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My Writings Selections from my Work Amazonia

To Return to my Home Page To Return to my Writings Home Page My Mother was Japanese  ... a tongue in cheek view of “modern” manufacturing ideas

The Vision: It all began when I wondered if our world would have been different had history taken a different course. If the world of humanity had taken a different path, would we have a different society? And what would I wish that society to be like? What values should it have? So born of that thought, I let my mind wander back through the ages to a time when mankind’s footsteps might have trod a path that could create a new world, a new society. Could I make that journey meet the criteria of plausibility? How best could I show its development? What could I use as the catalyst? Could I make the characters that shaped the path take life? From those thoughts was born the world of Amazionia! The result is three novels in the alternate history genre. Now if I can find a publisher ........

Welcome to My Imagination A World that Might Have Been

Synopsis The novels begin with a journey in time and place, an alternate history that might have been as the Amazons of legend seek escape from the enemies that threaten their freedom. It is a journey, seen through the eyes of the young queen who leads them on their odyssey from the fall of Troy to the discovery of their future, from Anatolia to the Danube. It takes us from the loss of their Trojan allies through their solitary struggle for survival to their forging of a new nation with the Keltoi. The story alternates from desperation and despair to courage and triumph until the final victory as the Amazons make their long trek though the mountains and plains that surround the Black Sea. It details their encounters with the inhabitants of the lands they pass through and the enmity and friendships they find. But the story is not just a struggle for survival against both Man and Nature, it is a love story between two women that strengthen and support each other and the Keltoi man that brings a completion to their love as their two peoples bring complementary resources to form a new nation.

From the Preface to my first book: The biggest challenge an author faces when writing about the distant past is the lack of recorded detail and shortage of material. He has to make do with a few scattered reports surviving from contemporary writers whose works are often incomplete. All too often what has survived was assembled from secondhand knowledge. Thus we are left with all-too-many unanswered questions. Too much has been lost in the mists of time leaving just legends and our imagination! I have been fascinated by how the authors of historical novels have built whole societies from such scraps. The best of these retained credibility by taking care to remain historically accurate while using realistic human behavior to flesh out the story. With such examples then I wanted to ensure that the societies I write about are realistic in terms of the known facts and the actions and the behavior of the characters believable. I hope there that the reader can enjoy the tale without straining the credibility. There are several accounts from history about the Amazons, some more believable than others. If we accept the more commonly accepted reports, such as recorded by Herodotus, we can surmise a possible history, which I have chosen to pursue as the basis for this novel: Based on repute, two queens ruled the Amazons; one for defense and one for domestic affairs, sharing responsibility. A warrior society, they are reported to have fought both on foot and on horseback, carrying crescent shields and wielding spears, bows, battle axes and swords. By 1500 BCE, the Amazons were settled in the North of present day Turkey on the shores of the Black Sea. This area is in the North of that settled by the Hittites who are reputed to be the first to use iron. The Amazons were described as using recurved bows, iron weapons and to be renowned riders. c.1240-1180 BCE The Amazons were reputed to have aided the Trojans in their war against the Greeks c.1500-1000 BCE Greek legends mention various wars where the Amazons fought the Greeks c.1200-600 BCE Depending on which stories are believed, defeated by the Greeks, they were forced into exile to the North of the Black Sea, in, or close by, the territory of the Scythians. Some believe the Amazons settled round the Sea of Azov from the Herodotus’ Lake Maoetis but either side of the Danube Delta are large lakes create by offshore sandspits which could serve equally well. Whatever location, these are all within the bounds of the traditional lands of the Scythians with whom Herodotus records they intermarried. In ancient times, the area north of the Danube was variously settled by the Thracians, Getae, the precursors of the Illyrians, Scythians and Celts. It is reasonable that there would be some mixing of peoples, cultures and beliefs in this area. Herodotus described the Getae, a people whom the Greeks considered a tribe related to the Thracians, as occupying the area north of the Danube. These Getae, as far as political history, archeological findings and what little is known of the languages, were a separate people. There are, however, certain similarities between the Getae, the Scythians, the Celts and the Thracians. Whether that stemmed from incidental contact or from a more intimate mixing is lost in the mists of time. The Scythians were a group of pre-Common Era nomadic tribes who played a very important part in the Ancient World from the seventh to first century BCE. Expert horsemen, they were one of the earliest peoples to master the art of riding and using horse-drawn covered wagons. Indeed, the Scythian people traveled and settled extensively throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, Central Asia, and Russia. They had no written language, so most of what is known about them has been derived from contemporary accounts by writers from other cultures and from the many precious and exquisitely crafted artifacts found in their frozen tombs in Russia, Kazyktstan and the Eurasian plains. The act of war was one in which the Scythian women are said to have participated equally with the men. Scythian women were described as tattooed like their mates and the ancient historian Diordorus commented that they 'fight like the men and are nowise inferior to them in bravery'. The Celts themselves have some variance from the general trend of male dominated societies in those times in that they allowed their women a greater freedom, authority and responsibility than other contemporary peoples. Matrilineal societies (tracing descent through mothers) in some Celtic races lasted until 1000CE with the Picts in Scotland. Women tribal leaders were not at all uncommon, the most famous of these being Boudica (Boedecia). From ancient gravesites from the early Hallstat (800-600 BCE) culture we see that women warriors as well as men were buried with their swords. Roman descriptions tell us that women held land and managed business. Given such a society, we can see how a hard beset group of women warriors might well gravitate to an Eastward migrating Celtic tribe. That Eastward movement of the Celts was a prime cause of the Illyrian exodus from the Romanian heartland and by around 300 BCE some Celts were even established in Galacia in modern day Turkey. In general though I set the timing for their arrival a little earlier that generally ascribed but then there is no reason not to allow for some individual clans to have preceded the general migration. If we were to postulate a society formed by a mixing of Amazons bringing technical skills from the civilized areas of the Middle East, Scythians with their mastery of the horse and a vigorous Celtic tribe predisposed to the equality of women, we might have had the nation of “Amazonia”. Given the geography and what we understand of the movements of ancient peoples, such a nation could well have taken root north of the Danube, in present day Romania. Whether or not “Amazonia” ever did exist, it is not inconceivable that the possibility was there and that, as an alternative history, I trust the reader can accept some credibility for the concept. To the Scot in me, I find it interesting to note that around the time of Constantin II, a Scottish king who ruled after 900 AD, bards were reportedly telling a story of the origins of the Scots. The Scots, a Celtic race, claimed decent from Scota, a daughter of Ramses II of Egypt. Her husband was Gaedal Glas (or Gathelos) a prince of Scythia. The earliest recorded text was written during the 1290’s. Thus even at this remove there is a linkage between the Celts and the Scythians and it is tempting to see it as some distant memory passed by tradition down through the ages. Contents:  Amazonia as described in the novels   A Short Review of the Birth of the Nation   The world of Orthia   An Excerpt from the Othia’s Story   Another Except from Orthia's Story   The World of Arta   An Excerpt from Arta's Story   Another Excerpt from Arta's Story  To Return to my Home Page To Return to my Writings Home Page My Mother was Japanese  ... a tongue in cheek view of “modern” manufacturing ideas