Laura C. Rader's Blog, page 2

CHARACTER LIST HATFIELD 1677

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I hope I didn’t forget anybody:)MAIN AND SECONDARY CHARACTERS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Benjamin Waite            Puritan colonist and military scout

Martha Leonard Waite   His wife, abducted at Hatfield

Their children               Mary, Mattie and Sally, abducted at Hatfield

The Allis Family           Their neighbors, whose home was within the stockade

Lieutenant Allis and his wife Mary, their sons John and Lt. William, Rachel, John’s wife 

Abigail Allis                 Their daughter, abducted at Hatfield

Captain Turner              A Baptist who trades service for his freedom     

Experience Hinsdale      Ben’s friend and fellow scout

Lieutenant Holyoke       Lieutenant in the massacre

Reverand Atherton        Hatfield’s minister

Reverend Russell          Hatfield’s second minister

Samuel Belding            One of Hatfield’s Selectmen

Hannah Dickenson Gillet Jennings: Martha’s best friend, whose first husband is killed

Stephen Jennings          Hannah’s second husband

Their children               Holly and Sammy, abducted at Hatfield

Samuel Foote                Mary’s husband

Mary Foote                   Hannah’s cousin and another Hatfield captive

Mary’s children             Nate and Molly, abducted at Hatfield

Obadiah Dickenson       Hannah’s uncle and a Hatfield captive

Daniel Dickenson          His son

Ashpelon                      Algonquian sachem and Martha’s master

Quintin Stockwell         A captive from Deerfield, who kept a journal

Benoni Stebbins            A captive from Deerfield, Hannah and Mary’s cousin

Sergeant Plympton        A captive from Deerfield

Captive Children           Sam Russell, Matthew Kellog, Abigail Bartholomew, Noah and Sarah Coleman

Nìbi Wàbà                    Algonquian woman and caretaker of the children

Neepânon                     Elder woman

Quequan                       A warrior, Quintin’s master

Kòkòkòho                     A warrior, friend of Nìbi Wàbà

Wesattimis and Oskosk  Two native boys, friends of Sam Russell

Captain Salisbury          Albany Commander and Sheriff

Bram Jacobssen            Captain Salisbury’s clerk

Philip Hendrickse          Schenectady brewmaster

Timothy Cooper            Ben’s friend and former fur trading partner

Major John Pynchon     Wealthy Merchant, Magistrate, Commander and former employer of Ben in the fur trade

Wanalancet                   Sachem of the Wachusett Algonquian band

Sir Lindsay of Glen       Rich Scottish Merchant in Schenectady

Governor Andros          Governor of New York

Comdr. Bruckholds       Lieutenant Governor of New York/Manhattan

Gamaliel Waite             Ben’s uncle in Boston

Grace                           His wife

John Waite                    Ben’s cousin in Boston

Eunice                          John’s wife

Joseph, Jeremiah,Tom   Benjamin’s brothers in Rhode Island

Secretary Rawson         Governor Leverett’s secretary

Governor Leverett         Governor of Boston

Pieter Smit                    Guard on the Hudson boat

Douw family                 Innkeepers in Albany

Mayor Van Cortlandt     Mayor of Manhattan, New York

Capt. Pierre de Saurel    Captain of the Fort at Saurel, Quebec

Madame de Saurel        “Catherine”, his wife

Comte de Frontenac      Governor of Quebec

EXTRAS FOR READERS OF HATFIELD 1677

If you bought my debut novel, you deserve a few freebies. I deeply appreciate your readership, your reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads, and your purchases that kept Hatfield 1677 on the Amazon Hot New Releases List for its eligible first month!

Please continue to post reviews, recommend Hatfield 1677 to friends and family, share my social media posts on your social media, and request that your local bookstores and libraries order Hatfield 1677 if you value that brick-and-mortar shopping experience! It is a “print-on-demand” book as most are these days, so they won’t stock it but they CAN order it.

