To Mushtaq Ali Shah, my very dear friend, who by bizarre coincidence came to live in the precise locale I most needed to research. One senses Father Mountain’s hand in this.
To Honest, our guide on Kilimanjaro, Great Sky itself.
To Jon Wagner, Ph.D., Department of Anthropology at Knox College, and his wife, Jan Lundeen, of Sandburg University, whom I met aboard a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Arusha. Bless them for numerous supportive e-mails and a long and enlightening telephone conversation on the differences between pastoral peoples and hunter-gatherers. My Ibandi are a transitional culture, neither one nor the other. There were doubtless many such, before the pastorals won history’s race. Suppositions on the relationship between storytelling and human consciousness were originally presented by the author at the Smithsonian in February 2004, bolstered by assurances from Jan that I was not, in fact, insane. Thank you so much.
Thanks go also to Professor Barbara J. King and Professor Brian Fagen, wonderful teachers of biological anthropology and the history of ancient civilizations; Dr. Jeffrey T. Freymueller, Geophysical Institute University of Alaska, Fairbanks; and Richard B. Waitt, U.S. Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory.
Although the author had the thrill and honor of personally walking much of the territory covered in this book, visual references remain as valuable as gold. I would be remiss not to mention the IMAX films Kilimanjaro and Serengeti in this regard.
There are several plants used by the indigenous population to modify consciousness in advantageous ways. One, Hoodia gordonii, has come to the attention of the West as an appetite suppressant, represented here by the Ibandi’s “fill-cactus.” Hoodia works extremely well, but there are a number of faux herbals on the market. In addition, you may believe that pharmaceutical companies are scrambling to patent it and deny the San people the benefits of their thousand-year practical research project. One brand that both contains the genuine product and respects the rights of the indigenous people can be found at the Web site www.desertburn.com.
In my opinion the human aura exists, but whether it is a phenomenon existing separate from the perceptive faculties of the observer, I cannot say. In such a case it would be referred to as an “artifact effect” or a “complex equivalency,” where the mind analyzes a gigantic amount of subliminal data, then produces a simple visual or kinesthetic symbol.
On the other hand, the phenomenon may simply be the nonphysical aspect of the human experience. Whichever it is, I would like to thank Sri Chinmoy, with whom I first experienced this, and Harley Reagan, Diane Nightbird, and the teachers and students of the Deer Tribe Metis Medicine teachings, who have allowed me many times over the years to study things that, as an outsider, I had no right to expect to learn. I love you all, and thank you for being my friends, family and teachers over the years.
Any anthropological accuracies in this book are due to the help of those already mentioned, as well as more helpful folks than I have time, space or memory to thank. Inaccuracies and flights of fantasy are the author’s own.
Observant anthropology buffs will quickly grasp that I have adapted many of the technological and life patterns of the !Kung and other Khoisan peoples of South Africa for my Ibandi. The sources of this information are too numerous to mention, but looming large among them are Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman, by Marjorie Shostak, and Hunter-Gatherers of the Kalahari, edited by Richard B. Lee and Irven DeVore.
While there are many similarities between my upper-paleolithic hunter-gathers and various real-world indigenous peoples, Ibandi social customs are my own invention.
A very special thanks to my daughter, Lauren Nicole Barnes, who shared the greatest adventure of my life, researching this book in beautiful Tanzania. A doting father is inordinately grateful both for cozy nights on the freezing lip of Ngorogoro crater and for moving swiftly when a crazed Floridian tourist induced an elephant to charge.
For my wife, novelist Tananarive Due, who held down the fort, encouraged me, and in general has functioned as the finest muse a man could ever have, I love you, now and always.
Finally, to all of those who have stood beside me all these years…
For those who believe in the unity of man and myth worldwide…
This one is for you.
Covina, California, November 8, 2005
www.lifewrite.com
About the Author
STEVEN BARNES is an author, lecturer and personal consultant who has lectured on creativity and human performance technologies at locations from UCLA, USC, and the Pasadena Jet Propulsion Lab to the Smithsonian Institute.
In the field of fiction writing, Barnes has published twenty novels and more than two million words of science fiction and fantasy. He’s been nominated for Hugo, Nebula and Cable Ace awards. His “A Stitch in Time” episode of The Outer Limits won the Emmy Award, and his alternate history novel Lion’s Blood won the 2003 Endeavor.
In the realm of mental and physical development, Barnes holds instructor certificates in Ericksonian Hypnosis and Circular Strength Training, and created the Lifewriting seminars utilizing Joseph Campbell’s model of the Hero’s Journey to help individuals and organizations grasp the flow of individual and team effort enabling peak performance. Second-place winner at the 1972 National Korean Karate championships, he holds black belts in Judo and Kempo Karate, has taught Tai Chi for twenty years, and is one of only a dozen people in the country certified in Softwork, an evolution of martial arts and yoga based on a century of Soviet research.
He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, daughter Nicki and son Jason.
Also by Steven Barnes
Dream Park
with Larry Niven
The Descent of Anansi
with Larry Niven
Streetlethal
The Kundalini Equation
The Legacy of Heorot
with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Barsoom Project
Gorgon Child
Achilles’ Choice
with Larry Niven
The California Voodoo Game
with Larry Niven
Firedance
Beowulf’s Children
with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Blood Brothers
Iron Shadows
Far Beyond the Stars
Saturn’s Race
with Larry Niven
Charisma
Lion’s Blood
Zulu Heart
Star Wars: The Cestus Deception
Great Sky Woman is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2006 by Steven Barnes
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by One World Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
ONE WORLD is a registered trademark and the One World colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Map and illustration by David Lindroth, based on a design by Toni Young.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barnes, Steven.
Great Sky Woman : a novel / Steven Barnes.
p. cm.
Novel.
I. Title.
PS3552.A6954G74 2006
813’.54—dc22 2006040039
www.oneworldbooks.net
eISBN: 978-0-345-49339-2
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