us of our ancient past. Is this information very near to the seat of human existence, and indeed, has humanity always carried that information on humanity's trek through time and space?

The best clues yet say yes.

In the next one hundred years, humanity may uncover the shroud of our stellar past, our alien fore-bearers through the windows of molecular biology.

Down the elusive trail of DNA, spiraling, probing, reducing the signature of creation on the smallest of levels of late begins to seem larger than the cosmos itself. Electron microscopes evolve to allow exploration of inner space. Each cell is beginning to show signs of detail never viewed or understood. The proposed span of human life is increasing daily, with promise to unlock the keys that the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt sought. Today, both wealthy and average citizen has either diet or elemental substances they can use to increase their chances for a longer life.

The new technologies may reveal more than the secrets of longevity and the perpetuation of youth. Ancient signatures, etched into our cells may soon release information concerning our suggested alien home. Whether that home proves to be the native soil of this planet, or this solar system is a question on more minds each day. During the late 1940's, as sightings of alien crafts seemed to be the target of news stories, individuals began to report all sorts of unusual and related events. The conjecture ranges from citizens claiming they are abducted, to those who say they have visited other galaxies. What the truth is in these matters will remain a debate, until some concrete information, such as a biological signature that can be read is available. It is analogues to someone finding the actual first written record set down by man in a comprehensible fashion. It is an assumable fact that this event of first scripting did occur. It is assumable that the source of our beginnings has left a similar biological message that will chronicle the initial biological event as well. We do not have a way to recreate the handwritten records of our ancestors. The instrument that wrote that initial message and the material, on which that message were written is of the sands of history. Our molecular signature, on the other hand, is available. It is just a matter of time until we understand that signature.

If that signature is by the hand of a god, or by other means, as left accountable by some alien race, that signature is none-the-less within reach. We all feel our own vulnerability, and long before the flags of danger are waved protesting of medical knowledge that forever changes our understanding of what we deem sacred is raised, progress is already marching forward. Historically, all societies have protested such changes. From the persecution of astronomers for their observations of heavenly bodies, to the beginnings of antibody technology, there are those whom predicted doom and gloom. Admittedly, antibody technology has created side effects, but one has to remember that science is taking on a foe both ancient, and microscopic. A foe so toxic, that proportionally if we were compared on a relative scale, with abilities to sustain relative forces of nature, toxins we could produce from our bodies would be able to poison populations of whole planets with ease. Our tiny adversarial foes are able to cloak themselves, mutate, and modify their original DNA source information to adapt to our antibody technology. Using their evasive abilities, by purpose, or inadvertently, these tiny microbes may have led us where we should have been looking for our secret identities long ago.

As we wage this ancient war, using the original path of light that so long ago filtered down the optic nerves of our ancient brethren, and their minds began to transform, the keys to our existence before time began to focus. As humanity looked out to the heavens, humans held the keys to their past within, unknowingly. Space, food, and fuel to sustain life's forces have been in competition for resources since the beginning of time. It is part of the great mystery of our origin, whether from inner space, or outer space that will become apparent in time. The ideals of natural law, whether divine in origin, or by alien hand, is still governed by natural law. The physical beings we are, and the soulful beings that we allude to be are both of our being. Our molecular signatures are just as vivid, just as revealing. Until this moment, they have remained hidden. The alien within, the unknown aliens who began our trail of existence are debatable. Our molecular signatures will someday reveal our position in the cosmos, the way that scientists are now able to identify whether an ancient cask was made from soil at Masada, or sixteen miles to the east. These same molecular determinations will someday reveal our native, or alien beginnings as well.

A Case For Consensus

By Patrick Nate
Copyright © 1998

The collective efforts of humanity to place a complete signature upon the sands of time, literally, rather than metaphorically is approaching feverish proportions. Rancor and mistrust abounds across the face of the planet, as theories are reported as fact, while denying the need for proper scientific identification of the most elemental considerations. The mere fact that no single museum or archeological dig divesting millions of years of the history of earth has uncovered evidence of alien life fuels the debate. For the past fifty years visual sightings of objects that appear suspect fuel the range of public and private debate as to the validity of any such phenomenon. The debate has so enlarged, that today a network syndicated radio show of monumental popularity enlists large audiences, eager to hear the latest views about unfounded science. Nightly, near 15,000,000 respondents listens as the narrator fills the airwaves with reports from new experts of conjecture, now able to provide themselves a living, from an industry born more from fear and mistrust than fact and evidence.

The day for civil and cooler heads to prevail has certainly arrived. Humanity collectively has solved more mysteries by keeping the spirit of open-mindedness in opposition to absolutism. Symbolically, all forms of monumental mystery, ancient and ill defined, such as the Great Pyramid's secrets, or strange passages in text written when man had no parallel thoughts of such matters as alien origins, suspect content, that has been unscientifically extracted feeds the fires of descent. What is now apparent, is that as reports are cataloged, and fact defining technology's analyses is accepted, then humanity can begin to make sense of what we are truly facing in these seemingly unknowns. Fear or awe, of such phenomenon will only stop the progress of understanding. For each zealot, in favor, or against the possibilities of any given event alleged to be fact, only feeds the mistrust of the general observers.
An open mind supplies the bonus of neutrality and objectivity. In our search for collective reasoning, the best place to begin is at the point of our personal surroundings and lives. Each person, other than one possibly demented, or ill, can know the realities of what he or she might see while taking out the garbage, or bringing in the sheep, or when driving along a lonely country road. It is factual to assume most unusual sightings, no matter how spectacular are explainable. This is not to belittle sightings that remain mysterious of nature and intent, but instead serves to expand the focus on the few that merit true disclosure.

People across the world have claimed unusual events, unexplainable in any known terms. As each has been examined, only those select few that can pass the test of scrutiny should be the intent of investing scientific effort to expand our understanding of what appears to be a mystery. Most societies enjoy a good mystery, whether from fictional beginnings, or from the facts of exciting and interesting discovery. Our personal observations are select at best in the overall solutions as to how humanity fares while plying insight into unknown experiences. With this in mind, if something is indeed valid, no scientific body will be able to dismiss what is indeed factual. Both the doubted and the doubter are best served.

Catch 22 is a phase that was invented to explain the paradoxes of life. The principal does apply that indeed, the tail often manages to wag the dog, especially a large dog. With the emphasis on solutions, let us now begin to enjoin our resources worldwide. Let us for once be able to place these ideas of alien life visiting, inhabiting, or traveling across time and space on a regular basis under the microscope of realistic possibilities.

The surest avenue to find success in revealing truth's underlying events of high speculation and conjecture is to examine events as they occur. Barring this possibility, collective hard evidence from observers, so that scientific data can be compiled to support, or to disprove the true nature of the object or event is crucial. A team of observers, from the world over must be assembled from the best minds and universities to investigate the entire scope of the debate. For those uneasy about conspiracy, the organization must be comprised of reputable and noted scientist, who are indisputably experts in their fields. After careful examination of each shard of evidence, a consensus will eventually form concerning validity that has a creditable basis of fact. Deciding that all bodies concerned with all governments on earth remains involved in a mass conspiracy to hide factual evidence of alien life is preposterous. Humanity has always divulged secrets, simply because this is a true ancient mystery of species as to why we can not long hide the actual truth from our brethren and progeny. We absolutely cannot as a species, keep any secrets whatsoever. History proves this minor observation without second consideration. The evidence should be deluged before the entire body of the United Nations. Artifacts must be placed on public view, so that each person may see with his or her eyes, the truth of the findings.
All progress in advancing human knowledge comes through careful examination of the paths of failure, as well as success. Without encountering error, we collectively find the path to enlightenment most illusive. All scientific discovery is born out of failure. What creates the solutions is the inborn curiosity of humanity, a social creature who has always pointed and looked upon the heavens as their place of origin. It is no great surprise, that with the proliferation of objects that fly in the heavens, or possess the ability to alter our perception of what we have normally seen while viewing the heavens in the past, has indeed caused humanity to begin to ask anew from where we have come.
Life's endless springboard is vested in the mathematical possibilities of random generation of intellect, however the being might be constructed. While it seems easy to decide that the numbers are indeed favorable for other beings to share the cosmos with us, it is also still beyond humanity's understanding as to how humanity might be able to use the forces of natural law in their favor, thus enabling mankind to step into the backyard of the universe at will. Unless new theorem is introduced to disprove the known math, it is doubtful, that any other life form, within the prospective time of development of the universe, could possibly have broached the gap of physics while warping time and space while consistently maintaining the ability to remain indeed mortal as well.

Meantime, as we watch the skies and wait for the eventual visit of dignitaries from alien worlds, the science of contemporary humanity surrounding uncontested earthlings is beginning to unravel secrets of life on earth with vigor. Let the consensus to collectively explore inner space, unlocking the great possibilities of understanding our own carbon based star material begin. Life at home begins with the elements and conditions we have been dealt. We need not look beyond our noses to see to the ends of the universe.

WHISPERS ANTHOLOGY 1996

FESTIVAL ANTHOLOGY 1998

FOURTH DIMENSION ANTHOLOGY 1998

DREAM QUEST ANTHOLOGY 1998

STARBURST JOURNAL 1998

INFINITY REPORT JOURNAL 1998

THIRD EYE MAGAZINE 1999

LITERARY SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS

THE POETS' INNER CIRCLE

THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AUTHORS AND ARTISTS

THE NATIONAL AUTHOR'S REGISTRY

MY COMPLETED NOVEL SYNOPSES

"SUMMERTIDE 1959" IS A STIRRING, POIGNANT NOVEL ABOUT COMING OF AGE WITH THE THEME OF GROWING FROM BOYS TO MEN. IT IS AN AMERICAN GRAFFITI FOR TODAY'S AUDIENCES; MORE MATURE, YET WARM, HUMOROUS, THOUGHT PROVOKING AND EXCITING. YOU, THE READER BECOME A MEMBER OF THE GROUP, SHARING THEIR EXPERIENCES AS YOUR OWN. THE STORY COVERS A SPECIAL SUMMER, THE LAST SHARED BY MANY CLOSELY HELD FRIENDS, SOME INTELLECTUALS, SOME CLOWNS, BUT ALL BOUND BY THEIR SHARED SUMMERS OF THEIR DAYS OF YOUTH. WHILE THE FOCUS BEGINS WITH MOSTLY FROLIC AMONGST THE BOYS, GREAT RELATIONSHIPS AND CHANGES ARE TAKING PLACE FOR ALL, INCLUDING THE WOMEN IN THEIR FUTURES.

SUMMERTIDE 1959 'S SETTING IS IN CENTRAL TEXAS IN THE HILL COUNTRY, A LAST LOOK AT A MAIN STREET COMMUNITY IN ITS LAST THROUGHS, CENTERED ON A TOURIST TOWN WHERE PEOPLE ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THEIR LIFE-LONG FRIENDS, AND EVENTS HAVE A LASTING SURENESS, WHERE HONEY-SWEET ROMANCES EVOLVE AND LAST A LIFETIME, UNTAINTED BY THE HUSTLE OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD. LOCALISMS AND QUAINT CUSTOMS STILL ABOUND IN AN OTHERWISE DYNAMIC AND CHANGING WORLD. DURING THIS SPECIAL TIME THE DESTINIES OF ALL THE YOUNG FRIENDS BEGIN TO SEEK EACH OF THEM OUT, AND THEY MUST MAKE THEIR CHOICES.

THE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE JOE BLYE, ANN NORTH, WENDY BENSON, THE MEMBERS OF THE BLAZERS, AND THE SUMMERTIDE ADVENTURESOME BOYS OF THE CLASS OF 1959. THESE YOUNG MEN ARE A VERY CLOSE GROUP OF FRIENDS, VARIED IN THEIR PERSONALITIES, INTERESTS, AND ABILITIES, YET SUPPORTIVE OF ONE-ANOTHER. THEY SHARE A COMMON BOND THAT HAS GROWN OUT OF THEIR YEARS TOGETHER IN SCHOOL, AND THE SECURITY OF THAT LONG RELATIONSHIP. SEVERAL IN THE GROUP ARE MUSICIANS AND MEMBERS OF THE BLAZERS, A BAND AND VOCAL GROUP.

THE BOYS GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPIRIT OF BOYS WHO STILL THINK LIKE STUDENTS, UNACCUSTOMED TO THE IDEA THAT THE YOKE OF THEIR PAST LIVES HAS BEEN LIFTED, AND FOR A TIME THEY REMAIN JUST BOYS. AFTER A WILD DAY AND NIGHT OF REVELING, PARTYING AND LOVING, JOE AND HIS STEADY GIRL WENDY GO HOME KNOWING SOMETHING HAS CHANGED ABOUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP, AND ABOUT THEIR LIVES. THEIR RELATIONSHIP SEEMS TO REACH A NEW PLATEAU. WHEN JOE BEGINS HIS NEW FREEDOM DURING THAT LAST SUMMER OF BOYHOOD, HE HAS A CHANCE MEETING WITH ANN NORTH, A GIRL RECENTLY MOVED TO HIS HOMETOWN FROM LUBBOCK, TEXAS. ANN IS UNLIKE ANY GIRL JOE BLYE HAS EVER KNOWN, SO ALIVE AND SURE OF HERSELF. ANN IS ALSO BEAUTIFUL, INTELLIGENT AND LIBERAL. MORE SO THAN JOE IS ACCUSTOMED TO DEALING WITH. THE FIRST AFTERNOON THEY ARE TOGETHER, JOE AND ANE FALL IN LOVE, AND SHARE A SECRET ENCOUNTER IN A CANYON, THUS COMPLICATING JOE'S AND WENDY'S EXISTENCE IN WAYS HE HADN'T BEGUN TO CONSIDER IN HIS OLD LIFE. IT IS THE FIRST GREAT CHANGE OF HIS NEW ADULT LIFE. JOE HAS ALWAYS THOUGHT OF WENDY AS HIS FUTURE BRIDE, AND THEN SUDDENLY HE FINDS HIMSELF INVOLVED WITH ANOTHER WOMAN, WORLDLY AND WISE BEYOND HER YEARS.