FREEBIES

FIRST: A $25 Amazon gift card for the first reader who emails me with evidence of a typo (defined as a misspelling or homophone or repeated or omitted word) in Hatfield 1677. Please provide the page number and any other details as proof.

SECOND: A List of Characters in Hatfield 1677

See related-post ONLY ON MY WEBSITE BLOG https:www.lcrwriter.com/blog

THIRD: Book Club Questions.

See related-post ONLY ON MY WEBSITE BLOG https:www.lcrwriter.com/blog

FOURTH: A reminder to email me with any questions or comments you have about Hatfield 1677. My email is available here, on my website, but I don’t post it on social media.

FIFTH: If you entered the Hatfield Book Tour Contest, I will receive your contact info soon and will be sending out the Amazon Gift Cards to the winners.

HAPPY FATHERS’ DAY

My father passed in 2009 at the age of 86, my husband in 2012 at the age of 57, so all my daughter and I have today are memories.

My mother was the one I turned to for hugs and confidences and comfort, but my father was the person for adventure. My Dad took me fishing and backpacking and horseback riding, taught me the names of native plants, and shared his knowledge of the world with me. He was a college professor with a PhD in History, hence my penchant for writing historical fiction.

My husband and daughter shared a special bond. He picked her up from school and took her to the local donut spot each day, let her drive at far too young an age, and helped her create her own website and avatar. All innocent fun but secrets from me, who apparently was the more responsible parent. Yet when they rode a horse together and it stumbled, my husband was the one who tossed my daughter out of the way to safety and took the fall, breaking several toes, and when a bee swarm attacked us on a hike, he enveloped her in his arms, protecting her, even though he was very afraid of bees.

Fathers teach us to explore the world and are also by our side to protect us from its dangers.

Benjamin Waite, my 9th great-grandfather and the protagonist in my historical fiction novel, Hatfield 1677, was first and foremost a husband and father. It was undoubtedly his love for his pregnant wife and three young daughters that impelled him to walk 350 miles to find and rescue them when they were abducted by Native Americans in 1677.

Here are some excerpts from Hatfield 1677 from the point-of-view of Benjamin Waite, loving father.

From Chapter One:

The lieutenant’s daughter-in-law, Rachel Allis, appeared at her door beside us, holding our wee babe, Sally. “They want one last goodbye,” she said.

Our other daughters—Mary, the eldest and sweetest, just learning to read, and Mattie, always determined to be heard—pressed past Rachel and scampered to me.

I bent and hugged them, encircling one in each arm, closing my eyes against sudden tears. I kissed Mary’s smooth brow and Mattie’s plump cheek. I rose, patted their bums, and softly urged them back inside. Rachel held Sally up to me, and I kissed her little nose. She rewarded me with a giggle and flung her chubby arms around my neck. I held her tight before I reluctantly handed her back, and gazed after them as Rachel entered her house and closed the door.

“They should be asleep, Martha, ’tis half past six,” I chided, my gruff tone not hiding the tenderness I felt.

From Chapter Eighteen:

Tracks split off in four directions from the camp, like the fingers of a hand. There were footprints and hoofprints, but the different sizes and depths confused me. I couldn’t tell how they had divided themselves. They likely had separated our men from our women and children, flanked by warriors. They might send some to Albany, some to Canada, and some even to the remaining Narragansett bands near Providence. Had the Natives taken our children from their mothers? I felt sick at the thought of my girls without Martha.

From Chapter Fifty-One:

I missed playing with my girls and telling them stories. Martha and I cossetted them more than most parents, but I found my children charming and enjoyed their company. My wife said if we raised them with a gentle hand, they would grow to have a gentle nature. Thus far, it had proven to be so. I hoped with all my heart their Nipmuc captors treated them gently. The horrors of the attack and capture would leave scars on their hearts and terrors in their dreams. I prayed the Natives treated them peacefully.

AMAZON HOT NEW RELEASE!

