C R Barber

Stellar Wind C R Barber

Author's Notes: This evil table IS REAL. IT can be found in Parinacota, Chile inside the tiny village's adobe church. Still today, the people who live in Parinacota keep the little wooden table chained to the altar so that it cannot roam the streets and steal souls. The picture on the back cover is the ACTUAL table and the church that houses it today. When I was looking for a story to write, I was inside the church of Paranicota with my family. We asked the church-keeper why the ugly, old table was chained. The old man replied, "The table, it is evil, it drags itself down the street and next morning someone inside the house is dead." I became interested in why the table why was evil and since when. No one from the little village knew the answer. Hence, I created that story. I started in modern day, and somehow ended up back in time, in 1712. I love the bygone days of tall ships so I got the idea and my ship was created. Now I needed a name for her and had already decided that it would also be the name of my novel. She was a carrack, grand and majestic, built in 1683. I searched the web to find what astronomic discovery was made that year: Stellar Wind is what I found. (Stellar wind is a flow of gas ejected from the upper atmosphere of a star). To be as accurate as possible, I studied what sailors and people wore and ate back then, which ports were friendly, what was traded IN to and from the different ports, where pirates normally raided ships and their pirate lingo. It was important to know religious customs and where natives were uprising against the white man. The Mayans are weaved into the story along with Pacal Votan, the Long Count Calendar, the Dying World of the Fourth Sun, the different tribes in South America and more. This research was not only fun for me but also very enlightening. I hope that you enjoy Stellar Wind's adventure as much as I enjoyed writing it.