AT FIRST JOE BELIEVES THAT IT IS A SINGLE HAPPENING, AND THAT A GIRL AS BEAUTIFUL, TALENTED, AND BRIGHT AS ANN WILL SOON TIRE OF HIM, AND IN THE END EVERYTHING WOULD FALL INTO PLACE AS IT WAS. THINGS BECOME MORE COMPLICATED AS JOE AND WENDY GO TO A SUMMER DANCE AND ENCOUNTER ANN AGAIN, WHO BEFRIENDS HERSELF TO WENDY. THE NIGHT BEFORE THE BOYS ARE TO CAMP OUT ON BEAUTIFUL BEAR CREEK TO LIVE OFF THE LAND FOR A WEEK, HIDDEN FROM SOCIETY WHILE FORGETTING ALL OF SOCIETY'S CALLINGS, ANN SPENDS THE NIGHT WITH WENDY CAUSING JOE TO WORRY HE'LL BE EXPOSED. JOE LEAVES THE NEXT MORNING WITH HIS FRIENDS KNOWING THAT HE MIGHT COME HOME TO THE FACT THAT WENDY HAS BEEN INFORMED OF HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH ANN. BY THIS TIME, JOE HAS FOUND HE HAS DEEPER AND MORE SERIOUS THOUGHTS ABOUT ANN, THOUGHTS HE TRIES TO PUT ASIDE WHILE THE FELLOWS ARE AWAY ON THEIR LAST GREAT ADVENTURE TOGETHER. ROMANCE FOR JOE CAN WAIT A LITTLE LONGER.

THE BOYS ENTER A SPECIAL WORLD OF KINSHIP IN THE CANYONS ALONG THE CREEK. THEY BOND IN WHAT SEEMS TO BE A QUEST FOR LIFE-LONG RELATIONSHIPS, PREDICATED ON THE MEMORIES OF THE GREAT AND FREE SPIRITED TIMES IN WHICH THEY LIVED, AS THEY BEGIN TO REALIZE THAT EVERYONE WILL BE GOING THEIR OWN WAY, TOPPLING ALL THE OLD SECURITY THAT THEY HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN. THE TRIP IS FURTHER BONDED IN THE REMINISCING, SINGING, AND COMRADESHIP THEY SHARED AROUND THEIR DAILY CAMPFIRES WHERE THEY SHARE HUMOROUS EVENTS, AND THEY TELL GREAT TALES OF THEIR PAST ADVENTURES. WHEN IT IS TIME FOR THEM TO LEAVE, NOSTALGIA HAS SET IN. AFTER BEING AWAY FROM HOME, HAMBURGERS, GIRLS, AND SOCIETY FOR A WHOLE WEEK, THE BOYS FIND THEMSELVES WELCOMING A HOMECOMING. JOE HAS SPECIAL NOSTALGIC FEELINGS ABOUT THEIR LIVES THUS SHARED, AND EXPRESSES THEM TO HIS FRIENDS THAT CAUSES SOME DEEP, PHILOSOPHICAL DISCUSSIONS DURING THEIR CAMPING TRIP. HE SEES THE END MORE CLEARLY THAN THE OTHERS, YET HE CAN NOT FACE THE FINALITY OF IT ALL, SO HE VOICES HIS CONCERNS, HOPING TO PRESERVE THEIR COMRADESHIP FOR THE FUTURE.

THE GROUP RETURNS TO TOWN AND FREQUENTS THEIR OLD HANGOUT, SUPER DOG, A LOCAL DRIVE-IN THAT HAS SERVED AS THEIR SECOND HOME DURING THEIR SCHOOL YEARS WHERE THEY FEAST AND THEY ARE FIRST WELCOMED BACK TO CIVILIZATION; LATER THEY MEET AT THE LOCAL PARK TO HANG AROUND AND GIRL-WATCH. DURING A BREAK TO SNACK AFTER A WEEK OF EATING BERRIES, FISH, AND OTHER BORING FOODS WHILE LIVING OFF THE LAND, JOE ENCOUNTERS ANN NORTH, WHO HAS BEEN AWAITING HIS RETURN. HE IS ASTOUNDED BY HER PRESENCE, AND BECOMES SOMEWHAT LOST FOR WORDS. SHE PURSUES HIM, AND SHE KNOWS A SECRET JOE DOES NOT SHARE. ANN INFORMS JOE THAT HEATHER, NOW HER NEW SINCERE FRIEND, HAS ENTRUSTED JOE TO HER WHILE HEATHER GOES ON TO A CHOIR CONFERENCE. JOE IS RELUCTANT TO MAKE HIS COMMITMENT TO ANN, BUT IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS, HE KNOWS HE IS HOPELESSLY IN LOVE WITH ANN. HE TRIES IN VAIN TO RESIST HER, BUT HER BEAUTY, YOUTHFUL WISDOM, CHARM AND SINCERITY WIN HIM OVER.

ANN IS FROM A LIBERAL FAMILY, AND JOE FINDS HIMSELF IN SITUATIONS HE DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO HANDLE CONSTANTLY, CAUSING HIM PROLONGED PAIN AND ANGUISH. AS THE COUPLE FALLS IN LOVE, OTHER FRIENDSHIPS LINK JOE AND ANN TO SOME OF JOE'S OLD FRIENDS, AND ANN BEGINS TO BECOME JOE'S ACCEPTED NEW FLAME WHILE WENDY IS AWAY. THE COUPLE REVISITS THE BEAUTIFUL CREEK WHERE JOE AND HIS FRIENDS MADE THEIR LIFE-LONG BONDS, AND HAVE A BEAUTIFUL AND ROMANTIC DAY IN A PARADISE. THAT EVENING, THEY GO TO A MIDNIGHT MOVIE AND SHARE THE EVENING WITH RON BLOOM, JOE'S FRIEND AND HIS STEADY, PAT HAMPTON, WHO IS A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG LADY LIKED BY ALL. THEY ALL HAVE A PLEASANT EVENING TOGETHER, AND THE NEXT DAY AT THE PARK WHERE RON IS A LIFEGUARD, THE COUPLES AND OTHER FRIENDS DECIDE TO GET TOGETHER AT RON'S HOUSE FOR MUSIC AND AN INTELLECTUAL DISCUSSION, SOMETHING THEY HAD BEEN DOING FOR YEARS. THE GROUP THERE DISCUSSES LIFE, DEATH, WAR AND A HOST OF PHILOSOPHICAL SUBJECTS, AND WHEN EVERYONE LEAVES, THERE IS AN AIR OF UNEASINESS ABOUT PAT AND STATEMENTS SHE MAKES THAT EVENING.

THE NEXT DAY WHILE JOE AND ANN ARE ON A TRIP TO SEE WILD FLOWERS AND A STATE PARK IN THE HILL COUNTRY, THEY COME UPON A WRECK. PAT HAMPTON IS KILLED IN THE ACCIDENT, AND ANOTHER FRIEND HAS BEEN INJURED, LEADING JOE AND ANN ON A CHASE INTO THE NEAREST TOWN TO FIND OUT IF IT IS REALLY ANN. JOE GOES TO THE LOCAL HOSPITAL AND FINDS THAT INDEED PAT HAMPTON HAS BEEN BROUGHT THERE, AND WHILE IN HIS GRIEF, HE IS ASKED TO IDENTIFY PAT'S BODY. IN A DREADFUL MOMENT OF DESPAIR, JOE LEADS US THROUGH THE PAIN HE IS EXPERIENCING IN GREAT DETAIL. ALL HIS DOUBTS AND FEARS ABOUT RELIGION, LIFE, AND THE FUTURE ARE ALL THROWN UP AT HIM. HE HAS A TENDER AND MOVING MOMENT OF FAREWELL WITH HIS FRIEND PAT IN A SCENE AT THE MORGUE WHERE HE IS DRAINED OF EMOTION. JOE AND ANN RETURN HOME AFTER WAITING TO FIND OUT WHAT HAS BECOME OF THEIR OTHER FRIEND. DURING ALL THIS JOE HAS TO INFORM RON BLOOM'S MOTHER OF PAT'S DEATH, THEN LATER VISIT RON AND PAT'S MOTHER BACK HOME. THE COUPLE IS INFORMED OF THE PENDING FUNERAL, AND THOUGH SHAKEN, THE CLOSE GROUP OF FRIENDS MUST FACE PAT'S TRAGIC DEATH.

THE DAY OF THE FUNERAL, THE GROUP VISITS PAT'S REMAINS AT THE FUNERAL HOME BEFORE THE SERVICES, WHICH ARE TO BE HELD AT A LOCAL CHURCH BEFORE THE BODY IS SHIPPED BACK TO ALABAMA WHERE PAT WAS BORN. MORE DEEP CONCERN ABOUT RELIGION AND LIFE COME TO MIND AS THE OLD GANG GOES ON TO THE FUNERAL, THEN WITH GREAT SADNESS TRY TO PICK UP THEIR OLD LIVES. AGAIN, THINGS HAVE CHANGED, AND NOW JOE FINDS HIMSELF, ALONG WITH ANN, IN A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP THAN EVER. ANN'S LIBERAL MOTHER MARGA IS A WOMAN WHO HAS GREAT INSIGHT, AND WITH HER NORWEGIAN BACKGROUND, PATIENCE, AND LOVE FOR THE YOUNG COUPLE, HELPS BRING THEM TOGETHER. JOE SOON ASKS FOR ANN'S HAND IN MARRIAGE, AND MARGA BEGINS TO ACCEPT JOE FOR THE SON SHE NEVER HAD. THEY ALL GROW, MATURE, AND STRUGGLE WITH THEIR RELATIONSHIPS AS HEATHER RETURNS SHORTLY AFTER PAT'S FUNERAL CAUSING THE THREE OF THEM TO FACE THE REALITY OF JOE AND ANN BEING IN LOVE.

WHILE ANN IS OFF TELLING HEATHER OF THE PENDING MARRIAGE, JOE LAUNCHES HIS FIRST CAREER, A MEANS FOR SUSTAINING ANN AND HIMSELF SO THEY CAN GET MARRIED. JOE MANAGES TO NEGOTIATE A PROMISING CIRCUMSTANCE FOR HIMSELF, AND OVER THE SUMMER ASSURES THEIR MARRIAGE. DURING THE REST OF THE SUMMER, HEATHER IS TRYING TO FIND A WAY TO WIN JOE BACK. WHILE JOE AND HIS GROUP OF MUSICIANS TRY TO FIND FAME AND FORTUNE IN THE MIDST OF ALL THAT IS GOING ON, HEATHER AND JOE HAVE A FINAL RENDEZVOUS, CAUSING JOE TO HAVE TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE REST OF HIS LIFE. THERE IS A TOUCHING SCENE WHERE JOE AND HEATHER FINALLY CONSUMMATE, ALBEIT TOO LATE, AND THIS LEAVES JOE WITH A NEED TO EXPLAIN THE RELATIONSHIP TO ANN. THE STORY ENDS WITH THE MYSTIQUE OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF ANN, WENDY AND JOE, PLUS THE FINAL GATHERING OF ALL JOE'S FRIENDS. THE STORY ENDS WITH THE REALIZATION THAT ALL JOE'S FRIENDS ARE SCATTERING TO THE WINDS, AND HE MUST HOLD THE MEMORIES TOGETHER. HE FINDS HIMSELF BEING LACED INTO THE FRAMEWORK OF THE WORLD FROM WHICH HE CAME, AND MOST OF HIS FRIENDS ARE DRIFTING AWAY.

THE BOOK IS WEBBED WITH MANY EMOTIONALLY HARD-HITTING SCENES THAT CATCH ONE BY SURPRISE, LEAVING THE READER TO REFLECT ON HIS OR HER OWN VALUES ABOUT JUDGMENT, LOVE, LIFE, RELIGION, AND FRIENDSHIPS AND HOW OUR DECISIONS AND ACTIONS CHANGE THEM. THE STORY IS BROUGHT FORWARD BY THE ACTIONS OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE, GROWING ONE STEP AT A TIME, THE SAME WAY THAT LIFE UNFOLDS FOR ALL OF US. MUSIC AND THE CAR CULTURE OF THE TIMES ARE BROUGHT FORTH IN A ROMANTIC MANNER. THERE IS HUMOR PRESENTED WITH THE CHARACTERS OF CHEESE, JERRY AND ANIMAL, AND THE IN THE END THERE IS A NEW FAMILY, A NEW STAR, AND AN UNKNOWN FUTURE FOR ALL. A SEQUEL IS PLANNED.

1999'S BEST COMING OF AGE NOVEL, "SUMMERTIDE 1959" - AN "AMERICAN GRAFFITI" STYLE NOVEL FOR TODAY'S READERS: HEARTWARMING, HUMOROUS, EXCITING, AND INTENSE. FOLLOW A GROUP OF WONDERFUL, FUN LOVING FRIENDS THROUGH THEIR FINAL GREAT SUMMER OF YOUTH. SEE THEM GROW FROM BOYS TO MEN. JUST AS YOU THINK YOU HAVE THEM FIGURED OUT, THESE WONDERFUL FRIENDS FIND NEW WAYS TO KEEP YOU READING LATE INTO THE NIGHT. JOE BLYE, YOUNG, BRIGHT, AND BELIEVING HE WILL MARY HIS WONDERFUL WENDY. DURING HIS FINAL SUMMER OF YOUTH, JOE MEETS ANNE NORTH, AND HER BEAUTY, CHARM, AND CANDID LOVE FOR JOE IS INSTANTANEOUS. THIS WONDERFUL GROUP EXPERIENCES ALL OF LIFE'S EMOTIONS DURING THEIR GREAT SUMMER. JOIN THEM IN "SUMMERTIDE 1959" THAT FIRST WONDERFUL SUMMER OF MAGIC THAT ENTICED US TO TASTE OF THE WORLD OF ADULT LIFE.