SALES

Hatfield 1677 sales on Amazon have placed it in the top 25 throughout its first three weeks in the categories of Biographical Historical Fiction, Military Historical Fiction, Native American Literature, and US Colonial Period History. (Above image: June 9, #25, Biographical Historical Fiction)

Thank you to all of you who have purchased Hatfield 1677 on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Direct to Digital (Apple, Kobo, etc) or at a local bookstore. Please tell your local bookstore and library that it is available for them to order from Ingram Spark.

Here are the purchase links – just click:)

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

D2D Books

REVIEWS

Once you’ve read the book, please leave a rating and/or review on the site where you purchased it and/or on Goodreads. Reviews and ratings, even less than 5 stars, mean someone read the book and cared enough to leave a review. The number of reviews goes into the algorithms that determine a book’s visibility; more reviews means the book is more visible on the website. More visibility increases sales!

Here’s where you can leave reviews on Goodreads Goodreads Review

Here is an excerpt from a recent review I received:

Epic historical fiction. Beautifully written, made me understand the characters, how they felt and how they lived. Even though some parts were hard the love stories are evident…First book in a long time that I didn’t want to end. I’m recommending to all my peeps.

UPCOMING EVENTS

June 10: History Quill Reviews Begin on Amazon and Goodreads.

June 20: Scheduled for a Podcast Interview with History Through Fiction’s founder and head editor, Colin Mustful, who is also the author of several novels about settler colonialism and Native displacement in the Midwest. The interview will focus on the historical foundations and craft of Hatfield 1677, and episodes are published on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and Pandora.

July 17: Historical Fiction Book Club discussion of Hatfield 1677 at Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, NC

July 21: Book signing at Huntington Beach Barnes and Noble

August: Several book clubs are discussing Hatfield 1677 this month. Contact me to arrange an in-person or ZOOM event for your book club!

September 19: Book talk and signing at the Hatfield Historical Museum in Hatfield, MA, on the anniversary of the attack on Hatfield in 1677.

Check out my website and social media pages, and subscribe to my blog and my newsletter, Newsies. This is where I post updates on sales, book club questions, the bibliography of my research sources, etc.

Website: https://www.lcrwriter.com

Blog: https://www.lcrwriter.com/blog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LCRWriter/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LauraWriter2B

Newsletter: https://newsies.press/

BIBLIOGRAPHY for Hatfield 1677

As promised, a list of many, but not all, of the sources I used in my research for Hatfield 1677. I discovered the story of Massachusetts Bay Puritan colonists Benjamin and Martha Waite and their adversary, the Algonquian sachem Ashpelon, at the Carlsbad, California genealogical library in 1993. I continued my research in the summer of 2020 and throughout the three years I spent writing and revising Hatfield 1677.

Adirondack Almanack Newsletter. Various authors and articles on Lake George and Lake Champlain. Adirondack Explorer. Saranac Lake, New York. https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/

Allard, Margaret, “Food in Colonial Massachusetts”. July 2, 2018 Recipes for 17th Century Wedding Cake, Asparagus Soup, and Samphttps://meredithallard.com/2018/07/02/food-in-colonial-massachusetts/Alchin, Linda. “Algonquian Names” Siteseen, Ltd. January 16, 2018,

https://Ancestry.com Corporate Headquarters 1300 West Traverse Parkway, Lehi, UT

Baker William Avery. “Vessel Types of Colonial Massachusetts.” Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 2017. Vol. 52 Seafaring in Colonial Massachusetts https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/1977Barnett, Rachael. “Role of Women in Colonial America.” Date not given. Contains  references. https://roleofwomenincolonialtimes.weebly.com/Barton, Chester M., Comp, Daniel White Wells, and Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association. 212th anniversary of the Indian attack on Hatfield, and field-day of the Pocumtuck valley memorial association, at Hatfield, Massachusetts, Thursday, Sept. 19th. Northampton, Mass., Gazette printing company, 1890. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/01021429/.Bible Gateway, 1599 Geneva Version. The Zondervan Corporation, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, New York, 2010. https://www.biblegateway.com/

