Second Sight takes place in the present and the past. The so called “Ice Age” past of 11,000 BC. I don’t believe there was an Ice Age based on what I have researched. But I have to use the term to avoid confusing people.
You will meet a number of so called Ice Age animals during the story. I want to introduce a couple of my favorites. I travel a lot and visit museums any chance I can get. The photo above was taken at the Denver Museum of Natural History. That is a skeleton of an extinct elephant-like species called the Gomphothere. (Not me in the jacket, the bony thing in the back.) I am very fond of him because he used to live in Pennsylvania. There were over fifty species of large mammals that went extinct or nearly extinct about 11,000 years ago. All at the same time. All of a sudden. Snap, gone. Why? At the same time the forests of North America all caught fire. Millions of trees that were fifteen to thirty feet in diameter at the base of the trunks, turned to charcoal. Most of the species went extinct. Only the giant trees on the far west coast survived this ancient holocaust. Why?
Second Sight will begin to answer this question.
Here is another animal I like:
I call them “Double Horns” in the story. The scientific name is Megalocerous or “Giant Deer”. Notice how he has two sets of horns. Other species had the second set of horns growing out of the tip of their snouts. Very cool. Watch for Double Horns to show up early in the story. You will also see giant sloths, giant beavers, a nasty bird the early American cultures called the Fire Bird.
If you would like to learn more about Ice Age animals, one of the books I used for reference while writing the story was The Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures. Page 259 is the beginning of what I call the Elephant Section. This is a great book especially for kids who like lots of pictures. The art work is amazing. You might find this book handy as you read Second Sight.
Another group of animals that will make cameos in the book I will need to keep as a surprise. They are real and based again on research. If you want to get hold of what I used as a basis for their insertion, you should get this ground breaking book: Red Earth White Lies. Vine Deloria Jr. collected Oral Histories from American cultures that date prior to what I call the rediscovery of America by European cultures. Plenty of controversy in that sentence, I would imagine. This book was very influential in my writing. I don’t agree with all he wrote but the information he collected is in my opinion extremely important and makes the case for a complete re-examination of our orthodox concepts of Meso-American History. The “Water Panther” mentioned in his book will make an appearance in the Sequel. I am writing him in as we speak.
Please go over to the Second Sight page when you get a chance. The characters from the story are starting to take over and talk directly to the visitors. I wanted to draw people into the story and help it feel more real. You can post questions to any of the Characters. They will write you back. It might take a while since the book is launching in a couple of weeks, so thank you for your patience. I didn’t know how much work went into the book AFTER it was written. This is crazy! But if it helps you out to understand and connect with the story, then whatever it takes, I am in. This is important.
Thank you for reading.
JFAlthouse