JOE BLYE ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT HE WOULD MARRY WENDY BENSON. IT WAS A STORYBOOK ROMANCE WHERE YOUNG LOVE BLOSSOMS, MATURES AND BECOMES MARRIAGE. IT WAS THE DREAM OF MANY YOUNG AMERICANS DURING THE SUMMER OF 1959. JOE AND WENDY SEEMED IDEAL FOR ONE ANOTHER, UNTIL THE DAY JOE BLYE MET ANNE NORTH, BEAUTIFUL AS HE HAD NEVER KNOWN BEAUTY, AND FULL OF LIBERAL THOUGHTS. ANNE WAS WISE BEYOND HER YEARS, AND JOE MORE UNSETTLED THAN HE HAD IMAGINED. THEIR LOVE WAS DESTINED IT SEEMED, FOR HOW ELSE COULD HE EVER CONSIDER ANY OTHER GIRL BESSIDES WENDY?

TRACE THEIR ROMANCE, ENCOUNTERED AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF SHARING THE WONDERFUL COMRADESHIP OF JOE'S FRIENDS AS THEY SPEND THEIR FINAL SUMMERTIDE TOGETHER. IT ALL BEGINS, AS THEY HAD ALWAYS KNOWN THEIR SUMMERS AND IT ALL ENDS IN A WORLD THAT THEY HAD ONLY DREAMED OF BEFORE GRADUATION.

FOLLOW JOE AND HIS FRIENDS ANIMAL, CHEESE, FERRY BOAT, BOBBY, RICHIE, AND THE REST OF THE GANG. THEY WILL HELP YOU TO REMEMBER, LAUGH, CRY, THINK AND SHARE THEIR LAST GREAT ADVENTURES, AND YOUR OWN AMONGST THE HILLS OF HOME, CRADLED IN STARK BEAUTY WHERE THEY SHARE A FINAL TREK WHILE LIVING OFF THE LAND. JOE'S SUMMER IS FILLED WITH ROMANTIC INTRIGUE, SELF-DOUBTS, GUILT, LOVE, REDEMPTION, SADNESS, AND HOPE FOR A WONDERFUL LIFE. COMEDY RELIEF, PHILOSOPHY, TRAGEDY, AND DRAMA ACCOMPANY THE FRIENDS OF

"SUMMERTIDE 1959" , A COMING OF AGE NOVEL BY PATRICK NATE. SOON TO BE RELEASED.

"FALCON HAYNES" IS A NOVEL WITH THE THEME OF LOVE GONE WRONG, EMPIRE BUILDING, AND THE RESULTING CHANGES FOR FALCON HAYNES AND HER YOUNGER MAN, KEITH STERLING, A MAN WHO BECOMES CONSUMED WITH LOVING WOMEN. KEITH, A YOUNG MAN OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL FOR A YEAR, IS SEARCHING FOR AN IDENTITY. ON AN EVENING OUT WITH FRIENDS AS HE REALIZES THAT HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS FORMER GIRL FRIEND IS OVER, HIS FRIEND FRANK DARBY SPIES FALCON HAYNES, BEAUTIFUL, 24 YEARS OLD IN A NEW CADILLAC, AND BECAUSE FRANK IS AN AGGRESSIVE SORT, MOVES IN ON HER, LEAVING HIS GIRL FRIEND, SANDY WAUER, WITH KEITH. FRANK DRIVES AWAY WITH FALCON, AND KEITH IS SURPRISED THAT THE OCCASION DOES NOT SEEM TO UPSET SANDY. AS HE ATTEMPTS TO TAKE SANDY HOME SHE DECIDES THEY SHOULD GO TO SAN ANTONIO INSTEAD, SO KEITH TAKES HER TO A BURGER-STAND THERE.

SANDY GETS ALONG WITH KEITH QUITE WELL, AND DURING THE EVENING THEIR ROMANCE BLOSSOMS. SANDY ASKS KEITH FOR SOME MONEY BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO DO SOMETHING NICE FOR A FRIEND. KEITH GIVES HER THE MONEY HE IS SAVING FOR PAYMENTS ON RINGS FROM A FORMER ROMANCE, THEN SHE REQUESTS HE TAKES HER ACROSS THE STREET TO USE THE PHONE AT THE LOBBY OF A MOTEL. AFTER KEITH WAITS OUTSIDE FOR HER, SHE COMES BACK FOR HIM, AND THE SURPRISE SHE SPOKE OF IS THAT THEY WOULD SHARE A ROOM THAT NIGHT IN THE MOTEL. THIS BEGINS A NEW LOVE LIFE FOR KEITH WITH A WOMAN HE REALLY FEELS STRONGLY FOR, AND HE KNOWS THAT SHE WOULD BE A GOOD MATCH FOR HIM.

KEITH IS ECSTATIC OVER HIS NEW FOUND LOVE, AND NOW HE FEELS HIS WHOLE LIFE HAS TURNED AROUND FOR THE BETTER. SOON AFTER HIS FRIEND FRANK DARBY INTRODUCES HIM TO FALCON HAYNES, THE BEAUTIFUL YOUNG LADY HE HAD SEEN THE NIGHT BEFORE. THEY ACCOMPANY HER TO HER MANSION IN THE COUNTRY, A PLACE UNIQUE AND MYSTERIOUS. KEITH IS IMPRESSED BY HER WEALTH AND POWER, YET SHE IS A PERSON HE GETS ALONG WITH VERY WELL. FRANK SHOWS KEITH AROUND THE HOUSE AND GROUNDS, AND IN DOING SO KEITH SEES A PORTRAIT OF FALCON IN THE NUDE, AND HE IS SO TAKEN WITH IT, HE CAN'T STOP LOOKING AT IT.

FRANK REVEALS HE HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET TO FIRST BASE WITH HER, AND SINCE HE IS LEAVING IN THE MORNING FOR DALLAS, HE FADES TO THE BACKGROUND AS FALCON HAYNES AND KEITH BEGIN TO DEVELOP A RAPPORT, CAUSING SPARKS TO FLY THAT NEITHER OF THEM REALLY UNDERSTAND AT FIRST. FALCON DOES NOT WANT TO DRIVE BACK TO TOWN, SO SHE SENDS KEITH AND FRANK HOME IN ONE OF HER CARS, AND TELLS KEITH TO BRING IT BACK IN THE MORNING WHEN SHE WOULD FEEL MORE RESTED.
THE NEXT DAY FALCON OFFERS KEITH A JOB LEARNING RANCHING WITH THE HOPES OF KEITH BECOMING HER RANCH FOREMAN. KEITH IS FLATTERED BY HER OFFER, BUT FEELS UNSURE OF HIS ABILITIES IN THAT FIELD. HE SURPRISES HER AND HIMSELF IN A SEQUENCE OF EVENTS THAT CAUSE THE BEGINNINGS OF HER HORSE RANCHING EMPIRE. DAILY THEIR LIVES BECOME MORE INTERTWINED, AND FALCON FINDS HERSELF FALLING IN LOVE WITH THIS YOUNGER MAN WHO HAS JUST FOUND HIS DREAM GIRL, SANDY WAUER DAYS BEFORE.

AS FALCON AND KEITH GO ABOUT THE STATE BUYING HORSES, THEY MET UP WITH A MAN AND HIS WIFE FROM MEXICO. THE MAN, BENITO FLORES, IS A HORSE TRAINER WHO HAS LOST HIS EMPLOYMENT IN MEXICO, AND WITH HIS NEW BRIDE ANGELENA HAS COME TO TEXAS IN SEARCH OF WORK. HIS WIFE ANGELENA IS 18, AND IS A GOOD COOK. FALCON TAKES A CHANCE AND HIRES THEM, SENDING THEM TO HER RANCH WHILE SHE AND KEITH CONTINUE THEIR TRIP TO BUY MORE HORSES. WHEN THEY GET BACK, BENITO HAS THINGS IN HAND, AND ANGELENA TAKES UP HER WORK IN THE MAIN HOUSE.

KEITH COMES UP WITH A PLAN THAT SPELLS INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS, AND UNKNOWN TO HIM FALCON HAD BEEN PREVIOUSLY MARRIED TO A WEALTHY BANKER. SHE CALLS HER FORMER HUSBAND IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA TO TELL HIM SHE WANTS TO PRESENT THE PLAN TO HIM AND HIS INVESTORS, THEN LEAVES KEITH IN CHARGE OF THINGS WHILE SHE GOES OFF TO ARIZONA. BEFORE LEAVING, FALCON TELLS KEITH TO MAKE A DECISION ABOUT DECIDING ON STAYING WITH SANDY WHILE FALCON IS GONE, AND THAT IF HE WANTED TO BEGIN AN AFFAIR THAT COULD LEAD TO MARRIAGE,, HE MUST LET SANDY GO NOW.

KEITH INVITES SANDY TO STAY WITH HIM AT THE RANCH, AND THEY CONTINUE THEIR RELATIONSHIP. WHILE SANDY IS GONE TO HER HOUSE ONE EVENING, KEITH MAKES LOVE TO ANGELENA, AND ALTHOUGH HE FEELS GUILT, HE CAN NO LONGER STAY AWAY FROM HER. FALCON CALLS FROM ARIZONA TO TELL KEITH TO JOIN HER THERE; HIS IDEAS FOR A BUSINESS HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED. KEITH SPENDS THE LAST NIGHTS WITH SANDY AND ANGELENA, THEN LEAVES FOR ARIZONA KNOWING HE HAS COMMITTED HIMSELF TO FALCON.

FALCON MEETS HIM AT THE AIRPORT, AND THEY GO TO A PENTHOUSE SUITE THAT HER FORMER HUSBAND'S BANK OWNS WHERE THEY CONSUMMATE THEIR ROMANCE AND FUTURE TOGETHER. AFTER THEY MEET THE NEXT DAY WITH THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE NEW CORPORATION, KEITH AND FALCON DECIDE TO GO TO NEW MEXICO TO GET MARRIED AT HER FATHER'S RANCH. DENNIS COSEY GREETS THEM WARMLY, AND AFTER AN INTERESTING DAY ON THE RANCH, DENNIS GOES TO ARRANGE FOR THEIR WEDDING.
AFTER THE WEDDING FALCON INTRODUCES KEITH TO LINDA DANIELS, FALCON'S BEST FRIEND WHO HAD RECENTLY LOST HER FIANCEE IN A HORSE RIDING ACCIDENT AND HAS BEEN DEPRESSED. THEY INVITE LINDA TO GO TO JAMAICA WITH THEM TO STAY AT A HOUSE ON THE BEACH THAT FALCON AND KEITH ARE GOING TO PURCHASE. THEY ALL AGREE, AND AFTER RETURNING TO TEXAS, THE TWO LADIES GO SHOPPING IN NEAR-BY TOWNS EACH DAY, WHILE KEITH STAYS AT THE RANCH CONTINUING HIS AFFAIR WITH ANGELENA.

WHILE IN JAMAICA, KEITH, LINDA, AND FALCON BEGIN TO HAVE A MULTIPLE RELATIONSHIP THAT IS TO LAST. LINDA GOES TO EUROPE WITH KEITH AND FALCON WHERE THEY SET UP HEADQUARTERS FOR THEIR WESTERN HORSE ENTERPRISES. KEITH IS HARD-PRESSED TO KEEP BOTH WOMEN HAPPY THROUGH ALL THIS UNCERTAINTY. THEY STRIKE A BALANCE DURING THEIR STAY. AND LATER, IN ENGLAND, KEITH IS CALLED TO THE ESTATE OF LORD EVERETTE SLADE, OUTSIDE LONDON, WHO IS INTERESTED IN GETTING IN ON THE GROUND FLOOR AND BECOMING AN INVESTOR IN THEIR EUROPEAN ENTERPRISES. WHILE AT THE ESTATE, SAM BECOMES ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED WITH MURIAH SLADE, THE LORD SLADE'S DAUGHTER. SHE IS MUCH TAKEN WITH KEITH, AND THEY HAVE A TORRID AFFAIR. WHILE KEITH MAKES HIS SALES PITCHES AT THE ESTATE, HE ALSO IS BEDDED BY LADY CASSANDRA FOSTER, LORD SLADE'S SISTER WHO IS ALSO AN INVESTOR.

LADY FOSTER FINDS THE YOUTHFUL TEXAN AN EXCITING LOVER, LETTING HIM KNOW SHE CONTROLS HIS DESTINY, AND THAT SHE MEANS FOR HIM TO CONTINUE TO BE HER LOVER. KEITH AWAKENED TO HIS OUT-OF-CONTROL LIFE CONFRONTS FALCON WITH THE TRUTH OF HIS EXISTENCE, AND OVER TIME THEY ALL BEGIN TO REALIZE THAT THIS IS THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE. KEITH HAS BECOME A LOVER OF WOMEN, AND WOMEN CAN'T RESIST HIM. KEITH CHARTERS A JET TO BRING SANDY TO JOIN THEM, AND IN THE END, AFTER RESISTING, SANDY GIVES IN TO HIS DESIRE FOR HER TO REMAIN WITH THEM. IN THE END FALCON AND LINDA ARE WAITING FOR KEITH AND SANDY TO COME TO THEIR HOTEL TO JOIN THEM IN THEIR INCREDIBLE AND UNUSUAL LIFE, RESIGNED TO THEIR FATE.