Black, Ralmon Jon. “Martha Leonard Waite, A Remarkable Pioneer Woman of the Valley”.Pioneer Valley History Network’s Remarkable Women of the Pioneer Valley Williamsburg Historical Commission and Historical Society https://pvhn2.wordpress.com/1600-2/martha-leonard-waite/#comment-2878

Bourdeau, Melina. “Field Research for Battle of Great Falls/Wissantinnewag-Peskeomskut Continues.” Greenfield Recorder, July 30, 2019. https://www.recorder.com/Archaeological-study-searching-Greenfield-27017379?utm_source=HeadlineAlerts&utm_medium=DailyNewsletter&utm_campaign=HeadlineAlerts

Bridenbaugh, Carl. The Pynchon Papers, Vol. 1. Letters of John Pynchon, 1654-1700. Collected by Juliette Tomlinson. Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Boston, 1982 https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/1273

Bridenbaugh, Carl and Tomlinson, Juliette.  The Pynchon Papers, Vol. 1I. Selections from the Account Books of John Pynchon, 1651-1697. Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Boston, 1985. Distributed by the University Press of Virginia. https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/801Brooks, Lisa. Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War (The Henry Roe Cloud Series on American Indians and Modernity) Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, Copyright 2018

Brooks, Lisa and Maggie King.  Our Beloved Kin: Remapping a New History of King Philip’s War. Article and Map by Maggie King. “Ashpelon’s Journey.” https://ourbelovedkin.com/awikhigan/ashpelons-journey

Bruchac, Margaret. “Revisiting Pocumtuck History in Deerfield: George Sheldon’s Vanishing Indian Act” June 6, 2011. Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Vol. 39 (1 & 2), Summer 2011 © Institute for Massachusetts Studies, Westfield State University

Comenius, John Amos. The Orbis Pictus. 1658 in Latin. Translated into English by Charles Hoole in 1727.  Published byCharles William Bardeen, 1887. The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Orbis Pictus Produced by Louise Hope, Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28299/28299-h/28299-h.htm#orbisCray, Robert E. Jr. “Weltering in Their Own Blood”: Puritan Casualties in King Philip’s War Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Vol. 37 (2), Fall 2009. © Institute for Massachusetts Studies, Westfield State CollegeDownes, Dennis. “Before Google Maps.” (Native Trail Markers) Massachusetts Humanities. April 8, 2020. https://masshumanities.org/ph-before-google-maps/eHow “How to Load a Muzzleloader.” YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CEbB..., W.J. “BUADE, LOUIS DE, Comte de FRONTENAC et de PALLUAU,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography , vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–accessed August 11, 2023, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/buade_de_frontenac_et_de_palluau_louis_de_1E.html .Galvin, William Francis, Secretary of the Commonwealth Chair, Massachusetts Historical Commission. “MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report HATFIELD” Report Date: 1982 Associated Regional Report: Connecticut Valley https://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/townreports/CT-Valley/htf.pdfHansler, Bob. “Paiute Deadfall Trap 101-Primitive Survivor Technology. YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBg3XSdiUb8

Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/

Hough, Franklin B. Papers Concerning the Attack on Hatfield and Deerfield by a Party of Indians From Canada September Nineteenth, 1677. The Bradford Club April 1859. Attackhatfielddee00editrich.pdf

Jackson, Jeff and Shirley Nordrum. “Wild edibles: Cattails.” University of Minnesota Extension. May 5, 2021. https://extension.umn.edu/natural-resources-news/wild-edibles-cattails

Jefferys, Thomas. Map of New England Colonies 1774. New England. Scale ca. 1:440,000 Zoom into this map at maps.bpl.org. Call Number: G3720 1774.J44 This large, detailed map of New England was compiled by Braddock Mead (alias John Green), and first published by Thomas Jefferys in 1755. Green was an Irish translator, geographer, and editor, as well as one of the most talented British mapmakers at mid-century. The map was re-published at the outset of the American Revolution, as it remained the most accurate and detailed survey of New England. Of interest are engraved double lines found beneath certain placenames, including Boston. These lines indicate cities whose longitude had been calculated with the aid of the newly invented marine chronometer.

