Rob Ellis
Author's Official Website
Books
Books
Kisuhs Kamkamoss and the White Warrior
Triggered by a tragic discovery, a young Indian embarks on a quest to find the truth. It is the beginning of a voyage of discovery during which Kisuhs Kamkamoss must face many challenges and confront the dangers and realities of a rapidly changing world. His journey is dogged by uncertainty and fear and sets him on a collision course with an alien culture - his challenge is to make sense of what is happening before it is too late.
This fictional work taps into Native American myths and legends and is set around the time of ‘first contact’ with the outside world. The story is set in what is now the northeast of the United States and southeast Canada, and the story includes reference to a number of tribes who live there to this day; namely, Mi'kmaq (Lnu or Mi'kmaw), Maliseet (Wolastoqiyik), Passamaquoddy (Pestomuhkati), Abenaki (Alndbak), and Penobscot (Panawahpskek) -the 5 tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy.
Works in Progress
Uhsimisol and the Thunderbird
The Ghost Witch - In the centre of her chalk-white, semi-human face was an upturned nose, flat and flared. Her lips were thin, so thin that they could hardly be described as lips at all. It was as if her mouth had been cruelly cut from taut and bloodless flesh. Her hair was long, dirty and unkempt. It was as black as coal and she wore two tightly braided buns, decorated with eagle feathers and tiny white shells. It was only when Uhsimisol looked more closely that he saw that the white shells were in fact human teeth.
Over the last couple of years I've been working on a follow up novel to Kisuhs Kamkamoss and the White Warrior, a book with a working title of, Uhsimisol and the Thunderbird. The work is a prequel and follows two brothers who go in search of the mythical Thunderbird. I'm not far off completing the version I'm looking to submit and I'll be posting excerpts (and maybe audio clips) as I go along as a means of testing the water. So, keep a lookout!!
Thanks for checking in!
Info & Updates
Hi, I've been experimenting with converting some of my written work into audio recordings. These are two short stories. The first is called Moon Owl and Black Crow and tells of a young Penobscot girl who tries to find a way of keeping the birds from eating her father's crops. The second is called An Island in an Ocean and tells of the creation of the Earth. I hope you enjoy...
I've just completed the first draft of my new book, the Erin (working title) and I'm in the process of fine-tuning a few bits and pieces before it goes off to the publisher.
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Erin is a psychological crime thriller set in the days leading up to and including the 9/11 attacks in New York. It's something I've been working on for about 6 years and finally I have a first draft.
I was living in the US at the time of 9/11 and visited Manhattan just a week after the attack on a pre-planned research tip. I think it was that visit, and what I experienced over those couple of days, that prompted me to write this book.
I visited Ground Zero with a friend who had witnessed the attacks from her office on the 53rd floor of the Rockefeller Center. It was her first time too, going back to the site itself, and I think the experience for both of us was quite overwhelming.
We went and sat for a while at a coffee shop. and I tried to organise my thoughts. Looking back, there were a few things that stood out beyond the more obvious
I noticed hundreds of ribbons, and flowers, and photographs of the missing attached to a tall perimeter fence surrounding the area where the towers had once stood.
The air was acrid with the smell of burning, and wide columns of smoke rose up over the city, but perhaps most unsettling was the ever-present pall of dust and grit hanging in the air. You could taste it. You could feel it in your teeth and on your tongue, and it occurred to me the that it all, only very recently, had been solid matter - buildings, objects, and even people. Even writing this now, the thought still horrifies me.
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ERIN
A large semi and flatbed trailer passed by the coffee shop in which we were sat. It was carrying a huge steel girder, the front half of which was intact, however, the rear was twisted like melted wax.
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On 9/11, the day itself, I watched live coverage of every terrible moment. I recall people remarking at the time that it was like watching a disaster movie - but for real.
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One of the truly horrific and tragic memories I have were the so-called 'jumpers;' those people who chose to jump rather than burn as the fires burned on the floors below them inside the twin towers.
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…There were sudden gasps from people gathering to watch. A woman cried, “God! Save their souls! They’re jumping! Oh, please God! Save their souls!”
Brennen and Hulce looked up and to their horror saw that people had begun jumping from the North Tower, appearing out of the smoke and flame, tumbling earthward.
The unimaginable was unfolding before them and all those gazing upward.
Presumably, they jumped to escape the smoke and the fire. They jumped consecutively, one after another. And they fell with an eerie silence while those on the ground screamed.
…Ortiz went to the window and pressed his face against the glass, looking down and then upwards. There was another person falling, then another, and another. Sequentially, one after the other, they jumped, and they fell, silently, dropping to their deaths on the city streets far below.
Ortiz staggered backwards in revulsion and disbelief. His mind was a torrent of horror and fear as he tried to take in the true extent of the horror unfolding all around him.
Erin (p175)