THE ORIGINAL INTENT OF THEIR LIVES IS LOST IN THE JUMBLE OF MONEY, GREED, CONTROL, AND LUST. FALCON HAYNES' ORIGINAL DREAMS, AND KEITH'S AS WELL ARE OUT OF CONTROL WITH NO WAY TO TURN BACK. "Falcon Haynes " SOON TO BE RELEASED.

"Unforgettable You" IS A TENSE, WARM AND TENDER LOVE STORY WITH A THEME OF THE PURSUIT OF A SIMPLE DREAM OF A LIFE TOGETHER FOR SAM LUBBOCK AND HEATHER LANE. A PICTURESQUE FOOTBRIDGE IN A PARK, ALONG WITH A SPECIAL FIRST BONDING OF LOVE, REMEMBERANCE OF A SONG AND A SHARED SPECIAL SPARK AT THE TENDER AGES OF 14 AND 16, BECOMES AN EARLY LINK IN A LONG PATH OF LOVE AND INNOCENCE LOST. THE STORY OPENS WITH SAM AND HEATHER SHARING A KNOWN RELATIONSHIP OF OLDER BOY, YOUNGER GIRL, AND THE RESTRICTIONS THIS IMPOSES ON YOUNG LOVE. SAM AND HEATHER TRY TO MAINTAIN A RELATIONSHIP AT FIRST WITH LACK OF FOCUS, BUT IT SEEMS DIFFICULT FOR SAM TO MAINTAIN THE DAY-TO-DAY RELATIONSHIP THE COUPLE HAD ENJOYED AT SCHOOL AFTER SAM GRADUATES. AFTER JUST A FEW DATES THAT HEATHER COULD MANAGE DURING THE SUMMER OF 1958, FOLLOWING SAM'S GRADUATION, THEY SAW LITTLE OF EACH OTHER THAT SEASON, ALTHOUGH THEY STILL WISHED TO BE TOGETHER AND THERE WAS A RESTLESSNESS AFOOT, ESPECIALLY FOR SAM, AMBITIOUS AND IMPATIENT FOR THEIR MATURING.

SAM IS INVITED TO A LABOR DAY PARTY AT A NEARBY LAKE, ALONG WITH HIS CLOSEST FRIENDS WHERE SAM MEETS MARILYN POSNER, AN AGGRESSIVE YOUNG LADY WHO COMES ON STRONG TO SAM, AND BEFORE THE EVENING IS OVER, THEY LEAVE TOGETHER. THE TWO OF THEM ARE IN A NEW RELATIONSHIP, SAM A VIRGIN, UNSURE AND CAUTIOUS. MARILYN, THOUGH YOUNGER, IS EXPERIENCED IN LOVE MAKING, AND SHE DOGGEDLY PURSUES SAM OVER TIME. AFTER PICKING HIM UP AS HE WALKS HOME DURING A RAINSTORM, MARILYN SEDUCES SAM, AND HE IS INTRODUCED TO A NEW WORLD OF ROMANCE HE HAD NEVER KNOWN. THE COUPLE CARRIES ON A STEAMY RELATIONSHIP THAT IS SPIRITED BY MARILYN KEEPING MAXIMUM PRESSURE ON SAM, CONTROLLING HIM WITH HER LOVE MAKING. THERE IS THE CONSTANT TENSION OF SAM'S RELIGIOUS BELIEFS CONTRASTING WITH HIS ACTIONS, CAUSING HIM UNREMITTINGLY TO TRY TO STEER A BETTER COURSE.

IN TIME SAM BEGINS TO BELIEVE MARILYN IS IN LOVE WITH HIM, AND BEFORE LONG SHE PERSUADES HIM TO BUY RINGS FOR THEIR ENGAGEMENT, BUT KEEPS IT A SECRET FROM EVERYONE ELSE. WHILE SAM IS RECOVERING FROM A SURGERY, MARILYN IS OUT WITH A MARRIED MAN, AND AFTER RECEIVING LETTERS FROM TYLER AUSTIN, A FELLOW SHE USED TO DATE WHO WAS JUST GETTING OUT OF THE SERVICE, SHE ANNOUNCES TO SAM THAT SHE WAS GOING TO STOP DATING HIM. SHE LEAVES SAM THAT DAY ABRUPTLY, AND THAT NIGHT SAM IS SULKING AT WORK, AND AS HE CLOSES UP THE DRIVE-IN MOVIE WHERE HE WORKS, A GIRL HE HAD ONCE OBSERVED MAKING LOVE IN A CAR DURING A COLD-SNAP APPROACHES HIM. THE TWO OF THEM HAD MADE EYE CONTACT BACK THEN, CAUSING HIM, AND UNKNOWN TO HIM, THE GIRL HE OBSERVED, CAREY HANSON, TO FEEL SOMETHING FOR HIM. IT WAS CAREY'S LAST NIGHT IN THE AREA BEFORE SHE MOVED TO COLORADO, AND SAM SPENDS A NIGHT OF BLISS WITH HER, DISCOVERING HOW DIFFERENT SHE IS FROM MARILYN. HE MUST LET HER GO THE NEXT MORNING, AND HE FEELS A DEEP SADNESS AT THE SECOND LOSS IN JUST A DAY. THESE EARLY EXPERIENCES HAVE CHANGED SAM'S LIFE FOREVER AS HE IS SOON TO FIND OUT.

SAM RUINS THE ENGINE IN HIS CAR PURSUING CAREY ON THE HIGHWAY TO SAY ONE LAST GOOD-BYE, THEN MOPES AROUND TOWN WITHOUT TRANSPORTATION UNTIL HE CAN AFFORD REPAIRS. SAM SEEKS SOLACE WITH HIS FRIENDS, AND IN TIME HE AND HEATHER BEGIN SEEING ONE-ANOTHER AGAIN. THE RENEWED RELATIONSHIP IS SWEETER, AND NOW SAM KNOWS THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE PRESENT RELATIONSHIP, PURE, TENDER, INNOCENT WITH HEATHER, A GIRL WHO IS A WONDERFUL PERSON AND THE MANIPULATOR AND TEMPTRESS MARILYN. SAM BEGINS TO REALIZE THE FOLLY OF HIS PAST, SETTING HIM TO AMEND EVERYTHING, WALKING THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW.

SAM HAS BEEN THINKING ABOUT BECOMING A MINISTER, A CONSIDERATION THAT WOULD BRING HIM CLOSER TO THE FOLD OF HEATHER'S FAMILY SINCE SHE IS A MINISTER'S DAUGHTER. SAM HAS A SHOT AT GOING TO A SEMINARY IN GEORGETOWN, TEXAS. HE FINALLY DECIDES TO ATTEND A SUMMER SEMINAR AT THE COLLEGE THAT WAS TO SERVE AS AN ORIENTATION. SAM GOES OFF TO THE COLLEGE WITH THE HOPES OF SECURING HIS FUTURE WITH HEATHER, A SCHOLARSHIP, AND THE HAPPINESS HE SEEKS DEEP DOWN IN HIS SOUL. DURING THIS SESSION HE DISCOVERS HE HAS A FLARE FOR SPEAKING, YET THE SEMINAR LEAVES HIM FEELING UNSURE, AND HE IS AGAIN TEMPTED BY A YOUNG LADY, ONLY THIS TIME HE CHAMPIONS, LEAVING HER ALONE. HE RETURNS HOME CONVINCED HE HAS CONQUERED HIS FORMER PROBLEMS SUCH AS HE HAD WITH MARILYN.

FOR A TIME IT SEEMS HE IS SUCCESSFUL, AND SAM AND HEATHER'S RELATIONSHIP BEGINS TO BLOSSOM. SAM GETS A NEW JOB IN SAN ANTONIO, AND HE WORKS ON HIS MUSIC WITH A VOCAL GROUP HE HAS BEEN INVOLVED WITH FOR YEARS AS THEY APPROACH A RECORDING DATE. EVERYTHING IN THE LIVES OF SAM AND HEATHER BEGIN TO SEEM AS IF THEY WOULD MARRY, AND AS HEATHER BECOMES OLDER, THEY ARE TOGETHER MORE OFTEN. THE SEASONS PASS, AND AT CHRISTMAS 1959 THINGS SEEMED TO BE GOING WELL. HEATHER AND SAM BEGIN TO BELIEVE THEY WILL LIVE ALL THEIR DAYS TOGETHER.

THE NEXT YEAR WAS ONE OF GROWTH FOR THEIR SHARED LOVE, AND THEN WITHOUT WARNING, MARILYN COMES BACK INTO SAM'S LIFE THE NEXT SUMMER WHILE HEATHER IS AWAY, INVITING HIM TO COME TO HER HOUSE TO DISCUSS SOMETHING OF A DIRE NATURE THAT ONLY SAM CAN HELP WITH. SAM RESISTS, BUT MARILYN IN HER OLD INSISTENT WAYS PURSUADES HIM TO TALK TO HER. WHILE AT HER HOUSE THE NEXT WEEKEND, MARILYN SEDUCES SAM WITH TRICKERY AS SHE CONVEYS A STRANGE MESSAGE, AND SAM FEELS SHAME FOR HIS FAILURE TO RESIST HER. HE LEAVES, VOWING NEVER TO SEE HER AGAIN, AND ADHERES TO THAT UNTIL THAT NEXT CHRISTMAS WHEN MARILYN CONFRONTS SAM AGAIN AS HE WORKS ON HIS CAR RADIO IN A PARKING LOT. HE MANAGES TO EVADE HER CONVERSATION, AND DOESN'T HEAR FROM HER AGAIN UNTIL AFTER THE NEW YEAR STARTS.

SAM IS COMPLETELY SURE HE AND HEATHER WILL MARRY, AND ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE HASN'T CHANGED HIS LOVE FOR HER. IF ANYTHING, SAM FEELS ALL THE MORE ENDEARED TO HEATHER. HEATHER HAS ALWAYS BEEN A SYMBOL OF A GOOD AND LOVING WOMAN; THE KIND ONE MARRIES, RAISES A FAMILY WITH, AND THEN ONE GROWS OLD WITH. SAM LONGS FOR JUST SUCH A LIFE, AND HE LONGS TO HAVE HIS VIRGIN STATUS BACK, THOUGH HE KNOWS IT ISN'T POSSIBLE. DURING THIS TIME MARILYN'S PARENTS CALL SAM'S PARENTS ON A WEEKEND AND TELLS THEM OF MARILYN'S BEING PREGNANT, ACCUSING SAM OF BEING THE FATHER. SAM FEELS HE KNOWS HE ISN'T THE FATHER FOR REASONS ONLY MARILYN AND HE SHARES.

DURING THE CONFERENCE WITH MARILYN'S PARENTS, SAM IS SUPPORTIVE OF MARILYN DESPITE HER DECEIVING SAM THAT WEEKEND AT HER HOUSE. HE OFFERS TO MARRY MARILYN AND RAISE THE CHILD, BUT SHE RESISTS, AND SAM KNOWS HE'D NEVER BE ABLE TO PROVE THAT HE WASN'T THE FATHER WITHOUT MARRYING HER. AFTER AN EMOTIONAL ENCOUNTER WITH MARILYN, SAM GOES TO SEE HEATHER, BUT HER PARENTS HAVE FORBID HER TO SEE SAM FOREVER. THIS BEGINS A LONG RECONCILIATION FOR SAM AND HEATHER, WITH THE TWO OF THEM SHARING SECRET MEETINGS AND LETTERS.

AFTER HER GRADUATION, HEATHER AND HER FAMILY MOVE AWAY TO KEEP SAM AND HEATHER APART. SAM MAKES A PLAN TO FOLLOW HER, AND WITH HIS FRIEND WAYNE SIMONS MOVES TO ST. LOUIS WHERE HE HOPES TO WORK, THEN TRY TO PERSUADE HEATHER TO MARRY HIM AND RETURN TO TEXAS.

SAM AND WAYNE SIMONS GO TO ST. LOUIS, AND AFTER A LENGTHY AND UNPRODUCTIVE STAY, MUST RETURN TO TEXAS WITHOUT SAM EVER SEEING HEATHER, CAUSING HIM DEEP EMOTIONAL SCARES. SAM BEGINS HIS LIFE AGAIN BACK HOME, GETS A NEW JOB IN SAN ANTONIO, AND FOR A TIME DATES MARILYN AFTER SHE FINDS OUT ABOUT HIS LIFE AND PURSUES HIM AGAIN.

SAM MEETS SEVERAL OTHER WOMEN OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS. DURING THIS PERIOD, SAM'S FATHER DIES, CAUSING FURTHER DRAMATIC CHANGES IN HIS LIFE. AFTER FEELING GREAT GRIEF OVER LOSING HEATHER, AND ALTHOUGH YEARS HAVE PASSED, SAM WRITES HEATHER WITH THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF HIS GIRL FRIEND AT THE TIME, JULIA SEARCY. JULIA TELLS SAM IF HEATHER DECIDES TO COME HOME SHE'LL BOW OUT, AND WHEN HEATHER DOES DECIDE TO COME BACK TO TOWN AND MEET WITH SAM, HE LOSES HIS JOB AT JUST THE WRONG MOMENT, THROWING HIM INTO A FRANTIC SEARCH FOR ENOUGH SECURITY TO FEEL HE CAN ASK HEATHER TO MARRY HIM. HE LINES UP A SOLID INTERVIEW THROUGH A FRIEND, THEN WHEN THE JOB DOESN'T PAN OUT SAM HAS TO GO TO MEET HEATHER, WHO IS NOW EDUCATED, SECURE, AND DATING SOMEONE ELSE. ALTHOUGH SAM KNOWS DEEP IN HIS HEART HE CAN'T FIND THE STRENGTH TO LIVE WITHOUT HEATHER, HE MEETS HER ON A FOOTBRIDGE THAT HAS BECOME A LINK TO THEIR LOVE AND LIFE. SAM FEELS NO CONFIDENCE IN HIS ABILITY TO PERSUADE HER TO GIVE HIM TIME TO GET HIS LIFE TOGETHER, SO IN DESPERATION, SAM TELLS HEATHER HE WILL NEVER FORGET HER, AND THEY SEE EACH OTHER FOR THE LAST TIME ON THE FOOTBRIDGE BEFORE PARTING FOREVER.