Jennings, Julianne. “Deer Island: A History of Human Tragedy Remembered”. ICT News, a Division of IndiJ Public Media https://ictnews.org/archive/deer-island-a-history-of-human-tragedy-remembered?redir=1 August 23, 2013, Updated September 12, 2018

Keene, Arthur S. and Elizabeth Chilton, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst.  “Toward An Archaeology Of The Pocumtuck Homeland: Critical Archaeology And The Umass Archaeological Field School.” Paper presented at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Minneapolis, MN. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=chilton_elizabeth

King, Maggie. Map of Ashpelon’s Journey. Created by Maggie King, based on “Routes of Quentin Stockwell” from Captive Histories by Evan Haefeli and Kevin Sweeney https://ourbelovedkin.com/awikhigan/ashpelon-full-journey-map-uewjpg.meta

Makepeace Productions. Our Mother Tongues. Wopanaak Language Reclamation Project. Southeastern Massachusetts. 2011 Makepeace LLC. http://ourmothertongues.org/language/Wampanoag/12

McBride, Dr. Kevin, David Naumec, Ashley Bissonnette & Noah Fellman. “Technical Report Battle of Great Falls / Wissatinnewag-Peskeompskut (May 19, 1676)” Pre-Inventory Research and Documentation Plan. Department of the Interior, National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program GA-2287-14-012. Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center, April 2016. https://www.montague ma.gov/files/Battle_of_Great_Falls_Ph...

Motavalli, Jim. “The Boston Post Road: A Path Through History.” New York Times, September 7, 2010, https://archive.nytimes.com/wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/the-boston-post-road-a-path-through-history/

National Park Service. “1676 Battle of Wissatinnewag – Peskeompskut (Great Falls): Building on Community Commitments to Remember, Honor, and Protect” Article 2022 PRESERVATION PLANNING GRANTS SUCCESS STORIES https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/massachusetts-1676-battle-of-wissatinnewag-peskeompskut-great-falls-building-on-community-commitments-to-remember-honor-and-protect.htm

Native Heritage Project. “First Bible Printed in US is Algonquian.” Posted December 1, 2015 by Roberta Estes.

Tall Pine, David, and other members.  Nipmuc Language. Audio, written, audio/visual files; resources; articles. http://www.nipmuclanguage.org/

Northmen https://www.youtube.com/@neemantools/about “The Birth of a Dugout Canoe” YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueFiy-uxI4Y

O’Connor, Julie. “New Netherland Myth Busting” Albany Muskrat. Friends of Albany History. June 16, 2021, https://friendsofalbanyhistory.wordpress.com/tag/17th-century/

Playford, John. The English Dancing Master, or Plain and Easy Rules for the Dancing of Country Dances, With the Tune to Each Dance. Printed by Thomas Harper, London, 1651. Open Educational Resource. Scott Pfitzinger. 2019. https://playforddances.com/

Q&A with Douglas Harper, Creator of the Online Etymology Dictionary.  IMSE Journal. June 18, 2015. https://journal.imse.com/qa-with-douglas-harper-creator-of-the-online-etymology-dictionary/

Russo, Joanne. “A Record-breaking Season for Putney Mountain Hawkwatch.” Vermont Center for Ecostudies. December 11, 2017,  https://vtecostudies.org/blog/a-record-breaking-season-for-putney-mountain-hawkwatch/Schwartz, Louis. “17th-century childbirth: exquisite torment and infinite grace’” The Lancet, Published: April 30, 2011, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60590-4

Stockwell, Quintin. Narrative of the Captivity of Quintin Stockwell—Indian Captivities, Published by the Eminent Dr. Increase Mather, in the Year 1684. https://accessgenealogy.com/massachusetts/narrative-captivity-quintin-stockwell-indian-captivities.htm

Stokes, Lori. “Opinion: 5 Myths About Puritans.” The Washington Post, Nov 18, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-puritans/2016/11/18/aa0ccd46-aae3-11e6-8b45-f8e493f06fcd_story.html

