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" Call me Ishmael "
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Jack Hennesy, an injured veteran of the fight for Southern autonomy discovers a valley made sacred by the sacrifice
of Innocent blood, and takes the dead couple's newborn to raise him as his own son on the land where his parents
died; aided by Big Keith Trudeau, a Black ex-slave turned Buckaroo who chanced by and saw what he hoped to accomplish,
but couldn't possibly achieve on his own because of his ruined health. Raised as a white youth, at sixteen the young
man is suddenly confronted by two of the men who murdered his parents, now prosperous businessmen prepared to make life 'better'
for the people around them. Simply killing them isn't the answer even after the questionable 'accident'
of his foster fathers` deaths cedes them the valuable ranch they wrestled from Nature by their bare hands
and grit when no one else wanted the Valley. By his skill, natural cunning and determination, Ishmael uses what
he has learned about the White Eyes while living among them as one of them, as he prepares to avenge the deaths
of both sets of his parents and stake a claim that will allow his infant son to live in peace in the valley
of his ancestors sacrifices! . |
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July 8th, 2011 It took me by surprise to realize my enjoyment and commitment to this story rose from the fact I had transposed my own life experiences for that of the boy. I was rescued at birth by a Native American man and raised as his daughter, Jack finds an American Indian boy who would otherwise die, and raises him as his own, with the help of an educated Black buckaroo who chances to be drawn into the same magnificent Idaho valley and chooses to remain as an equal partner, putting their past behind them as they make a life bettered by their individual strengths. This is my 97th work but the first one I felt comfortable about approaching an outside editor as my health slowly improves after my car wreck and subsequent heart attacks. Until now, I feared making a commitment I couldn't keep. Even though I have one more book that I know I want to write in the Post-Civil War World genre, "Night Skies", a journal of a young Native American woman coming of age without the interference of outside cultures, I'm not sure this is the genre I wanted to be locked into for the next five or six books since I have written twenty already. So I've decided to place the story on line and begin to look at which genre I should choose. Like the old sign used to read ~ "Choose your rut carefully, you'll be in it for the next twenty miles!" ~ I can't change the path of the rut or its depth but I can choose to share with Thee in a manner that will please us both! July 10th, 2011 The more I write on this story, the dearer it becomes to me! I'm going to stop here, with the Prologue and first two chapters to at least SEE if I can get a nibble form an editor this summer! Keep your fingers crossed for me, okay? Asia July 11th, 2011 I just woke from the strangest, most comforting dream? It took only a few minutes to do my morning routine, feed the fish, but the lovely images remain, sealed in amber by the piercing wail of the fire engine just as I acknowledged I was ready to wake, having plundered the meaning from the characters as they gathered around me tenderly. I won't bore you with the details, each dream has its own reality, but for something to remain so clearly and sweetly is unusual, even for me. I've finally found a place in my own affairs and I am at peace. For the first time in my life, other than in rare, fleeting moments of trust with the two people on earth I trusted above all others, learning my definition of GOD from their example, and I belong. I do not say that lightly, nor do I mean to demean the efforts of Publishing Editors who would accept the manuscript as raw material from which to build a saleable object. I honor their commitment and their skills....but.... I find the People of My Dream as much a part of me as the people of the stories I conscious write, and they are here with Ishmael, Jack, Big Keith and Charity, and I find it is my own decision, that I don't wish to seek publication for this novel, although I feel it is worthy of it. To be one with the world is to be at enmity with GOD, for the world is, even I can see that! I have taken up the banner of 'The Old Folks" : "Where is the America I grew up in? The America I knew and loved? It is filled with the remnants of shattered families and young minds being exposed to threat and violence and autopsies as 'entertainment', network shoes that goggle and demean and isolate with one group, that flaunt homosexuality and fornication and growing stronger in their commitment to be heard while the voice of the family grows softer....sadly softer....as does mine. The America that I do not see is filled with decent, loyal, hard working people, in families and in groups, families of wounded warriors who listened to an unwise leader's poetical rhetoric who are now mocked and rebuked for the cost of attempting to repair the damage war cost on their bodies and their souls, saying they have to pay 'a greater protion' of the cost of their Service, 'since they knew the risk's when they voluneetered'. Shameful! But I am only one voice crying out in a growing wilderness. But for the first time in my life I woke to find I belong. I am content. As deeply as I believe in this story, it will find its own audience. It's own voice. I have my GOD, my Cat, my computer and Thee. As my birthday nears within breathless days and I am reminded of the journey to this point, I am in awe and I choose to see joy for the remainder of the journey....Please join me as thee can, or as Thee will. The Chinese have a lovely saying that seems poignantly and piquantly true in this moment: " The hand which gives a rose to another retains some of the sweetness of its scent. " It is enough. Praise GOD; it fills me with a quiet joy, and now, I have work to finish. GOD bless Thee. Have a good day or a good night as Thee read this. I remain, your friend and Older Sister in the Savior of all, Asia Rachael Cohen JULY 14th, 2011 I've been giving very serious thought to the fine line between portraying the prejudice's that did exist, with their offensiveness today. But I'm going to stay the course. Since they took Mark Twain out of the library for correctly portraying the idiom of his time, although the book clearly shows his repugnance for such ignorance and attempts to sway young people to his belief's as they read, I'm not even going to attempt to 'soften' the Book for publication or any vain hope of inclusion in a modern public library and simply trust to the discretion and intelligence of my Readers. If however, I HAVE offended someone because they don't realize my intentions, I do positively and forthrightly, apologize. But the words stand or fall on their own merit. July 28th, 2011 - I've been deeply engrossed in rebuilding the site, expanding the Entree'
