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"Evergreen: A Space-Time Odyssey" is a social science fiction novel, ripe with allegory in the vein of George Orwell's "Animal Farm," written for Junior High School, High School and college-level introductory sociology and social psychology classes by applied sociologist, college professor and futurist Dr. A.S. Ziner. Professor Ziner has taught introductory sociology, social psychology and sociological theory full-time since 1985. This first book in his trilogy offers a rare and engaging supernatural, sci-fi journey with dark parallels to our own world. Evergreen was recently praised as "an instant classic in and out of the classroom" by Humanity & Society (4/09). Watch the captivating video book trailer for a glimpse into this unearthly civil odyssey.
In Brief: As the gift of hope bestowed upon Evergreen by a Great planetary force, Gaia ("Guy-ah") has never been Savior of anything let alone life on an ill-fated planet. She knows nothing of her extraordinary powers and why they are triggered, has never incinerated scores of deadly, enemy legions in a brilliant flash, and has never transformed from her current state as an immense chrysalis to a herculean creature compelled to deliver the land’s animates from untold pain and horror. Naively, all she knows is the goodness of code imparted to her at birth by the Golem ("Go-lum") deep in the forbidden caves – and the Golem’s prophecy: "Only when three worlds combine into one will balance be restored across the land." But all that is about to change as prophecy and legend are on a collision course with Kaleija – a cosmic, millennial event soon to bring natural disaster, cultural peril and full-scale inter-species war to the world of Evergreen – and, in Gaia’s principled and impassioned sets of eyes, "incivility will always be painful!"
Story's Sketch: In a world with two suns, a tourmaline moon and evergreen trees one hundred feet wide and ten times as tall, prophecy and legend are on a collision course with Kaleija ("Kah-lie'-ja") – a celestial event that occurs once every thousand years. Because of a rare alignment of the crystalline moon with both suns, the millennial kaleidoscopic event experienced by all animates across the lush and largely untouched landscape will now bring calamity and chaos in its wake. Evergreen, the first volume of an enchanted, mind-stretching odyssey, bridges the supernatural with artificial intelligence technology to provide an unprecedented journey in space and time.
Deep within the southern tip of the largest and tallest mountain chain in the land rests a forbidden watery underworld called "Ontawa" by the native Acaba and Jadenbu. It is within these caves that our journey begins. According to legend, whoever leads the Acaba and Jadenbu at the time of Kaleija must travel southeast into Ontawa to encounter the Golem ("Go-lum") – a planetary life force that briefly awakens prior to Kaleija to assess "balance" across the land and deliver a prophecy for all animates. This fate falls on Ro Tan of the Acaba and Lasrus of the Jadenbu. However, when the two leaders and their attendants finally feel the penetrating glower and deep, resonating voice of the colossal figure who towers over them, they are not alone.
Witnessing the event in a hidden location a short distance away is Niles Jaden III and a sociable quarlot – a beautiful, talkative, bird he met within Ontawa with a toucan-like beak that illuminates the colors of the tourmaline moon. Niles was compelled to travel from the safety of his modern city southwest into the forbidden caves because of a well-guarded family story he learned from his grandmother one-half century earlier. The secretive story details how and why a small group of his ancestors left the Acaba and Jadenbu 350 years earlier to establish a new, more progressive, world of their own east of the Grand Divide. The founders called the city Jaden, after their leader’s family name, and built it on top of a single, ten-mile wide, tree stump. The immense stump, according to his grandmother, belonged to a redwood tree that grew taller than the Grand Divide itself. Because of its size, the natives called it Mesequoya ("Me-seh-koy'-ah") – "the great redwood tree that touches the suns." It is his grandmother’s account of Kaleija, however, that brings this wealthy descendent of the founders of Jaden into Ontawa. He wants to return with proof of his ancestor’s story that the Golem lives. What Niles does not anticipate from his hidden vantage point in the watery underworld is that he is part of the Golem’s plan.
To overcome tremendous danger in the wake of Kaleija, the Golem offers a gift in the form of an enchanted chrysalis of Bunyanesque proportions named Gaia ("Guy-ah"). The Golem then provides a prophecy to those in attendance: "Only when three worlds combine in one will balance be restored across the land." At the same time Niles believes Jaden and its ancestral peoples are two of the three worlds, he wonders about the role Golem’s gift plays in the prophecy. With the underworld of Ontawa soon crumbling around him as the Golem’s life force departs for another thousand years, Niles wonders about his own role – if he escapes the explosive peril alive.