The Bay Psalm Book ; Being a Facsimile Reprint of the First Edition, Printed by Stephen Daye at Cambridge, in New England in 1640 ; With Introduction by Wilberforce Eames The Tribal Government of The Nipmuc Nation, Hassanamisco Band of Nipmucs https://www.nipmucnation.org/

Wells, Daniel White and Reuben Field Wells.  A History of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in Three Parts. Copyright 1910 Springfield, Mass., Pub. under the direction of F.C.H. Gibbons. Book digitized by Google from the library of Harvard University and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb. https://archive.org/details/ahistoryhatfiel00wellgoog

Wikipedia. Nipmuc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nipmuc. This article is within the scope of WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Native Americans, Indigenous peoples in Canada, and related indigenous peoples of North America on Wikipedia. C rating: Useful as an overview to the casual reader.

Available Now!

Excerpt from Hatfield 1677, Chapter Three:

On May 22, a small band of men traveled to the Falls to search for those who might have survived the battle, and to bury our dead. Filled with grief and the foreboding of more pain to come, I accompanied them.

Blogs may be weekly this month as I share my excitement over the publication of my first historical novel, Hatfield 1677, a gripping tale of love, loss, and resilience in colonial North America.

Today, thanks yous and brags.

Thank you to my early supporters: my editor, my daughter, my extended family, my friends, and my beta readers. Thank you to Acorn Publishing, Holly, Leslie and Jessica; cover designer Damonza.com, and RABT book tours. Thank you to Page158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina for stocking my book and featuring me in a local authors’ night and to Triangle Town Center Barnes & Noble for taking my book on consignment. Thank you to my friends in the three book clubs I belong to and my online friends across cyberspace and the planet.

Brags:

Amazon Bestseller Rankings Today at 2:00 PM Eastern Time

New Release, 4-stars and up, Literature and Fiction:

#4 Best Seller Native American Literature

#26 Best Seller Biographical Historical Fiction

#52 Best Seller Military Historical Fiction

Until tomorrow…

An Author’s Plea

My debut novel, Hatfield 1677, will officially be released next week, Tuesday, May 21. It will be available for purchase online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I am diligently working to place it in indie bookstores and at Barnes & Noble bookstores here in North Carolina, in Hatfield, Massachusetts, and in my childhood home of San Diego County, California.

I think Hatfield 1677 is an amazing story, and I think I’m a good writer. I am proud that I wrote a novel, which many people want to do and few accomplish, and so I’m happy. But like all art, a novel needs readers to breathe life into it. Unseen paintings, unheard music, and unread novels die a sad and lonely death.

My plea to you is simple and four-fold.

Please buy my book, in whatever format you prefer, from whichever source you want.

Please read my book.

Please rate and review my book on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. If you can’t give it three stars or more, (preferably four or five) please let me know so that I can improve my craft for my next book.

If you love Hatfield 1677, please share on social media and recommend it to your friends, request it from your local bookstore, and ask your library to stock it.

Thank you.

SOS

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Overwhelmed: Bedazzled and Cluttered

I don’t use the word often: overwhelmed.  Apparently, neither do many of us. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (which is the only one I will use since reading the marvelous The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams) it occurs only once in every one million words. Also, according to the OED, the adjective actually has only one meaning: Overwhelmed, overcome, overpowered, or submerged. However, the quotations offered show that the experience of being overwhelmed can range from life-threatening to sublime.

Lately I have been feeling overwhelmed, in the sense of being swept off my feet by joy and also drowning in work.

Oxford offers many examples, one of its charming features. These seem to fit my current state.

1581

Overwhelmed with a perpetuall dazellnes of sight.

J. Bell translation of W. Haddon & J. Foxe, Against Jerome Osorius

dazzleness, n.

2005

[She] admits being overwhelmed by the confusion on her desk which, to even a non-expert eye, is cry…

Metro

declutter, n.

