Hello Everyone,   Writing is often an unexpected self-revelatory experience, and my latest dilemma is a case in point. While Mike drafts the new moundbuilder book, PEOPLE OF THE MORNING STAR, I am drafting a novel about first contact between North American Native peoples and Norse explorers. Called WINE DARK LAND–after the Norse designation of North America as “Vinland,” or Wine Land–the story is set at around A.D. 1000. WINE DARK LAND is proving a fascinating experience to write because it’s a blend of three spiritual traditions: Norse beliefs in Thor and Freyda, early Christian beliefs, and Native American beliefs. Historical documentation for the beliefs of the “invaders” is well-documented, and we can extrapolate Native beliefs based upon the modern beliefs the Naskapi, Eskimo, and Montagnais. WINE DARK LAND is proving interesting to write for another reason. In this book, we’re taking another step into the fantastic and allowing the Spirit creatures to be real. Yeah, okay, for those of you who’ve read our books and been carried off by the Katchinas, eaten by Bird Man, attacked by Piasa, and had long in-depth conversations with the souls of lost warriors condemned to walk the earth forever…well, this may not sound new. But here’s the curious dilemma I’ve been having. We are all familiar with elves, trolls, and vampires…creatures from European mythology. They are all “humanlike.” It isn’t a stretch to see them as real. After all, they walk in front of our eyes on TV and in movies, as do angels, demons, and a variety of gods. Thor and Odin are good recent examples. (Wasn’t Anthony Hopkins great as Odin?) Unfortunately–and I mean that profoundly–Americans are not accustomed to viewing Native Spirit creatures as real. It’s fine to show them in Dream scenes where the reader has an out…it’s just a dream. But how do I sustain “the willing suspension of disbelief” when it’s a non-human Spirit creature? Let me place you inside the dilemma with examples from a variety of traditions. First, let’s talk about animal Spirit creatures. So…put on your author’s hat. Give your readers enough details about Shoshoni lifeways that they can look out through the eyes of the Shoshoni culture hero, Pachee Goyo. Now take the readers on a walk through the rocky hills and up to the edge of sacred Bull Lake in Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains. It’s midday, sunny, lots of reflections of aspen and pine trees in the calm green water…now look down into the lake. Do you see them? Do you see the buffalo who live under the water? They’re right there, an entire herd placidly looking up at you with sparkles of sunlight dancing in their brown eyes and from their horns. They’re as curious about you as you are about them. They’re very Powerful Spirit creatures. Pachee Goyo has to wait to hunt them until they come out of the lake and step onto dry land–into his world. That wasn’t difficult, was it? Animal Spirit creatures are familiar enough that we “get” them. The author just has to–as Pachee Goyo teaches–allow them to come out of their magical world and into this world. Then they become “real” buffalo. But what about Iroquoian Flying Heads? Put on your author’s hat again…your readers are seeing through the eyes of a young Seneca woman. Now take them on a walk through the dense maple and oak forests of New York. It a cold morning, just before dawn. Pink light enamels the sky and glistens in the dew that covers the grass. There’s a sudden thrashing to your left, branches flail wildly. It sounds like the entire forest is being torn apart. You spin around with wide eyes and see a severed head with long flowing hair streaming out behind it. It rushes you, reaching out to grab you with enormous bear paws… Did you believe? Some of you did. But I suspect that many of you didn’t. Why not? If I’d been writing about a humanlike creature with big white wings stepping out of the forest, you might have felt awe, even reverence. Culture is fascinating, isn’t it? Here’s the self-revelatory element of this essay. Pachee Goyo’s lesson is something an author should not forget. Here’s what I mean. Put on your author’s hat again…I want you to change the point of view for your readers. They are no longer Pachee Goyo looking down at the water of sacred Bull Lake. Instead, they are walking in the body of a young European man, seeing through his eyes when he comes upon the lake by accident and suddenly looks down… Now the European man is in ancient New York following a deer trail through the dappled shadows cast by the maples when the forest seems to be crashing down upon him. He spins around to see a hideous disembodied head rushing him, reaching out with bear paws… Ah…there’s the awe we were missing. Do you understand? It’s easier for your reader to “see” when he or she is looking out through the eyes of a European. Often, that is even true of Native Americans. Why is that? They’re the same Spirit creatures. It’s the same setting. Here’s the difference: Pachee Goyo’s lesson. You must bring those creatures out of their magical world and into this world. And what is this world? It’s a cultural framework. A way of “seeing.” Most American readers, regardless of their ethnic or racial origins, know the worldview of the European man. The reader stands easily in his Judeo-Christian boots, looks out through his eyes with no effort at all. The reader is “safe” interpreting what he sees through a lens, millenia old, where bizarre things go bump in the night, and they’re quite real. That cultural lens allows Native Spirit creatures to startle the reader–and come boldly to life–in a way they could not have otherwise. Whether we believe or not–the Western religious frameworld is deeply ingrained in who we are as Americans. Or rather as descendants of Europeans, no matter where you may live. Don’t be surprised then, if you’re reading WINE DARK LAND and first encounter Paleo-Eskimo Spirit creatures through the eyes of Europeans. We want to bring them out of their magical world and allow you to stand face-to-face with them…in your world. Kathy