Soon the chrysalis named Gaia leaves Ontawa and begins her journey, under special escort, to travel through a massive waterfall into a world of unique, colorful, creatures called Kwak’walans who live in isolation beneath the largest body of water in the land. Gaia’s clashes along the way with the incivility and cruelty of armies of silver-beaked blackbirds and countless birds of prey trigger a demonic glower, similar to the Golem, which unleashes extraordinary, supernatural, powers about which Gaia, at first, is unaware. Her successes in unwanted battle bring her face-to-face with a monstrous, pterodactyl-like, creature named Syrus who has ruled all winged carnivores for hundreds of years. When Syrus’ legions find Gaia’s secret location, he and his armies prepare for an historic fight for the forest throne. Once they discover how to penetrate the falls’ gateway and enter the world beneath Lake Augur, a tremendous battle of good versus evil ensues. Terrible suffering is inflicted on the Kwak’walans as Gaia's lifeless cocoon lies dormant before her patient but disillusioned followers. With Syrus gloating to his troops over the apparent victory, a large shadow is cast over the area from above.
Now that her first transformation is complete, Gaia has a more complete and compelling understanding of her true mission. To finish her journey and, ultimately, carry out Golem’s prophecy set forth within Ontawa, Gaia must undergo one more physical change – a spectacular transformation that bridges the supernatural with artificial intelligence technology to serve all animates across the land. This final transformation or rebirth takes place in the Knickknackery in the northern outskirts of Jaden. With the help of a warm and imaginative toy designer, a brilliant and incorruptible computer bioengineer and her colorful family, a wealthy descendant of the city's founder, and a cast of fun-loving animals unique to the land, what emerges from the Knickknackery will forever change their world -- and yours.
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PRAISE FOR A.S. ZINER'S NEW BOOK: "Evergreen takes a serious problem, domination of the weak by the powerful, and places it in a context that makes it understandable for the entire family. In it, A.S. Ziner spins a rich, hopeful and imaginative tale that highlights the importance of civility, belief, caring, perseverance and imagination in ameliorating social problems. I have no doubt that Evergreen will become an instant classic ..." (4/09)
Dr. Kathleen Tiemann, Executive Editor, Humanity & Society
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If you like this brief sketch of the story, you'll love the book! Watch the captivating video book trailer.
Click here to watch the video book trailer
(Press "HQ" for high quality and turn up the volume)
Excerpt
Excerpt from “Visitors atop Mesequoya" (Chapter 5). Previously, we learned the legend of Kalieja through a fifty-year old bedside chat between young Niles and his grandmother and then through a nightmarish encounter with the Golem itself. Now we learn about next month's "millennial eclipse," the modern city of Jaden's version of Kalieja, as described by veteran news anchor Glades Wilcoxon.
“COOL! Mom! Gramps! Turn up the sound!” Creegan shouts, directing everyone’s attention, once again, to the communication center. A disorderly chorus follows from family members.
“Oh my!” “Whoa!” “What’s that?” “Is it real?”
A highly detailed animated image is shown of Evergreen and its surrounding waters moments after dawn. At the bottom of the graphic illustration is the caption “Artist’s rendition of celestial eclipse.” At the top of the screen, a tourmaline moon slowly arcs across the sky toward two aligned suns. Along its course, shimmering beams of light begin to descend from the upper atmosphere down through the clouds. As the alignment of the moon with both suns draws near, patterns of delicate light intensify throughout the sky and begin to spread across the land and seas. Once the moon is in perfect alignment with both suns, a blast of intense color showers Evergreen and its surrounding waters with a spectrum of dazzling light. The animation also shows very rocky seas during this rare celestial moment. After the eclipse, the intensity of light fades across the land and seas until the effects are no longer visible.
Creegan’s mom is first to break free from the captivating beauty of the large, onscreen animation. Widening her eyes and briefly shaking her head, she presses the volume button. Glades is already into his story.
“... high above the clouds in the cold darkness of space, two suns that have warmed Evergreen since its birth are moving closer to being in line with our pink and green moon. In just one month from today, this alignment will initiate a rare celestial eclipse in which three astral bodies are in one perfectly straight line. Scientists call this alignment a syzygy. It is an event that occurs above our planet only once every thousand years. When it appears, all areas from east to west of the Grand Divide will be covered in a kaleidoscope of light. It will be unlike anything ever recorded in history.
The kaleidoscopic effect occurs when massive amounts of energy from both suns channel through, and expand within, the crystalline prism that comprises the matrix of our tourmaline moon. When this energy reaches a critical mass in the moon's substructure, it will radiate a stable and cohesive refractive force onto our planet. Once in our atmosphere, intense energy molecules in the air will produce rainbowlike patterns of light that intensify in the moments surrounding the syzygy.
In addition, scientists state there will be an extraordinary gravitational pull affecting our land and oceans during these same moments. This riveting force will occur as the powerful alignment of the syzygy briefly pauses the moon in its orbit. While scientists are uncertain of the specific impact these physical events will have on the land and seas, they inform us that there will be much higher tides than usual during the celestial eclipse.
The entire millennial event should last from approximately 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Our moon will slow to a fixed position in its orbit at 11:57 a.m. and begin its motion again at 12:03 p.m. We here at FSN News would encourage everyone in our viewing audience to wear sunglasses and leaded shoes,” the veteran anchor reports with a wink and a smile.
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