The Spirit and the SkullThe Spirit and the Skull
Murder is unthinkable to The People—a Paleolithic tribe crossing Alaska. For The People, among the first undocumented immigrants to enter the Americas, murder isn’t merely tragic, it’s forbidden. Murder poisons the entire tribe and puts it at odds with nature, the Spirits, and the mighty Earth Mother. A murderer must be removed in order to set the world back in balance.
Raven is the aging Spirit Man to a band where a member has been garroted. Worse, witchcraft is involved—another appalling violation of The People’s beliefs. A woman claiming to be The Earth Mother declares only Raven can solve the crimes and restore The People to harmony. But Raven isn’t a Spirit Man by vocation. He’s an agnostic—his band needed someone for the job and he needed to secure his place with them. He begins having dreams of a strange man holding his, the Spirit Man’s, skull in his hands. How will a man who doubts the authenticity of The Earth Mother as a goddess satisfy her demands? What if she and the dreams of some future are both real and solving the crimes must lead to his death? An impossible situation becomes more terrible as Raven realizes he’s falling in love with a young woman of his band who, he suspects, is the guilty party.
Murder is unthinkable to The People—a Paleolithic tribe migrating across Alaska and becoming some of the first undocumented immigrants to enter the Americas. For them, murder isn’t merely tragic, it’s forbidden. Murder poisons the entire tribe and puts it at odds with nature, the Spirits, and the mighty Earth Mother. A murderer must be found and removed in order to put the world back in balance. Raven is the aging Spirit Man to a band where a member has been strangled with a garrote. Worse, evidence of witchcraft is linked to the killing—another terrible violation of The People’s covenant with the Earth Mother and the Spirits. Raven isn’t a Spirit Man because of sacredly held beliefs. He holds the position because his band needed someone to do so, and because he needed to secure his place among them. Now the agnostic Spirit Man begins having dreams in which a stranger holds Raven’s skull in his hands. And a woman claiming to be The Earth Mother, and accepted by many followers, declares that only Raven can solve the crimes and_x000D_restore The People to harmony. How will a man who doubts the authenticity of this Goddess satisfy her demands? What if she and the dreams are real and successfully solving the crimes will result in Raven’s imminent death? An impossible situation becomes even harder as Raven finds it increasingly likely the young woman he’s falling in love with must be the guilty party.
Murder is unthinkable to The People—a Paleolithic tribe crossing Alaska. For The People, among the first undocumented immigrants to enter the Americas, murder isn't merely tragic, it's forbidden. Murder poisons the entire tribe and puts it at odds with nature, the Spirits, and the mighty Earth Mother. A murderer must be removed in order to set the world back in balance.
Raven is the aging Spirit Man to a band where a member has been garroted. Worse, witchcraft is involved—another appalling violation of The People's beliefs. A woman claiming to be The Earth Mother declares only Raven can solve the crimes and restore The People to harmony. But Raven isn't a Spirit Man by vocation. He's an agnostic—his band needed someone for the job and he needed to secure his place with them. He begins having dreams of a strange man holding his, the Spirit Man's, skull in his hands. How will a man who doubts the authenticity of The Earth Mother as a goddess satisfy her demands? What if she and the dreams of some future are both real and solving the crimes must lead to his death? An impossible situation becomes more terrible as Raven realizes he's falling in love with a young woman of his band who, he suspects, is the guilty party.
Title availability
About
Details
- Scottsdale, AZ : Poisoned Pen Press, 2014.
From the community