My mind is both dazzled and cluttered. Dazzled with the realization that my debut novel, Hatfield 1677, will be published next month. Dazzled by the heartfelt testimonials it has received, the excitement of the Hatfield museum in Hatfield, Massachusetts, the setting of the novel, and their graciousness in hosting me as a speaker. Dazzled by invitations from the Hatfield museum and my local Page 158 Books to speak and sign books. Dazzled by, for want of a better word, hard-earned success. Dazzled in receiving three full manuscript requests from New York Literary agents in only two dozen queries sent out for my next novel, Echoes.

Yet my mind is also cluttered. Cluttered with all that needs to be done for Hatfield 1677: promotions on social media, blog tours, and author profiles. Cluttered with researching agents for Echoes so that I can personalize my queries and find an agent who will love my second-born book. And cluttered with the day to day. A beloved senior dog who, in the past week, has suffered from serious issues with his arthritic hind legs and his sensitive digestion. Cluttered with the demands of my role as secretary of my homeowners’ association, which is eerily similar at times to a role on the 1980s prime-time soap opera Knots Landing. My soul is cluttered with the drama.

Dazzled is good. I can bask in the light of my good fortune and seek shelter when it overwhelms me. As to the clutter, perhaps a bit of prioritizing will ease my stress. After all, there will be more overwhelming moments in my future, both dazzling and disorienting, as there are in any life.

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson wrote her masterpiece, Silent Spring, after receiving a letter in 1958 from her friend, describing the death of birds around her property in Massachusetts, resulting from the aerial spraying of DDT to kill mosquitoes.

A decade ago, Elon Musk—who brought about the death of the little blue Twitter bird—argued with Larry Page over the pros and cons of Artificial Intellligence. Musk took the stance that it was a danger to our survival as a species. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/03/technology/ai-openai-musk-page-altman.html

Then Musk went on to embrace it.

Stanford has developed artificial intelligence that will choreograph dance to any music. Steinway has a $100K + K52 upright piano that incorporates AI technology to serve as the ultimate player piano. Human faces created by AI are indistinguishable from real human faces. My bank keeps wanting me to use voice recognition rather than a password.

I uploaded my work in progress novel, all 400 pages, to an AI fiction analyzer on the Autocrit website, to see what it could do. It not only summarized each chapter, but worked out the relationships, foreshadowing, symbolism and themes at an astonishingly high level. It literally found hints and clues I hadn’t consciously placed in my work.

Human innovation has often been motivated by laziness, creating the easiest method to get things done and solve problems. That’s why we harnessed fire and electricity, moved from levers to hydraulic cranes, created washing machines and blenders and refrigeration.

But, for the most part, until now, technology has made it easier to avoid physical labor and hand to hand combat. With the exception of computers as calculators and storage devices, we hadn’t explored their full potential.

In the last decade, that potential has been unleashed. And Artificial Intelligence is designed to spare us from mental labor. From thinking. From imagining. From creating.

If we aren’t moving or thinking or creating, then surely, we will still have each other? Our feelings? Our relationships?

Cue scary organ music (AI generated of course.) Many of us work remotely, send messages voice to text, and homeschool our children using ZOOM and computer programs. We meet potential partners on dating sites, chat online, and catfish each other online. Since the COVID 19 pandemic, we are afraid to shake hands, to hug, to stand too close. We order delivery. We stay inside.

Humans have always worried about their own extinction. For the druids, it was the terror each winter that the sun would never return. Then it was the fear of God. WWII brought us nuclear war as the existential threat. Rachel Carson warned it might be pesticides and pollution. Al Gore gave us an “Inconvenient Truth” and global climate change.

Apparently, the new threat to humanity is that humans will replace themselves with artificial intelligence. That we will become obsolete life forms. That life, itself, will become obsolete.

Elon Musk “rebranded” Twitter (cute tweeting blue bird) as X, a symbol that stands for treasure—X marks the spot—and cancellation—to “X” something out. On X, he recently posted that “his” spaceships will travel to Mars and the stars.

Sadly, there may be nobody left to be amazed by that. Or to sing his praises.