page for the promised ease of access but despite the severe pain and immobility of the last few days it's been my chief delight
to get at least a little bit written on this story!! I hadn't even CONSIDERED naming Ishmael's parents until the Dream Machine
sequence this morning when I had to lie down till my back loosened. Then after a long appraisal of possiblenames
I realized that I'm hampered by NOT deciding which of the four Tribes they are, so I drifted to sleep and waited for what
I felt of the nature of the characters themselves to arise. The names " Replenished Kettle Swiftly" and : Sun Rising
Against Storm Clouds" seemed to wrap themselves around the 'remains' that I only just discovered Jack had entombed in
barrels for burial since she lacked strength at the time he found them. This caused ME some queasiness and I'm assuming that
Ishmael will need to resolve it too when I get back up. I wanted to capture it quickly before the pain meds set in, and to
confirm what most Readers have surely figured out by now, that the old man who took such care to measure Ishmael's growth
ont he wagon each year was his grandfather. I was going to use "Night Sky" for the young woman's name, in case I
don't get a chance to write her story, but I decided against it. The Lord willing, there will yet be time to HER story!
A
July 29th, 2011 - I'm getting a little uncomfortable as the story is beginning to veer away from the happy transmutation
of my personal experiences and whims into the rather bitter circumstances required by the depth of the characters as they
have grown with my deeper understanding of the world I have created. I kept asking myself, "What if?" What if someone
mistakes some of the deeper issues in the latter half of the story as some hint of my own past. But as a writer, I thought
I'd already gotten over that. Guess not. I had a long talk with myself and I'm excited to push the envelope a little physically
so I can continue to flow WITH the grain of the story, since this climax was my vague goal from the very beginning. Every
story reflects what the writer believes in their innermost being, even when they chose characters to state the opposite of
what they hold dear, which I frequently do because I believe that good does ultimately win over evil that faith will
overcome doubt, but its still there and its a part of the leaven that makes the whole loaf rise.
Thursday, August 11th, 2011 After much soul searching and questioning, I've decided to give myself the year in which to attempt to get this book published by an outside publishing house. Even the wonderful new movie 'The Help" is based on yet another book rejected by 60 editors, accepted by number 61 and then going on to become a best seller! If thee have already started to read the bock please contact me at gaines-highlander@q.com and I'll set up a password account for you. I'm interested in what thee think about the book. I keep hitting a stumbling block for this book and the new Brother John Mystery at HOW the climax occurs, so everything is written but that I'm going to take a page out of Sir Arthur Conan Doyls' book, discover the climax and then write forward for the remaining chapter! I began late tonight and if I have to put it together in bits and pieces, I don't care, as long as I stay true to the characters and to Thee, the Reader! Friday, August 12th, 2011 My belief in this book's possibility for Publication has never wavered. It's even stronger since I took a brief respite and I've come back to totally rewrite the bottom half of Chapter Eight and move aggressively into the climax of the book, the end of which is written, exactly as I wanted it. But I wobble like a top that losing its momentum about my abilities to push through the physical demands if I got a publisher's interest...I have a real fear of falling short, like I did last year, never having been able to share these books with others. Rather than risk that, after this weeks devastating plummeting of physical resources a publisher would note, I have decided to simply continue to share the books as I write them, and let "Providence" guide me even as I have stepped back and allow it to guide Ishmael in a book I am ore proud than ever to say I wrote and shared! A.R. Koheen Monday, Friday 15th, 2011 8:15 am PST The Dream Machine came through for me, big time! I know now how the story ends, with even a twist on the ending that's already written, and I'm loving it!!! Facebook proved a disappointment. It's like overhearing conversations in the lunch room cafeteria but not belonging to any of them! It's too isolating! But now that I found a twist that I enjoy, one that makes me smile, however gently in irony and pleasure, it's time to get the scenes written! Then "Seven Sisters" and "Redless" wait, but I am impatient now....this is my 97th work since the accident and I've never been more sure of a book's saleability, or my inability to meet the physical challenges; but this morning as the cold begins to narrow my world again, I don't care! I'm happy! I've achieved a goal from the vaguest of ides, to meeting the three main characters who affected me so powerfully, to squeezing int he necessary work so I could write. It's been the journey of my life, but as another October nears, bringing the sacred holidays that much closer for this year, I'll be able to meet my Dad's memory with a smile, and I can say, "Here, Dad. This one's for YOU!" Noon PST Whew! Done! Scrappy little guy, ain't he? |
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Asia Rachael Cohen
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