A Warrior's Promise

[Lugnutz]

Another must read by Chris James. It's a Native American tale that has you in the present but does flashbacks to 200 years prior. There is a lot of history, more personal and part of the story. I'm guessing Chris researched this story for weeks to get everything right. I read it in one sitting. (My arse fell asleep twice).

Read it, you won't be disappointed.

[dude]

I have to agree... it is a remarkable story.

[Chris James]

Another must read by Chris James. It's a Native American tale that has you in the present but does flashbacks to 200 years prior. There is a lot of history, more personal and part of the story. I'm guessing Chris researched this story for weeks to get everything right. I read it in one sitting. (My arse fell asleep twice).

Read it, you won't be disappointed.

Thank you Lugnutz. My head felt like your arse by the time I was done researching for this story. This was the first in-depth look at Native America I wrote and I wanted all the facts to support the fiction. It did in fact take months of reading, wading through books, online sources and two films I found at the library. I even needed some maps and a copy of the Constitution.

All of that was necessary because much of what I found was suspect and in the New Age category. It was like reading a hippie manifesto from the 60's about Indians. Someone's stoned out view of Native lore whould have made a shambles of this and the second story that came from the research. Okay, Warrior's Promise was written first but published second. Nathaniel Smiley (Iomfats) came second and has a lot more fantasy because the information on the Cherokee was far easier to find and manipulate for the fiction. (Sorry, hope you don't mind the plug for the other story) The Oneida remain pretty obscure, except for the Polly Cooper story and that rock...

So here I am explaining something that many have yet to see so I will shut up for now. Let's just say those who do their homework write a better story.

[Cole Parker]

I'm a little late to the party because I've just read the story. What a remarkable achievement! You should be very proud, Chris.

I found the story doubly interesting because I once lived where many of the events occurred. I lived within the area deeded to the Oneida by Washington, beginning at its northwest point at Fort Niagara and moving east and south from there.

Fort Niagara is located at the northern end of the Niagara River, where the river empties into Lake Ontario. The Niagara, of course, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, running basically due north from the one lake to the other.

The falls are now located adjacent to downtown Niagara Falls, NY. Moving north from the falls takes you through much of residential Niagara Falls, NY, along the river. On the other side of the river, due east, is Niagara Falls, Ontario. We think of Canada being north of the U.S. Not right there it isn’t!

Traveling along that scenic stretch, one comes eventually to a great escarpment. Below the escarpment, directly at the bottom of it, the village of Lewiston is located. That escarpment is where Niagara Falls originated. With the passing of the centuries, the falls cut into the higher land; they have now worked their way miles back to the present location.

When I moved to that area, I became acquainted with the Tuscarora tribe, an Indian group I'd never been aware of before. The research Chris has done is amazing, and accurate. I've been in every one of the cities and areas he mentions in the story. All of it is very real.

Wonderful, wonderful writing.

C

[Chris James]

Thank you, Cole. I wanted to reply in some detail and thought, I cannot speak of certain things here since some of the readers will think I'm spoiling the read. So zip...I will take thie discussion off to The Green Room...

[vwl]

What I appreciate in a story such as this is the amount of historical research that has been made. Thank you, Chris.

As an aside, the epitome of such research-based novels is the Aubrey-Maturin British Navy series that takes place during the Napoleonic Wars, written by Patrick O'Brian. Of course, there is a much more extensive written history of that period. The movie Master and Commander was based on these novels, and Peter Weir, the director, made special efforts to make his movie realistic, including filming the sea at the latitudes and places used in the novels. [The ship in the movie is a prop with the seascapes edited into the final film.]

[Chris James]

Ahh, vwl...Master and Commander is such a realistically beautiful film. Yes, I have read all 26...or is it 27, of Mr. O'Brian's books in that series. Now there is a man who knew how to do his research and had no qualms about pinching a bit of history for his fiction.

Fact laid bare is the objective of any good researcher and nothing gives fiction more character. True moments in history are often colored by the words used to describe them and so the writer is often engaged in a moderate amout of fiction within the context of the events. At least this holds true for ancient history prior to the modern age of media and the YouTube video.

My concerns with documenting events through social media is that the form is not lasting. When we have lost the means to express the important moments of time in a common language then how are we to capture that knowledge? I research my subjects through words on the page and images, often photographs, that inspire the thoughts. I would be lost without books to guide me.

In that I probably understand the romantic quality of Mr. O'Brian's writing because his love of the subject is quite apparent. I think you have to be in love with what you write beyond the natural attraction for the characters. I feel comfortable characterizing what I write as adventure/romance. The two seem to be a part of the whole in my mind and so I am committed to casting my stories in that mold.

Hmm, perhaps committed is a wee bit too close to the bone.

[Lugnutz]

Reading this again, just not in one sitting this time.

[Chris James]

Sweet, Luggie. Believe it or not, this story was inspired by the research I did on Nathaniel Smiley. At the time I knew very little about the native people around the Great Lakes and their past, and then I came across an article about that stone...and there you go. I have sent this to various readers, but this is what set me going:

"The original Standing Stone of Huntingdon, erected by the Indians, was a granite column, about fourteen feet high and six inches square, covered with strange characters, which were the sacred records of the Oneidas. Once the Tuscaroras stole it, but the Oneidas followed, and, fighting for their sacred treasure, recaptured it. When the whites came along, the Oneidas, who had joined the French, went west, carrying the stone with them. Afterwards, a second stone, much like the first, was set up, and a fragment of it is now preserved at Huntingdon."

Gotta love that history!

[Lugnutz]

It does make some sense that the Vikings made them and inscribed them. I don't know all of the Native American lore, but I do pick up things here and there as I've mentioned in another thread.

Maybe you can do a short to go along with the Sanitaria Springs series either past or present with a Native American flair.