History meets fantasy and archaeology meets magic in the harshly realistic Bronze Age CLAVIS
News: Clavis has been rereleased in the next few weeks by Multi Media Publications. The publisher is offering a free E-book or Audio Book from their catalogue to anyone who reviews Clavis on Amazon. Once the review is live, you can notify them and claim your reward at: http://www.mmpubs.com/business_consumer.html
Paperback: 583 pages
Publisher: Crystal Dreams Publishing (May 15, 2006)
USD $15.00
ISBN: 1591460352
Direct from the Publisher -
or from:
“I have watched you for several summers now, little Clavis; I have watched you more closely than you can imagine. You carry a secret that I had believed was mine alone. Many nights have I spent trying to decide your fate, and am glad I waited. Because I know you can hold your tongue I have brought you here.
As of yesterday, you are a non-person as are the rest in that blasted list you heard cried. You have lost the right to a home and land; you have lost the right to work and marry.
I’m trying to save your life.
Here is my deal. I will save your life and you will save my family, my reputation, my Province, and the Kte. I want you to travel to Oksat.”
Clavis, a young girl hunted and dispossessed, forced from her home and on a perilous journey to the barbaric lands in the far North. Cursed with a great secret and the Gift of Backsight, she must fend for herself among druids, witches, barbarians and cannibals, while avoiding those involved with a pretence to the throne.
Author’s Comments
To understand Clavis the girl, you have to first understand when and where she
lived. The novel is set in the Late Bronze Age, somewhere around 3000 years ago.
Contrary to the false and rose-tinted-spectacle view of life in the distant past
where everything was beautiful, everyone was free and everyone lived in peace
and harmony with nature, existence was in fact extremely harsh. Life expectancy
was between 20 and 35 years – a result of poor diet, lack of hygiene, disease
and constant inter-tribal warfare. Nature was not Man’s friend – it was a dark,
terrifying place which harboured dangerous beasts and wandering bandits. People
huddled behind wooden palisades on hilltops, shutting out the Unknown, placating
the various gods in the hope that disease or hunger or bloodshed or even the
cold wouldn’t claim any more lives that season.
In the South of Europe, great civilizations boomed – the Mediterranean
flourished. Huge buildings were constructed using advanced techniques, armadas
plied the seas and empires rose and fell. To the north, across the English
Channel and the North Sea, the lands were harsh and dark, damp and cold –
civilization was but a traveller’s tale, and its secrets held by only the
educated. But life was no bed of roses – the classics of Homer explicitly state
the status quo – the most violent and brutal men were revered, slavery was
endemic and plagues lashed the land regularly. There are references to Druids in
Greek literature and it is rumoured that Socrates was educated by a Northern
European Druid – perhaps that is how these Wise Old Men lived long enough to be
called ‘old’. The Neo-Pagan and Wiccan image of ‘The Crone’ would have in
reality been a woman in her 40s, and would have been revered locally for having
survived the perils of childbirth, recurrent arthritis, pneumonia and ‘old age’.
Clavis lives in a small village, Brawcalk, at the very edge of a Southern
European owned empire; a place where the taste of Northern savagery can still be
felt but which is under the tight control of one of the King’s representatives –
the Borough Controller. The religion of the old way has been replaced with the
King’s own – that of the Two Gods. Clavis is on the cusp of womanhood and, as a
serf living with her widowed mother, has never experienced life beyond her
village. Not only will she become a woman physically as the novel progresses but
also one to rival Boudicca in spirit. She must face the nightmares envisaged by
her more civilized neighbours.
Notes on Historical references:
All legal systems and laws referred to in Northern Europe are based entirely on
the Celtic legal system; this includes marriage, property and other references
employed in Clavis.
All legal systems in the South are based on the Greek.
All clothing, buildings, towns, weaponry, arms, armour, boats, technology
(including smelting and coppicing) and warfare are as archaeologically
up-to-date as possible.
For the state religion I chose Dualism as there was a period between polytheism
and monotheism which remains dark, and I see no reason why there was not an
intermediate point between the two. Also, Persian influence on the religion of
the Israelites, circa 2500 y.a., suggests that dualism did make a large
impression on those who came into contact with it.
For the sake of fiction, some factors are anachronistic.
Clavis is blessed (or cursed) with the Gift of Backsight – this is the psychic
ability to visually sense scenes from the past. This is not the same as seeing
ghosts, but a total immersion into a period long ago, if but for a brief moment.
Her later ability of Foresight is what makes Clavis such a desired commodity in
the powerplays of the Great.
The Druidic ritual of sonic vibration in the Henge is based upon various
scientific and pseudo-scientific theories concerning Stonehenge and its usage.
The Ke-Ke, I believe, are plausible. While some may equate them with
Neanderthal, I intended them to be more along the lines of Homo Erectus. Recent
archaeo-anthropological excavations in Indonesia – Homo Floresiensis – have
dated the continued existence of a pygmy descendent of Erectus to 1800 years
ago. Folk tales, and even the Trial of Joan of Arc, substantiate their existence
in Northern Europe.
I have tried to make Clavis as real as possible. I have not employed Politically
Correct motives, nor 21st Century morals or formula. Clavis is a young, innocent
redheaded girl who gets torn from her family and thrown into a world of harsh,
brutal men – the ‘heroes’ of the day. In order to survive, she must adapt. At
first, her innocence lets her be led by the nose but immersion in stark reality
forces her to take command of her own destiny.
A new hero is born.
Reviews:
Paul M Strickler, July 24th 2006
Braveheart meets Lord of the Rings,
Imagine a female Braveheart intent upon a multi-faceted quest of self-discovery,
family preservation, honor and the emancipation of her homeland across a
barbaric landscape filled with characters ruthless and savage; comical and
unique. Containing a taste of the fantastical and magical, Edward O' Toole's "Clavis"
is a delightful, entertaining and educational read that keeps you turning the
pages. Wonderfully written, you become fully immersed and mesmerized within the
story as the 13-year-old heroine, Clavis, must come-of-age in an ancient land
ruled by the sword and the axe where women are supposed to know their place and
never question it. Clavis, armed with the ability to see the ancient past and
the nearing future, breaks all the rules to free her land from the clutches of a
corrupt political system.
Clavis is a fun read, sure to delight those looking for a good, fast-paced story
set in a unique setting and time.
Clavis is featured in the Spring 2006 issue of The Pysanka magazine!
clavis at aestheteka dot com