SAM GOES TO THE TOP OF A BLUFF WHERE HE AND HIS FRIENDS USED TO GO OUT IN THE COUNTRY, AND ALONE IN THE DARK, ILLUMINATED BY A STAR-LIT TEXAS SKY COMES TO THE REALIZATION OF JUST WHAT A LOVING AND SPECIAL HUMAN BEING HE HAS LOST. HIS SOUL IS BARED, AND HE REFLECTS BACK ON HIS PAST, AND FEELS THE DEEP PAIN OF LIFE WITHOUT HEATHER. SAM IS ALONE WITH HIS MAKER, AND MUST START HIS LIFE ALL OVER, BEGINNING WITH NEAR NOTHING.

ALL THE WARMTH, TEARS, SWEETNESS AND DREAMS HEATHER AND SAM HAD ONCE SHARED ARE GONE FOREVER. THE BRIDGES OF THEIR DESTINES MUST TAKE THEM DOWN THEIR SEPARATE PATHS NOW SEEDED WITH THE GLOWING LOVE THEY ONCE SHARED: A LOVE THAT HOLDS WARM EMBERS FAR INTO THE FUTURE FOR BOTH OF THEM. A LOVE THAT SO LONG AGO BEGAN A LIFE OF ITS OWN, PASSED ON THROUGH TIME. IT IS A STORY WITH ITS FINAL CHAPTERS STILL UNWRITTEN UNTIL ONE OR THE OTHER DIES. IT IS A LOVE THAT STILL LIVES ON IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE SHARED IN PROSE, IN HUMAN SUFFERING, AND THE WARMTH OF FORGIVENESS AND UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THEY SHARED WAS A NEVER ENDING STORY. NEITHER SAM NOR HEATHER EVER IMAGINED THAT LOVE COULD PERSIST AND INFLUENCE THEIR LIVES FOR SO LONG A TIME. " Unforgettable You" COMING SOON

"A Mile or More " IS A NOVEL WITH THE THEME OF SOCIAL AWAKENINGS OF A YOUNG LAD PAT KANE, AGE NINE, DURING THE SUMMER OF 1949 BEGAN A JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH-CENTRAL FARM OF HIS GREAT-AUNT AND UNCLE PRESTON CALLED" A MILE OR MORE". DURING THAT VACATION TIME, PAT IS TO LEARN ABOUT BIGOTRY AND PREJUDICE. HE BEGINS TO SHARE A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CARETAKER OF A MILE OR MORE, A MAN HE SIMPLY KNOWS AS SHIP, A BLACK MAN WHO GIVES OF HIMSELF EVEN AS HE LIVES WITH THE PAINS OF DISCRIMINATION.

PAT AND HIS SISTER DOROTHY ENJOY THE COMPLETENESS OF FAMILY, DRAWN TOGETHER FOR A MEETING OF THE CLAN. RELATIVES, MOST OF THEM AGING AND FROM ANOTHER TIME AND DEMEANOR COME FROM NEAR AND FAR, AND DURING THAT GATHERING THE RELATIONSHIPS OF FAMILY ARE BROUGHT TO LIGHT FOR THE YOUNG PAT. MYSTERIES OF THE PAST ARE EXPLORED AS THE OLDER GENERATIONS REVEAL GLIMPSES OF THEIR LIVES LONG AGO. THE FAMILY ENGAGES IN MERRIMENT, AND THE SHARING BECOMES SPECIAL MEMORIES TO LAST A LIFETIME.

ON A TRIP TO THE SLEEPY LITTLE TOWN OF DEVINE, PAT AND DOROTHY MEET MR. THOMPSON, A LOCAL GROCER-GENERAL STORE OWNER, AND A WWII VETERAN WHO LIKES LIVING IN THE SMALL AND QUIET TOWN AFTER HIS WAR EXPERIENCES. PAT AND DOROTHY DEVELOP A FRIENDSHIP WITH THE LARGE, FRIENDLY MAN, MR. THOMPSON. THEY BEGIN TO DELIGHT IN GOING TO TOWN EACH DAY TO BUY SUPPLIES FOR THE FAMILY AND VACATIONERS VISITING AT A MILE OR MORE SO THAT THEY MIGHT SHARE A CONVERSATION WITH MR. THOMPSON.

WHILE SWIMMING IN A SMALL LAKE ON A MILE OR MORE, PAT BEFRIENDS A NEIGHBOR GIRL OF THIRTEEN WHOM HE TAKES NOTICE OF, THE THIN, SMALL, AND VERY SHY SARAH. AFTER SHE IS INVITED TO JOIN THEM, SHE BECOMES THEIR FRIEND, AND THEY LEARN OF HER DIFFICULT AND FRUGAL RURAL LIFE IN THE SAND HILLS OF TEXAS. DOROTHY INVITES HER TO STAY THE EVENING, AND THEIR FRIENDSHIP IS SEALED.

PAT EXPERIENCES THE WONDERS OF EXPLORING A FARM, ENJOYING THE COMPANY OF MANY SUPPORTIVE FRIENDS, ESPECIALLY SHIP, THE COLORED MAN. PAT FINDS THAT ALTHOUGH SHIP HAS NEVER BEEN TO SCHOOL, HE IS WISE, AND HE BEGINS TO SCHOOL PAT IN THE WAYS OF THE SOUTH. PAT HAD BEEN IGNORANT OF HOW COLORED PEOPLE ARE TREATED, AND HE IS APPALLED AT THE WAY SHIP SEES HIS POSITION IN LIFE. DESPITE THE CONSTANT REMINDERS OF THESE HATEFUL PRACTICES, THEY BEGIN TO HAVE AN UNSPOKEN LOVE TO SHARE. THEIR INTERACTION BECOMES MORE ENTANGLED AS THE VACATION CONTINUES, AND THEY SHARE ACTIVITIES AT A DISTANCE.

ON ONE OF THE MANY TRIPS PAT AND DOROTHY MAKE TO TOWN, PAT MEETS A REAL COWBOY, AND DURING A CONVERSATION WITH THE LEATHERY OLD MAN PAT FOUGHT INDIANS. ON THE SAME TRIP, HE DRIVES HIS GREAT-UNCLE ED'S NEW CAR FOR A SHORT DISTANCE. EACH VISIT BRINGS MORE INTERACTIONS WITH MR. THOMPSON AND HIS UNHAPPY WIFE WHO LIVES WITH HIM AND THEIR SON IN THE REAR OF THE STORE. THE YOUNGSTERS, PAT, AND DOROTHY ARE EXPOSED TO DIVERSE CULTURES, POVERTY, LOVE, AND SELF-SEARCHING. THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CHARACTERS ARE VIVID, THE EMOTIONS OF THE NINE YEARS OLD BOYS ARE EXPLORED, AND AT TIMES HE EXPLAINS THINGS IN HIS ADULT VOICE, LOOKING BACK, ADDING FORCE AND DELIVERY TO TENSE SCENES.

A BARBECUE FOR ALL BECOMES A GREAT ADVENTURE, WITH FOOD AND FRIENDS ALL AROUND. SHIP SERVES THEM ALL, AND PAT NOTICES HIS SKILL AND DEVOTION TO HIS WORK, SACRIFICING HIS OWN TIME OFF TO GET THINGS DONE. DURING THIS TIME SARAH VISITS AND EATS WITH THE CLAN, AND SHE MARVELS AT THE FOOD, THE WEALTH IT SEEMS TO REPRESENT TO HER EYES.

AFTER THE BARBECUE DAY, PAT EXPERIENCES A SPECIAL OCCASION OF HIS AUNT CORA BATTLING A COPPERHEAD SNAKE, AND HAS SEVERAL OTHER ADVENTURES, INCLUDING HUNTING AT DAWN WITH SHIP, A SHARPSHOOTER WHO THRILLS THE YOUNG BOY. PAT HELPS SHIP SUPPLEMENT HIS FOOD SUPPLY BY CATCHING FISH FOR HIM, AND EVEN A TURTLE. AS THEY BEGIN TO GROW CLOSER SHIP GETS THE DESIRE TO GO BACK HOME AND BE FREE OF HIS YOKE FOR A TIME, AND HE SHARES HIS SECRET WITH PAT LATER ON, BUT NO ONE ELSE.

PAT AND DOROTHY DECIDE TO DO SOMETHING SPECIAL BEFORE THEY LEAVE A MILE OR MORE. ON A TRIP TO SEE MR. THOMPSON, THEY EXPRESS THEIR NEED TO BUY PRESENTS WITH A SMALL AMOUNT OF MONEY, A GIFT THAT WILL LAST A LONG TIME FOR THEIR NEW FRIEND SARAH. MR. THOMPSON GIVES OF HIS OWN BELONGINGS TO HELP, AND HIS MISERLY WIFE IS UNHAPPY, YET SHE SAYS NOTHING AFTER HE AGREES TO MOVE THE BUSINESS TO THE CITY. THE YOUNGSTERS MAKE WHAT THEY BELIEVE IS AN EXCEPTIONAL DEAL WITH MR. THOMPSON, AND THEY MEET AN UNDESIRABLE CHARACTER LATER WHOM THEY NAME "STINKY PETE WITH THE REAL STINKY FEET." PAT HAS A FINAL CONVERSATION WITH THE OLD COWBOY, AND HOLDS THE IMAGE OF HIM FOR A LIFETIME, REMAINING AS A LINK WITH THE PAST GLORY OF THE OLD WEST.

DURING THE FINAL DAYS OF THEIR RURAL VACATION PAT AND DOROTHY HAVE A PARTY FOR SARAH. SARAH HAS A FAIRY TALE DAY WHERE SHE IS THE CENTER OF ATTENTION, AND SHE SHOWS HER PARENTS AND FAMILY HOW SHE HAS LEARNED TO PLAY SEVERAL TUNES ON THE PIANO. THEY ALL SHARE SARAH'S HAPPINESS, AND HAVE A WONDERFUL EVENING THAT IS EMOTIONAL FOR ALL CONCERNED. THE NEXT DAY, THAT SPECIAL SUMMER VACATION IS OVER. PAT AND DOROTHY HAVE A TEARFUL GOOD-BYE WITH SARAH, AND AS THEY DRIVE AWAY, PAT BEGINS TO UNDERSTAND SOMETHING ABOUT FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND PREJUDICE THAT AWAKEN HIM TO THE REALITIES OF WHAT THEY MEAN. THE LESSONS LEARNED AT A MILE OR MORE WILL STAY WITH HIM ALL HIS LIFE.

ALL DURING THE ADVENTURE, THE FAMILY IS EMPHASIZED AS A WHOLE, THE OLDER, WISER MEMBERS SHARING THEIR LOVE AND EXPERIENCES WITH THE YOUNGER MEMBERS. THE PERSONALITIES ARE DIVERSE, INTERESTING AND ENDEARING. THIS IS AMERICA AND AMERICANS AT THEIR FINEST, LIVING IN A TIME NOW LOST, YET CAPTURED AND SHARED WITH THE READERS OF A MILE OR MORE. IT IS A STORY THAT WILL MAKE ONE THINK OF FAMILY, OF LIFE LIVED AT A PACE THAT NO LONGER EXITS FOR MOST. IT IS A STORY OF TREASURED VALUES, TRADITIONS, TEARS, LOVE, AND LAUGHTER THAT BUILDS CHARACTER AND LEAVES LASTING REWARDS TO BE SHARED BY ALL GENERATIONS. IT IS THE STORY OF LIFE UNFOLDING FOR A YOUNG BOY AND HIS SISTER, LEADING THEM FORWARD TO THEIR OWN DESTINIES SOMEWHERE FORWARD IN TIME. IT IS A STORY YOU WON'T FORGET WHETHER YOU'RE NINE OR NINETY. IT IS A STORY THAT WILL KEEP YOU TURNING THE PAGES, EXPERIENCING THE NOSTALGIC CHARM OF VICTORIAN ERA FOLK BLENDING IN WITH THE YOUTHS OF 1949, HAPPILY ENJOYING AND SHARING THEIR LIVES AND LOVE.

PRACTICAL JOKES, LAZY, SUNNY DAYS AROUND THE OLD SWIMMING HOLE, AN OLD PLOW HORSE TO RIDE, A TROUBLESOME COUSIN WHO CAN'T STAY OUT OF HOT WATER, A ONE-EYED, LOUD AND GREGARIOUS GREAT-AUNT NAMED GUSSIE, A PRACTICAL JOKING GREAT-AUNT NAMED GEORGE, AND A BEAUTIFUL OLDER COUSIN NAMED COKE ARE BUT A FEW OF THE MAGICAL CHARACTERS AWAITING THE READER OF A MILE OR MORE. THE RED, SANDY SOIL OF DEVINE, TEXAS WILL GET IN YOUR SHOES, MAKE A RING AROUND YOUR COLLAR, AND SETTLE IN YOUR HAIR, BUT YOU WON'T MIND AT ALL. IT IS ALL FROM A TIME WHEN MOST FAMILIES STILL GATHERED AROUND THE RADIO TO LISTEN TO THEIR FAVORITE SHOWS, AND ADVENTURES READ BY CANDLE LIGHT STILL HAPPENED WITH SOME REGULARITY.

KICK OFF YOUR SHOES, SNAP YOUR TOES, LET YOUR HAIR DOWN, HUNKER YOUR BOTTOM DOWN INTO AN EASY CHAIR AND READ "A MILE OR MORE", AND YOU WILL SHARE LIFE FROM SMACK-DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. IT'S ALL RIGHT TO SPILL A LITTLE MILK, OR GET A LITTLE SUGAR OFF A CINNAMON ROLE ON THE MANUSCRIPT. FOLKS DOWN AT "A MILE OR MORE" ARE RIGHT FORGIVING.

