The Peacemaker
Author
Casey Dorman
Author Bio
Following a long and distinguished career as a research and clinical psychologist, a university professor and dean, and many years of service in the field of public mental health, Casey Dorman turned to the field of literature. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Lost Coast Review, a quarterly journal of short stories, poetry, book and film review and opinion. He is also the author of the mystery, Pink Carnation, and the Nyles Monahan mystery series, which includes I, Carlos and Chasing Tales, as well as the Brian O’Reilly, Cruise Ship Mystery series, which includes Appointment in Mykonos He wrote Unquity, a literary romance novel and the historical thriller, Prisoner’s Dilemma: The Deadliest Game. His book, The Peacemaker was released in September of 2015 and his most recent book, Murder in Nirvana (Black Rose Writing) is being released in late 2015. He lives with his wife Lai in Newport Beach, California.
Description
A thousand years ago the planet Talus was dying from ecological destruction. The warlike Tontors and their intellectual Falstinian slaves migrated to its twin planet Noruna, leaving the Aphorians, their menial slaves, behind. Now, a thousand years later, the Aphorians have rescued the environment from disaster, but the Falstinians, freed from their slavery to the Tontors, have returned to Talus to set up settlements on their old lands, once again threatening the ecology of the planet. The clash between the Falstinians and Aphorians threatens to spread to a war between the twin planets. Enter Jason, an empathic Peacemaker from a distant part of the galaxy, whose task is to bring understanding between the three races and avoid interplanetary war. The Peacemaker is a tale of the dangers of territorial competition, of racial hatred, and of ecological disregard. Based upon the twin disciplines of deep ecology and biomimicry, it is an inspiring story of the triumph of nonviolence, of environmental sensitivity, and of science.
Book excerpt
Chapter 1
A bright light flared briefly on the darkening Talusian horizon, as if a fiery meteor were cutting a luminescent swath through the atmosphere. For a few seconds all eyes in the planet’s Western hemisphere were riveted on the blazing evening sky. When the light died as suddenly as it had appeared, the Talusian population, 99% of them from the planet’s native race of Aphorians and a lone contingent of settlers—Falstinians from Talus’ twin planet Noruna—went back to making its preparations for the upcoming Talusian night, the mysterious illumination in the heavens having been dismissed and forgotten. No one was aware that Talus had been visited by a stranger from a distant corner of the galaxy. Within the descending spaceship, Jason, having just been awakened after his long interstellar voyage in suspended animation, stretched his muscles, then rubbed the heavy sleep from his eyes. He forced himself to ignore the agitated feeling in his intestines and to wait, motionless, until the dizziness in his head subsided, like a top slowly spinning to a halt. Then he deftly began to work the controls of his space craft. His shallow deceleration had slowed the vessel sufficiently to allow the protective skin of the craft to cool, so it no longer sent angry flames of heat into the thickening atmosphere around it. As the craft’s proximity to the planet increased, the guidance of the ship would come under the complete control of the automatic pilot, leaving Jason with nothing to do but wait and think. The approaching landing represented the goal for which, from the time of his childhood, his intense training had been aimed, When the space craft had settled, like a giant insect, on its six leg-like supports, each of its intricately synchronized systems shut down and its invisibility cloak activated, Jason pressed the button that noiselessly slid open the hard metal cover over the vessel’s wraparound window. Around him he saw a starry night sky, reaching down, in the distance, to thick, leafy treetops, looking like dark, irregular mounds of feathers. He felt a flutter of anxiety deep in his stomach, but he was relieved to see that no crowd of curious onlookers peered in at him from outside of his ship. His landing had attracted no attention from the local population. He knew that the native Aphorian population’s defense systems were not sophisticated enough to have tracked his descent. The Falstinians settlers on the planet, being more technologically sophisticated, had ample tracking capability, but he also knew that here on Talus they did not use it for the simple reason that their enemy, the Aphorians, possessed no air or space vehicles other than small, insect-like, single-passenger solar powered craft, which they used for individual travel. He picked up his small backpack of supplies, supplies which had stood ready for his departure from the craft since the day he had climbed aboard. He had brought very little with him. Both Talus and its sister planet, Noruna had breathable atmospheres and flora that were edible for someone of Jason’s race. He wore light but sturdy, walking shoes. Shouldering his backpack, he clamored down the space craft’s ladder and placed one tentative foot onto the ground. He felt the thrill of being on strange soil. The feeling was immediately replaced by a sense of panic as he realized that he was alone, light years away from anyone or anything familiar to him. He looked up at the sky, knowing that the effort to see his home planet, or even the distant star around which it orbited, was futile. The distance was too great. And high above him, in the center of the night sky, looking like a gigantic presence gazing down at him, was the pale sphere of Noruna, Talus’ sister planet, its orbit only one and a half million miles from that of Talus, shining with the ghostly illumination of the reflected light from the sun around which both of them orbited.
Author Website
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