The Clovis and the Delmarva Peninsula

It's interesting how sometimes coincidence can solve a problem when writing.  One of my ongoing concerns has been how to reconcile the animals of Felriver coming up with many of the same technologies that humans had developed in their own past.  How coincidental was too coincidental?  How far could literary license be taken to explain away things like metalworking, pulleys, levers, carts, and such?  Even so far as basic tools - would animals necessarily come up with the same ideas as humans had?

Well, one of my "problems" was answered today while idly watching TV . . . I rarely "watch" TV, but sometimes it'll be on in the background.  Today there was a show on called "10,000 B.C." (no, not that crappy movie) and I started paying attention when they began talking about the Delmarva Peninsula, which is where Felriver takes place.  Unbeknownst to me it was one of the largest sites of Clovis people population discovered so far.  Clovis people mean stone tools . . . and stone tools means tool examples that would have survived to serve as examples to the animals of Felriver, thus giving them the technological jump-start that I had been looking for.

Problem solved!  Now to learn some basics of flint-knapping so I can incorporate it correctly.

Welcome to Felriver

Felriver is an up-and-coming all-ages book currently in production for e-readers, likely to be published in 2014.  Currently I am looking at all-ages options for allowing followers to read selected chapters and story segments as they are completed . . . unfortunately it is currently hosted on a website that has been less than vigilant about keeping adult works from young eyes, and as such it is not an appropriate route for sending folks to.  Once I set up a good venue I'll be sure to link it up here.

I'm also a bit of a fledgeling artist, so all of the art associated with the stories you see here has been created by yours truly.  Hopefully it can be included in some way in the published works, but we'll have to see what restrictions are for e-readers of various capabilities and what I can do to make it as enjoyable for all readers as possible.

The book takes place 250,000 years in Earth's future, after the extinction of humans, and explores the civilizations, technologies, and challenges faced by the surviving animals as they come to a higher level of society.  Felriver takes place over the span of one year, introducing many different animals, families, and cultures, told in the format of short stories and scholarly writings collected by Ende, an "Arrtes" (the future evolution of the rat) who is the Master Curator of the Braroco, in an effort to preserve some of the works and influences of the world in which he lives. 

I encourage you to please follow, comment, criticize, and have fun here as the creative process is followed for all to see and enjoy!