A MILE OR MORE IS ABOUT YOUTH, BUT IT WASN'T WRITTEN AS A STORY FOR YOUTH. INSTEAD IT IS A CELEBRATION OF LIFE AS AN ADVENTURE SEEN THROUGH YOUTHFUL EYES. NOW REMEMBER , THE LAST ONE TO GET IN BED HAS TO TURN OUT THE LIGHT AND TOSS OUT THAT DANG CAT! " A MILE OR MORE " TO BE RELEASED SOON.

"THE LORD WITH NO NAME " JAY SILVERCLOUD, AN AGING PUEBLO INDIAN IS MAKING A PILGRIMAGE TO AN ANCIENT MESA CITY OF HIS ANCESTORS ON THE RESERVATION OF FLAT ROCK, WHERE JAYE HAS LIVED OUT HIS WHOLE LIFE. JAY SILVERCLOUD IS A RELIGIOUS MAN, TRUTHFUL AND A MAN WHO SHUNS THE WHITE MAN'S WAYS. IN HIS YOUTH HE HAD MADE THIS TRIP MANY TIMES WITH HIS FRIEND BEN QUICKFOX, ONE WHO SHARED JAY'S SPIRITUAL LOVE FOR THE GREAT SPIRIT. THEY HAD SPENT MANY OF THEIR YOUTHFUL DAYS IN PILGRIMAGE AMONGST THE RUINS OF THE OLD MESA CITY OF VILLAGE OF THE CLOUDS, WHERE THEY RENEWED THEIR BOND WITH THEIR ANCESTORS WHOM THEY BELIEVED LIVED WITH THEIR GODS AT THE BOTTOM OF A LAKE DEEP UNDERGROUND. DURING JAY'S AND BEN'S YOUNG LIVES, BEN WAS KILLED IN AN AUTO ACCIDENT, AND JAY WAS LEFT ALONE. JAY NEVER GAVE UP THE SPIRITUAL LIFE HE AND BEN HAD LIVED AND SHARED, AND AS TIME PROGRESSED JAY BECAME A GREAT SPIRITUAL LEADER AMONGST HIS PEOPLE.

DURING JAY'S PRESENT TRIP TO THE OLD CITY, HE CLIMBS THE STEEP WALLS OF THE MESA, AND THEN SETTLES IN FOR THE NIGHT IN HIS USUAL MANNER. JAY SOON BEDS DOWN FOR THE NIGHT. HE IS AWAKENED TO FIND A YOUNG STRANGER SITTING BEFORE HIM. THE ROOM IS WARM WITH ONLY A SMALL FIRE TO MAKE IT THAT WAY, WHILE IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE QUITE COLD, AND THERE IS NO DOOR TO SHUT OUT THE COLD. JAY IS AT FIRST ALARMED, AND THEN HE BEGINS TO THINK IT IS SOMEONE FROM THE WORLD BEYOND WHERE HIS ANCESTORS STAY. THE YOUNG MAN AND HE BEGIN A CONVERSATION THAT IS ABOUT TRUTH THAT LEADS TO EXCHANGES THAT CONFUSE, AND YET CALM JAY AT THE SAME TIME. JAY IS FINALLY FED AND LOOKED AFTER BY THE YOUNG MAN. WHILE JAY SLEEPS, A LONG PERIOD OF TIME PASSES UNKNOWN TO HIM. MYSTICAL EVENTS HAPPEN THAT SEEM DREAM-LIKE TO JAY, AND TO HIM TIME SEEMS TO STAND STILL. THESE TALKS GO ON AND ON UNTIL, AT LAST, THE YOUNG MAN TELLS JAY THEY WILL LEAVE THE MESA, AND AS THEY DO, JAY SEES GREAT CHANGES IN THE DESERT, A PLACE THAT HAS BECOME GREEN AND LUSH. PLANTS AND TREES WITH FRUIT AND FLOWERS ARE EVERYWHERE TO BE SEEN. BIRDS AND ANIMALS THAT DON'T BELONG THERE ARE PRESENT.

WHEN JAY AND THE YOUNG MAN ARRIVE BACK AT THE VILLAGE OF FLAT ROCK, THEY ARE GREETED BY SOME OF JAY'S LOCAL FRIENDS, INCLUDING FATHER LEARY, THE LOCAL CATHOLIC PRIEST, AND NENA WILLOW, A YOUNG PUEBLO WOMAN FROM THE VILLAGE WHO IS NOW A REPORTER. THEY ARE AMAZED TO SEE JAY COME OUT OF THE GREENING DESERT AFTER A YEAR AND THREE MONTHS ALIVE, AND WITH A STRANGE YOUNG MAN WHO HAS A COYOTE THAT FOLLOWS HIM, LIKE A PET. JAY INTRODUCES THE YOUNG MAN, AND IN DOING SO ADMITS THAT HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW THE YOUNG MAN'S NAME. EXCHANGES ARE MADE BETWEEN JAY AND THE GROUP GATHERED IN WHICH JAY EXPRESSES HIS BELIEF THAT THE YOUNG MAN IS THE GREAT SPIRIT, COMING TO THE PUEBLOS TO LEAD THEM BACK TO THEIR SPIRITUAL ROOTS.

LATER, FATHER LEARY, AND THEN NENA, BEGIN TO SUSPECT THAT THIS MAN IS CHRIST, AND A SERIES OF EVENTS, MADE CURIOUS TO THE GOVERNMENT BECAUSE OF THE GREENING OF THE DESERT, SOMETHING IMPOSSIBLE, WOULD LEAD TO NEWS SERVICES BEING ALERTED BY AN OBSERVANT PILOT. SOON ACE TELEVISION NEWSMAN, CHANCE DOBBINS OF THE NEWS SHOW, CHANCE ENCOUNTERS, IS WINGING HIS WAY TO NEW MEXICO TO INVESTIGATE THE ANOMALY. WHEN HE ARRIVES HE SEES WITH HIS OWN EYES THE MIRACULOUS CHANGES IN THE DESERT AND CHANCE FINDS HIMSELF UNSURE OF WHAT HE IS SEEING, BUT IS DETERMINED TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF WHAT IS GOING ON.

SOON HE MEETS THE YOUNG STRANGER, WHO BY THIS TIME FATHER LEARY IS SURE IS CHRIST, YET NO ONE CALLS HIM BY THAT NAME. EVERYONE SKIRTS THE ISSUE, WHILE ALL THE TIME THE ISSUE OF TRUTH THAT THE YOUNG MAN ESPOUSES DRAWS THEM ALL CLOSER TO THE SAME CONCLUSION. SOON CHANCE IS DEEPLY INVOLVED IN AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EVENTS THAT ARE DRAWING IN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE COMING TO SEE THE YOUNG MAN, AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TRYING TO FIND OUT WHY THE DESERT IS BLOOMING. THE OFFICIALS BEGIN TO TRY TO INTERVENE AND TAKE CONTROL. WORLD REACTION TO THE CLAIMS THAT THE YOUNG MAN IS CHRIST CAUSES WORLDWIDE PROBLEMS, AND SOON THE FED'S ARE COMING TO STOP THE GROWING MOVEMENTS. NENA BEGINS TO TRY TO CONVINCE CHANCE THAT THE YOUNG MAN IS INDEED CHRIST, FOR SHE IS BECOMING ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED WITH CHANCE AND WISHES FOR HIM TO SURVIVE.

THE YOUNG MAN ALL THIS WHILE PREACHES THE TRUTH, AND THAT THE NEW COVENANT IS TO BE ENACTED AND ADMINISTERED BY CHILDREN, SOMETHING THAT SEEMS ABSURD TO LEADERS EVERYWHERE. THE WORLD LEADERS ARE EQUALLY UPSET THAT IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT THE NEW MILLENNIUM IS TO BEGIN, AND THOSE WHO ACCEPT THE NEW COVENANT WILL LIVE A THOUSAND YEARS. ALL THOSE WHO DO NOT WILL BEGIN TO PERISH FROM THE EARTH IN 12 DAYS. THE TENSIONS CONTINUE TO GROW AS THE FED'S THROW THEIR MIGHT AT THE SMALL VILLAGE, ONLY TO FIND THE MIGHT OF THE YOUNG MAN IS GREATER, WITH PLAGUES, VIPERS, FIRE, AND STORMS FOR THEM TO CONTEND WITH. FROM AFAR NUCLEAR WAR IS LAUNCHED AND THWARTED, AND AS THE FINAL DAYS APPROACH AN ANNOUNCEMENT IS MADE THAT A SPECIAL ENVOY WILL APPEAR OUT OF THE LUSH GREENING THAT IS BY THEN KNOWN AS EDEN, A PERSON WHOM ALL SHALL RECOGNIZE ON SIGHT. AS THIS PERSON EMERGES, THE YOUNG MAN HAS ANNOUNCED, "A GREAT RIVER, PROPHET'S RIVER, WILL FLOW OUT OF THE ANCIENT MESA VILLAGE THAT WILL CLEANSE THE EARTH AND ITS WATERS OF ALL MAN'S ERRORS."

DURING THE LAST DAYS THE YOUNG MAN DELIVERS HIS FINAL MESSAGES TO THE WORLD, AND THE PEOPLE OF THE LOCAL PUEBLO VILLAGE FIND THEMSELVES INVOLVED IN BEING AMONGST THE CHOSEN PEOPLE. CHANCE, JAY, NENA, FATHER LEARY, AND OTHERS BECOME THE FOCAL POINT OF A NEW RELIGIOUS ORDER THEY ACCEPT, BUT DO NOT UNDERSTAND. LIVING A THOUSAND YEARS, AND BECOMING RELIGIOUSLY IMPORTANT TO CHRISTIANITY ARE EVENTS THAT LEAVE THE TRUE BELIEVERS PUZZLING OVER HOW THEY ARE TO LIVE OUT THEIR LIVES.

ATTEMPTS ARE MADE ON THE LIVES OF THE PRINCIPALS, AND AS PROMISED, NO HARM COMES TO THEM. "THE LORD WITH NO NAME" LEAVES THE VILLAGE AND THE SURVIVORS TO CARRY ON AND ENFORCE THE NEW COVENANT DURING THE NEW MILLENNIUM. JAY SILVERCLOUD EMERGES AS THE FIRST TO GRASP THE PEACE AND BEAUTY OF IT ALL. AS IN THE BEGINNING, JAY AND HIS LIFE ARE BASED ON SPIRITUALISM, AND HE ACCEPTS HIS ROLL AS PART OF HIS LIFE PLANNED BY THE GREAT SPIRIT.

THE STORY IS TENSION FILLED, WITH EACH CHARACTER HAVING TO FACE A PERSONAL DECISION AS WHAT HE OR SHE MUST DO. MUST THEY BELIEVE THE YOUNG MAN TO BE CHRIST AND SURVIVE? OR MUST THEY BELIEVE THAT THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE AND THAT HE IS THE ANTICHRIST? THE TIME LEFT TO DECIDE IS VERY SHORT, AND AS THE DAYS PASS THE CHAOS GROWS. ONLY TIME CAN REVEAL THE PROPHECIES AND THEIR TRUTHS. TRUTH IS THE THEME, AND THE FUTURE OF MANKIND IS AT STAKE. WHO IS RIGHT? COULD YOU, AND WOULD YOU MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES? BILLIONS MUST DO THE SAME, AND IN THE END ONLY THE BELIEVERS ARE TO BE LEFT TO DECIDE THE FUTURE OF MANKIND. THE SIMPLE RULES ARE SET, YET THEY LEAVE THE SURVIVORS TO MAKE THEM WORK. IT IS UP TO MAN AS IT HAS BEEN IN THE PAST TO WORK OUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH.

MANY OF THE SECRETS LIE IN EDEN, FOR IT IS THE FOUNTAINHEAD OF LIFE FOR THE NEXT MILLENNIUM, PROVIDING FOOD AND SPIRITUAL SUSTENANCE FOR THE MASSES. HOW WILL IT ALL END, AND HOW WILL IT BE POSSIBLE TO SURVIVE A THOUSAND YEARS? IT IS UP TO THE TRUE BELIEVERS TO FIND OUT. IF IT IS JUST A FLUKE, THE WHOLE WORLD HAS BEEN DUPED. IF IT IS THE REAL CHRIST, IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION EACH LIVING PERSON MUST DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES.

THIS IS A CHARACTER-DRIVEN PLOT THAT CARRIES A THEME OF TRUTH, AND A SEARCH FOR ONE'S TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE AND OUR RELIGIOUS FUTURE OR DESTINY. THE LORD WITH NO NAME IS PRESENTED AS A MILLENNIUM BOOK AND SHOULD BE PUBLISHED BEFORE THE ADVENT OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM FOR BEST IMPACT AND SALES POSSIBILITIES. "THE LORD WITH NO NAME " SOON TO BE RELEASED.

"THE SINNERS OF CHINABERRY HILL" IS A RIVETING, EXCITING LOOK INTO THE SOUL OF A SMALL EAST TEXAS TOWN THAT DEFINES A NEW ERA IN MAN'S HISTORY. A NEW TERM IS INTRODUCED TO DIVIDE THE PRESENT FROM THE PAST. IT IS CALLED ACE, AN ACRONYMN FOR "AFTER CELLULAR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING".

