Before the Thunder (Paperback)

The Paleo-Indians seem to have appeared on the North American continent at a time when its access should have been blocked by the glaciers of the Ice Age. The idea has been offered that they took a coastal approach after crossing over the Bering Land Bridge. This too would have been highly problematic, however, because the Wisconsin ice pack seemingly extended beyond the western coast of Canada. It is also very difficult to demonstrate that the country was actually settled from west to east, which would have been the reasonable progression had the human incursion come from the Pacific. In this novel I have theorized the existence of an entirely new migratory pathway - one leading beneath the interposing ice mass and beneath the face of the planet proper. My proposed Subterranean Northwest Passage would have placed these Paleo-Indian explorers almost directly in the midst of the North American continent somewhere toward the end of the Pleistocene Epoch. And the prehistoric world, in which they lived all those thousands of years ago, becomes contrasted with an even more prehistoric world, which they encountered below. For the purpose of transparency, I have nominated to retain the modern names of some geological features. Where I have opted to use their designations for these places, I have tried to make the identities clear. And, of course, all forms of communication have been rendered in Modern English. So join with me now, if you dare, for what may indeed have been the most courageous and terrifying adventure ever embarked upon by human beings of any era