"THE SINNERS OF CHINABERRY HILL" IS ALSO A STUDY OF SOCIETY'S REACTIONS TO GENETIC ENGINEERING, TOLD THROUGH THE LIVES OF AN AVERAGE, SMALL EAST TEXAS TOWN'S CITIZENS. CHINABERRY HILL IS LIKE ANY SMALL TOWN WHERE PEOPLE LIVE OUT THEIR DAILY LIVES. THE NOVEL FOCUSES ON THE SINNERS OF THE TOWN. THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE TOWN IS EXPLORED IN DETAIL, ALLOWING THE READER TO UNDERSTAND THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE CITIZENS. THE DAY APPROACHES WHEN THEY FIND THEY ARE TO BE CHOSEN AS THE FIRST COMMUNITY TO BE GENETICALLY ALTERED, SO THAT THEY MAY LIVE 170 YEARS.

THE LOCAL CITIZENS ARE CALLED TO A TOWN MEETING WHERE THE LOCAL DOCTOR EXPLAINS THE TERMS OF THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN A GENETIC STUDY THAT WILL CONTINUE FOR THEIR LIFETIMES. NO ONE IN THE COMMUNITY MAY EVER LEAVE. A MANAGEMENT GROUP COMES TO STUDY THEM AND PROVIDE FOR THEIR CARE. FOR THE MOST PART, THE COMMUNITY IS ENCOURAGED TO CONTINUE LIFE IN AS NORMAL A MANNER AS POSSIBLE. AT FIRST THE TOWN'S CITIZENS BECOME EXCITED WITH THE PROSPECTS, NOT FULLY REALIZING THEY WILL LIVE 170 YEARS, OR SOME GREAT PORTION OF TIME IN THIS SMALL COMMUNITY. ALL OF LIFE FOR CHINA BERRY HILL'S CITIZENS, AND ALL OF THEIR HUMAN ACTIVITY IS LIMITED TO SHARING THEIR ADVENTURES, DESIRES AND MISGIVINGS. .

MUCH TO THE SURPRISE OF THE CONTROL GROUP, THINGS BEGIN BY THE CITIZENS GOING ON A YOUTHFUL SPREE OF RECKLESS ABANDON. EACH MORNING AS THE OLDER CITIZENS LOOK INTO THEIR MIRRORS, THEY SEE THE MIRACLE OF YOUTH SLOWLY RETURNING. NO ONE, NOT EVEN THE CONTROL GROUP KNOWS HOW FAR THESE CHANGES WILL GO, OR WHAT ANYONE WILL BE DOING LONG TERM. AN AWAKENING OF DESIRES, LONG HIDDEN FOR SOME, AND LONG FORGOTTEN BY OTHERS ERUPTS IN A PERIOD OF SELF-INDULGENCE.

AS THE YEARS SLIP BY AND THEY ARE THE ONLY HUMANS ALIVE THAT REMEMBER THE BEGINNINGS OF THEIR NEW LIVES, OTHER THAN WHAT IS ON VIDEOTAPE, THE COMMUNITY TAKES ON A NEW AND REVOLUTIONARY IDEOLOGY. THE CONTROL GROUP IS CONSTANTLY AMAZED AT THE CHANGES IN THE INTERESTS AND FOCUS OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE WORLD'S OLDEST SOCIETY. ALL THE WORLD WATCHES, AND WAITS, HOPING THAT THEY WILL BE THE FIRST TO BE ABLE TO JOIN THEM IN THEIR QUEST FOR LONG LIFE.

READ "THE SINNERS OF CHINABERRY HILL" TO FIND OUT JUST HOW HUMANITY FAIRS IN THE SEARCH FOR YOUTH. THIS STORY WILL KEEP YOU UP NIGHTS, LOOKING IN OVER THE SHOULDERS OF THE MOST INTERESTING CITIZENS OF THE WORLD. THE WHOLE WORLD HAS BECOME ADDICTED TO WATCHING THEM, LISTENING TO THEIR ESCAPADES, THEIR TRIUMPHS, AND THEIR FAILURES. THEY BECOME THE FOCUS OF AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF VOYEURS, WISHING, SCHEMING, AND TRYING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ELITE GROUP. MARRIAGE PROPOSALS COME IN TO THE SMALL COMMUNITY BY THE MILLIONS. BEAUTIFUL WOMEN TRY EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO ENTICE THE "INSIDER MEN" TO MARRY THEM.

HOW WILL IT END FOR THE SINNERS OF CHINABERRY HILL? HOW WILL THEIR LIVES AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE CHANGE AS THEY FIND THEMSELVES CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. WHAT WILL BECOME OF THEIR CHILDREN, BORN AFTER "THE CHANGE"? HOW DOES THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY RESPOND TO THEIR ACTIONS AND THEIR ALTERED GENETIC STATUS? READ THIS EXCITING NOVEL BASED ON SCIENTIFIC POSSIBILITY IN OUR LIFETIME. "THE SINNERS OF CHINABERRY HILL" COMING IN 1999.

AWARD WINNING ESSAYS

Excerpts from an essay:

"Truth, Myths: Their Impact On Society"

By Patrick Nate, R.A. Copyright © 1998
Condensed from a novel by Patrick Nate, R.A.
"The Lord With No Name"
Copyright © 1998

Condensed version: Copyright © 1998


Since ancient times, we as beings began to think of ourselves as having a spirit, a being separate from our living bodies. This mystical material, the soul, has been described in many previous attempts, yet few have come up with any grand assumptions of true scientific interest, leaving much to conjecture and interpretation. In science fiction it might be described as a "File of Conscience" that governs our higher functions, thus separating us from the beasts. The most enlightening evidence of this "File of Conscience" is our knowledge of our own death, that we can kill others, and that we feel the results of that action. As far as our knowledge takes us, we are the only animal on earth capable of knowing this, yet in the past few years research of gorillas, apes, and other animals seems to indicate they, even as infants can know that their parents were murdered, dismembered. What does all this mean to us as human beings? What is the relevance of these lesser-primates possibilities compared to our own state of being? What impact does spiritual identity known as the soul have on us as a species and our society?

I bring these ideas forward to illuminate the subject of truth itself. A truth can be defined as something we as a society or an individual have no doubt is factual. Such events we've collectively had no doubt about at all for centuries before, suddenly can be revealed as entirely wrong. In our society, in our personal lives, it has happened to us all. Suddenly we are faced with redefining what had been a truth, and in our redefining we accept the new truth, as we know it, and for a time mankind or individuals are again satisfied with that redefined truth.

Humanity, all over this world has taken up truths of all kinds, and possibly, the one that lies closest to the heart of a people is truth described as religious doctrine. How many truths of religious doctrine are there in the entire world? I dare say if you asked a few million people at random across the face of the earth, the answers would vary considerably. Each known truth that has been accepted by different societies over the long and short term is subject to validity by other religious societies.

As a collective species, even those who profess to believe in the same things, such as the New Testament, and the Son of God, Jesus Christ, religious organizations have come up with an enormous variance in their interpretations of what has been said, what is important, and what is to be accepted as gospel. We have in the Western world a multitude of religious truths based on the Bible. In Christian doctrine, we are taught to believe in the message of Jesus, His simple truths.

In considering the Bible as a source of truth, if one is to take the point of view that the New Testament is the way to enlightenment, salvation and eternal life, then you would believe that all concentration should fall on those words. It is after all, the latest word in the Christian religion. The New Testament clearly states that it is the significant historical document in the Christian trail of faith. There is no need for conjecture amongst Christians, for the messages of Christ are clearly there. If you glean through the New Testament, there are exactly 109 passages that have the word truth as a subject. Many are about very specific events, and some are direct quotations from Jesus. Some were spoken after Christ's death. We only know that proof of His life through the ages is in the proliferation of His messages, and that we have accepted Him universally, so to speak.

Right and wrong are both fact, and they are open to interpretation as to their validity. What is known is really what is finally accepted by most for some time, perhaps since antiquity, as are our myths, and the shorter term facts that we consider as true as a collective society. Many societies, Christian and other societies, believe that if it is written it is destiny, while others so believe it is the individuals that take their lives in hand and change history, destiny for others. Since we are existing in an environment created by such ideas all the time, we can make some judgments based on historical facts.

Myths and truths can become a judgment, a separate step in the acceptance or rejection of such truths. They become a truth born of grand assumptions; these aren't able to stand the rigors of scrutiny. The belief that all of biblical prophecy will unfold as written is still conjecture. This isn't because something that is now written is a lie, but it is simply a known fact that God can and does change His mind. Mark Twain refers to this in his Letters From The Earth. God had changed his mind and his attitude considerably from the writing of the Old Testament, until the New Testament was written. Even a deity can change his mind, and if this is so, biblical history can change as well. It could change at any time if God but wants it to, even if it is written otherwise. It is not the words that make the truth, but the truth that makes the words in biblical history, including biblical history that is still being written.

None of us truly knows the outcome of the second time Christ comes to earth, and yet by faith we carry forth those truths, as we know them. In that light we venture forward seeking only truths of our existence and our singular destinies. In the end, we face it all alone, and we go to our maker armed only with our faith. What awaits us all is a truth, still it is difficult for most of us to comprehend in real terms, for we don't conceive ideas of life as eternal, or being able to leap time and space, cheat relativity, passing go, going to another dimension, heaven; conceive the term "not of this earth". We don't really conceive it, we believe it; therefore it is.... It shall be.

Is it valid?

Is it valid only if it is what is believed by faith, and was first cast into stone by a society of ancient origin? Is not contemporary society capable of taking that original information, and through analysis able to refine the old ideas? Some think that everything religious is indeed cast in stone, yet the reality of our lives makes that seem unlikely. Since only the truth as it unfolds is reality, and all our preconceived ideas, whether from ancient text or not may turn out differently than we had understood.

This is the basis of understanding the truths that drive our society: Truths that are belied distorted and warped as we live out our daily existence. Authority, say, and might are in the hands of a few throughout the world, and the rest must bow to their whims. When our reckoning finally comes, the truths that underlie our society will be evident and indisputable. Each individual will have to face the responsibility of answering for his or her beliefs in such a time, and perhaps our own existence will be held in the balance.

An Essay:

From the novel

"The Sinners of China Berry Hill"

Copyright © 1998

"Our Evolving Culture, And How Our Judgment Becomes Law"

Lk:19:22: And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:


Civilizations throughout history have been judgmental of nearly every human relationship that exits. Homo Sapiens choosing not to limit their judgments to the narrow fields of humankind, took upon themselves to judge all that exits: The heavens, the gods, the land, the sea, the air, the beasts about them. The record of man is deeply ingrained in being judgmental as well as being judged, ruled and rated on all levels of existence. This propensity for cultured humans to judge was never limited to the gods, and to be fair to the gods, in the Christian New Testament there are only 97 references to the word judge, 13 to judgment, and 7 pertaining to rule.

In contrast, over the countless centuries mankind has logged millions of their judgments. Humankind's wish to be the supreme judge of all others, the whole of them has left a legacy of judgment that has never been satiated during any generation's moment. During this time, as noted, the Christian New Testament has but a handful. There are more references to flesh in that book, 132 to be exact, slightly edging out judgmental references.

Rules handed down to humanity in the form of laws have become the norm to guide society in a manner that keeps one's thumb under the screw, the coffers full, the rebellious in check, and the slacker indebted to his social peers until his deathbed. Judgment has always begun nose-to-nose, and from that ethereal, wondrous, chimerical point of view outward, we have led our social structure to burden its subjects with purposeful consternation, anxiety, and dread of all other's points of view. God can not Himself help those souls caught up in the vindictive malice perpetrated by those who lay out the law, the judgments and rules by which we are forced to live whether they prove to be right or wrong.

In all this forceful manipulation of mankind, we as passengers in this sea of life, once born, must find a way to survive. Some find that being the strongest: One of those who can espouse judgment on neighbors is the best and only way to survive. For the meek, those least able to accomplish this form of browbeating, manipulating, arm-twisting philosophy, a well-plated soul, and deafness are thought to be of some help. From such polarized, terroristic, boorish, and lordly views passed down from the absolutes of the kingships, dukedoms, principalities and all the other ruling fundamentals, we as a species evolved what we know today as Western Civilization. The average citizen has been successfully layered under all those judgments that have become the laws by which all those who go about their daily business must abide.

Throughout America, Europe and Western civilization we find our lives, even those who choose not to be setting themselves up as judge, being singled out by all who find it their cause to do so. These intrusions into our own private lives, wishes, thoughts and deeds are forever a source of stress never meant for mankind to bear. Ordinary people in most-ordinary communities are caught up in this practice of universal judgment on some level, with regularity. The situations these confrontations cause are the subject of countless books, wars, deaths, polls, discussions, plays, movies, and television shows that exploit man's ability to wish punishing those persons having other cultural views than those ruling individuals who desire to be our undesired protagonist.

Cultures the world over are diverse, but few have existed without the burdens of such judgments. Perhaps some of the South Sea Islands have been fairly utopian, existing with few rules. In those societies, before the advent of Western culture's influence, such societies successfully shared all they had without controlling but the most fundamental of behaviors. Examples of such are murder and beating of a fellow human. All foods, all possessions, all shelter was obtained through work shared as a common goal. In these cultures, most of what we consider our own Western taboos remained acceptable social standards. Women shared sexual involvement with many suitors, and it was considered little more than amusement. Even in early Arabian culture women were able to have multiple husbands and could divorce any of them at will.

Clothing in some island cultures was not needed to keep one's person safe. In many of these island cultures, clothing was more an adornment than a social judgment on nudity, and clothes remained an option. Obtaining sufficient food was often the responsibility of all that lived in the community. Children were free to wander, play, and enjoy a stress-free society. No man paid for services rendered, for there was no inborn need to make another indebted. The gods were not vengeful in that manner. Some societies did feel they must sacrifice a living being to appease natural forces such as volcanoes, storms, and disease. Usually these gods were not otherwise present in their daily social lives, but instead they were dealt with by special priests within the society.

The few island societies that lived in peace and harmony were beyond most men's dreams, until the advent of sailing around the world. When these societies were first discovered Western man could not leave well enough alone. In short order those judgmental ancestors from the West began to seek their vengeance on those fortunate enough to have lived in such a stress-free environment, piling all the Western guilt, judgment, mistrust and pious indignation on the unfortunate islanders.

In just a few generations, those societies began to suffer the same ills as the rest of the civilized world. Murder, rape, pillage, and a host of other social plagues began to erode what had been a most desirable existence. Greed replaced generations of shared social graces that allowed all in the island communities to share without ownership ever being considered. In one such case, the desires to solve all social ills by providing money and loans to very small governments caused a surplus of goods. The natural custom is to give willingly of any possessions; to any whom requested such items caused a constant shuffling of one family or another moving to a different location. Just the mere statement that someone desired to do so, was enough to cause the upheaval of whole villages in a merry-go-round of ownership.

In early Western civilization, about 1000 BC, the Greeks began to move outward to the islands of the Aegean Sea. One such group of Greeks became the Ionians. To put it short, these hardy, undaunted people decided that their small island could not possibly sustain them, so they in their hour of need developed trade with Egyptians and Babylonians from whom they imparted knowledge of the sciences. In those great societies, the great rulers and their priests kept knowledge close at hand, for they learned the power of such control early.

The Ionians became masters of much of this imported technology. Their order began to use it to improve navigation. In a short time, they were able to use this to their own financial and social benefit. Their own small world demanded that they not fight amongst themselves, so they threw aside the theocratic outlook of their more powerful neighbors and entrusted mutual needs to design their own society. With time to ponder philosophy, generations soon became entrenched in ideals of man. These Ionians also invented ways to use nature to aid them in their quest for a better life. Soon the Ionians began to use coins of precious metals to barter for goods amongst themselves and elsewhere. Add to this the Ionians abilities to understand the principals of geometry, thus developing appreciation for astronomy, and before long one begins to see that opinions of opposition were bound to be expounded upon by other social groups.

Rational thoughts led the early philosophers to follow what they felt were natural laws that would in turn apply to man's development. There forward, man has been applying those laws of philosophical differences, evolved out of those early arguments into the maelstrom in which we find ourselves today. It is not idle conjecture about what needs to change that has become the concern, but what must stay as it was, that is most considered in its stead. As man has developed a steady base on which he could rationalize his world, science has beaten a fracture into his every coveted belief. Western man has chosen to grasp certain values as static, when apparently nothing remains static, and only narrow-minded views infected with inability to accept the concept of constant change is predictably a difficult path for many.

Changes have always come at great costs, and no philosopher, or otherwise, have been able to put a hold on science once it was out of the bag. Churches, autocratic, plutocratic, theocratic, aristocratic, nor democratic societies have ever been able to halt its curiosity and ability to change what is to be judged by a society. The social structure of any society is forever lagging far behind its assessment of what is now the known universe on all levels. Our feelings about our environment, religions, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships with those about us are constantly under scrutiny. The way we are treated, and of course the way we must treat others, is constantly being reviewed and updated. Those of us who attempt to drop out of society and abandon our social fabric have even been chased down, and with great effort are redeemed at extraordinary cost. None must be left to divorce themselves from the social agonies we all bestow upon our fellow man, nor escape taxation. One must not shun the benefits as set by man.

The town of China Berry Hill portrayed in this novel is a very small community with a tradition of Prairie Puritanism, handed down across the years from the founders. There were those in the beginning of this community who felt they must judge for all the others. There were also those who remained outside the law by their force, but in time, as society began to tame the West with the judgmental legislation that representative government bestowed on men and women of still free souls, their hard won freedoms fell. These pioneering souls were far removed from such legislative activity, and a backlash began to develop. It took over a hundred years to quash the majority of the freedoms of those people who had moved farther out West to maintain such independence in thought and deed. The code-law of the American West has died slowly and is still doing so.

As the more civilized generations of China Berry Hill became layered with these judgments and experienced the pressures of the restrictions, the people became severely divided on their outlook about what constituted valid law, and how it applied to them. Those with tough backsides decided to remain rebels until the end, and those who felt the pious need to control continued along in the traditions of observing what they felt needed changing. Then, using law, freedom's real boundary for the whole of the community, the county, the state, this country became forever castrated, gelded, altered.

There are always those who say there can never be enough laws to govern a wicked world, and there are still those who say that there are laws to make one appear wicked when one is not.

We are all familiar with the famous observation, "Those who govern least govern best." There is merit to the observation, yet we need some basis of order to maintain a society with complex goals such as our own, as opposed to the simple nature of a self-sustaining island community like was spoken of earlier in this examination of culture over the generations of Western man. The story of China Berry Hill is an examination of the world about us as we are now, with antagonist individuals wishing to impose on us the ultimate in control. We have begun to make all our descriptions of social status rather generic, and with this, we have chipped away at the barriers between the domains of man and woman. With all these changes, laws have been enacted to protect the society's feelings, their ethnic identity, and in this period we have experienced technological innovations that may lead to much longer lives, even perhaps as long as in Old Testament text.

The great social changes are in direct opposition to the logic of the older societies of our Western world, and try as we may these crusty old remnants will die a slow death. What must the people of China Berry Hill think of what is to become of them? They are to live long enough to decide much about social issues. They are just beginning to deal with social changes that took place over a hundred years to mature, and now technology is creeping up on them, imposing its in-your-face reality. The most pious citizens of China Berry Hill will attempt to judge it away; change the law. Others will embrace the changes, and still there will be those who long for the old days. Each must face the changes, even if only because those changes are a reality that the citizens reproach out of ignorance, fear, and mistrust. They must harbor mistrust in the face of their own existence, and now living a long time has become something other than what they wish it to be.

The changes in China Berry Hill come at the expense of all, and all shall be involved in their own way, like it or not. Contemporary life is a complex continuation of the truths of the past, the truths of the moment, and the undeniable truths these changes cause. Most lies are factually based on truth: Truth that cannot be faced or willing compromised. If one faces a lie with the same recognition as that of a truth, the underlying truth becomes apparent. Flailing one's fists in the face of social and scientific evolution, two great opposing forces on a collision course forever throughout the history of man, is now difficult for society to hide. Our failures to embrace change, and to relax the judgment has been highly detrimental in our efforts to use these new sciences to their best possible means. Society in the Western World can now provide sustenance for itself, with extreme surpluses, yet there are still those who hunger. We are able to conquer disease, yet we still suffer the afflictions of the ages because the providers of the technological solutions that drive economics shun changes themselves that would undermine their financial base. When simple compounds are found to be curative for the masses, the industry may shun the knowledge at the expense of the afflicted.

The civilization and culture we know is certainly able to educate to college level its entire people; it is only a matter of will to do so. When education becomes the champion of campuses instead of sports, we shall have indeed matured. The Western world has always been able to overcome adversity of all sorts. Certainly, the population is capable of undertaking such an endeavor. It is though we fear our grasp of knowledge being upgraded, with the advent of universal knowledge will threaten our known existence, that of being controlled by bureaucrats. We fear complete knowledge most, and when the Catholic Church lost control of knowledge, they became the last great bastions of the keys to social and technological redressing. Now, in our own time the bureaucrats, separated by church and states have realized, perhaps too late, their own failures of the aforementioned governing bodies to stop cultural changes by controlling technology and personal freedom.

Today, as in Pasteur's time, we bridge a new world with the ability to conquer that which man fears the most: Change. In his time, he found great opposition, even when his goals were to rid mankind of dreaded and deadly diseases. Now in our own time, with genetic manipulation and beyond and as we begin to grasp the keys to life, many more terrible afflictions of mankind will fall. There are always in these times, as in the past, those who say it will bring our end. These nay-sayers will find all the same parallels pointing to God's vengeful ending of all life just in time, just so folks don't have to face the inevitable changes to come. The individuals whom forecast doom must soon face the possibility of living hundreds of years, simply because technology will bring us to this reality. In turn, we must face the tasks of solving our differences, and expanding on our acceptance of all living things as an integrated society that is interdependent on one-another. Our reasons for finding conjecture at every junction, here or in a heaven is parallel.

We must learn to get along on a very high level, for soon we will indeed be faced with the reality of not only existing for a very long time, but needing to embrace the reality of what we will accomplish with longer life spans. Getting old and dying has always been our biblical out. We have known man could not possibly live long enough to see what we have wrought upon distant generations.

In this novel, the people of China Berry Hill must go about knowing they will be looking at one-another for a very long time, making decisions on how things are, and not how things were. There is no turning back, but in reality, there never has been. We, like the people of China Berry Hill, are just now beginning to realize that our death wishes for humanity, God's revenge, threatens ever more to become an opposite. It will become an opposite as death is held at bay long enough for humanity to experience insight from outstanding longevity, cradled in the arms of perfect health. Science will continue to beat the odds despite the pessimism and denial of man's ability to rise above adversity.

In the biblical Garden of Eden, God the Father granted knowledge, and in doing so never said that we must only learn about subjects that a few consider acceptable. All technological changes affect man's grasp on his commonality, his comfortable view of life as man thinks static values allow. Even when the benefits are finally realized after experiences clearly showed the benefits, man has found fault and dug in his heels, slowing and inhibiting change.

It is an invitation for man to lift himself to use his given knowledge to grow, to learn to cope and expand his universe. The mistakes we have made are many, and the achievements we have made are astounding. When those who control for the sake of what the Ionians began as commercial societies based on the realities of their natural resource's limitations, and then used technology to expand society, must now, for future generations, give up the commercial sense of enlightenment. All must find another way that is truly just. There is no easy road; for many philosophers have attempted to sway the masses in many ways to find some utopian way to exist. The abilities of man to use technology to bind social freedoms and expand the worth of all have often been scorned. No matter how benevolent a new adventure in social-technological change begins, there are always those who want to impose totalitarian views on those serving to make it come about, as with failed communism and many before it. The better intentions of Rome and Greece were put aside for the enslavement of others; individuals forced to tolerate those societies's biding by supporting society in bondage.

Those failures need not be repeated somewhere in the future, and we need not think just because we have failed in the past that we will always fail. Failure is experienced in the trying, and in trying we discover new thoughts, new meanings. Education shall begin to free us of our burdens, and as soon as it becomes universal, our society will explode with answers, and yes, new and intriguing questions. Education is the true answer to freedom, and those fortunate enough to be around when age is no longer a factor in allowing us an out on our mistakes, a great beacon will shine upon mankind. We shall all walk in the new light of our shared knowledge and accomplishments.

We indeed shall overcome.

We shall indeed begin to be responsible for generations still to come to be able to live, as they should, without the stresses of our errors. It is never in error to strive to do our best, but it has always been in error to exclude any single human being from the effort to lift us above the clamor of industrial preservation. We as a species must embrace technology, and technology's leaders must embrace the species, while beginning to see it not as the object of its monetary survival, but as a natural treasure.

We are all the people of China Berry Hill. We have all become the antagonists. We have all turned a blind eye on our potential. We are all afraid of where technology leads us, and we sit in our darkened corners and try to block out the responsibility that living far beyond our years shall bring. Perhaps, just perhaps, longevity will in the end be the saving grace we have always needed. If man lives long enough to have the need to walk in the path of errors he has made, then will we experience, and be benefited by the mending of our ways.

"PONY WARRIOR" WESTERN PROSE CATEGORY WINNER OF "TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT" STARBURST JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AUTHORS AND ARTISTS

"Pony Warrior"
For The Brave and Proud Comanches
Of the Great Texas Plains.
By Patrick Nate
Copyright © 1998

The pony warriors were bronzed and weathered, as one with their half-wild mounts.
Fleet when on foot, striding the path without a sound, supportive of their brothers when the battle cry rings. Comanche warrior, war bonnet flowing in a spring breeze. His cunning intimates where nature's bounty resides. Here Comanches hunt beneath the forest's green cloak.

At morn's light, the horsemen catch their steeds in haste. The buffaloes are passing. The thunderous cadence of their hooves alerts the warrior's senses. Flint arrows packed in leather quiver; great bows strong, smooth with age quickly gathered. Warrior's eyes meet warrior's eyes, while scouts peer forward, scanning the quarry they soon must engage.

They glide across the prairie now two-by-two. At the rear of the group, young braves yell loudly to hide their nervous anticipation. It is their test. The council had met the evening before saying, "Let the young braves go forward, to learn and explore."

The youths dressed for the hunt and painted their steeds, eager to coax out the bounty and make the hunt.

Let the Great Spirit lead.

Pony hooves pounding in rhythmic beat, bodies pressed down upon body, man, and his horse. Comanche kinship with nature makes them one with the land, the earth, and the sky. The lead scout veers left, then thunders across the dale, points out distant buffalo, and calls to his braves.

The great bull senses the chase, points his head toward the ground, pawing, bellowing, and running towards higher places. The cows and the calves circle, racing to his side without fear. The ancient race has begun. Comanches and the herd turn towards the Western sun.

Sun Dog and White Wolf are in the lead. While the herd races by, braves spur their chargers. Sun Dog is racing as the wind with incredible speed. Rapidly, he fires arrows from behind the neck of his great horse. Flint arrows plunge deep in a buffalo's heart, and the great beast goes down in a head-spinning crash.

Bronzed comrades rain death on their ancient prey, while wounded animals grow weary, losing pace. Their great bodies struggle to keep the speed. Ponies pull up and turn back. The squaws are already harvesting the meat of the first beasts that fell. In time, the clan will gather and share the tales of the great hunt, rest, and feast.

Comanches. Pony warriors born to the saddle. Surely no braver horseman could bring forth the fray. Today was the hunt. All went well. Many buffaloes fell. The harvest is welcome. The winter was long; now the mighty Comanches sing their hunt song, while children play, squaws tend the fires, and young braves become men. The circle is complete.

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