by Jeff Posey
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About the Author
In his mind, Jeff Posey lives in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, while his body lives on a ridge of sand sitting on limestone that weathers to sticky-black mud. In his imagination, which comes out in his books, he spends a great deal of time in Anasaziland of a thousand years ago.
Yes, his first degree is in geology. But don’t let that fool you. His second degree is a masters in corporate finance. With half the work toward a masters in journalism thrown into the middle. What does that mean? It means he suffers Attention Surplus Disorder. Everything is interesting.
In the past fifteen years or so, the Anasazi and cultures that collapse have gotten most of his surplus attention.
“Cultures that have dramatically collapsed,” he says, “should at least compel us to dream up stories about how such things happen.”
After a five-year stint as a petroleum exploration geologists, he went on to serve as city editor for a metropolitan magazine, fiction editor for a national magazine, and publisher for a cooperative of hospitals.
Now he writes novels tied to his favorite part of the world in and around Pagosa Springs. You’ll see allusions to the ancient ones in all of his work, which he describes as rather like a huge ongoing meta-novel.
He and his wife, Danielle, spend as many weeks as possible each year in Pagosa Springs and Anasaziland, and Jeff makes long, looping, slow research trips through the area in a battered old brown pickup truck his father drove to the post office and back every day well into his nineties.
To learn more, see his books at HotWaterPress.com and his ever-growing collection of Anasazi-inspired author notes at JeffPosey.net.
Background Information
More here: Anasazi Gods and Belief Systems
More here: Mesa Verde Mummy Lake: Not a Lake
More here: The Anasazi Timbers of Chaco Canyon: A Quarter-Million Hand-Carried Logs
More here: The Anasazi Sun Dagger of Chaco Canyon
More here: The Anasazi Buildings of Chaco Canyon: Largest “Apartments” in World
More here: Anasazi Footwear: Shoe-Socks and Sandals
More here: Cut-in-Two Man, an Anasazi Mummy?
More here: Out of Chaco: The Great Anasazi North Road
More here: Mysteries of the Chimney Rock Anasazi Observatory
More here: Anasazi Food: What Did They Eat?
More here: Where Did the Anasazi Come From?
More here: Were the Anasazi Nazis?
More here: Were the Anasazi Cannibals?
More here: Why Did the Anasazi Collapse?
More here: Anasazi Rich: Kings, Commoners, and Collapse
More here: Anasazi Collapse and Modern Income Inequality
More here: Anasazi Runners and the Two-Hour Marathon
More here: Memoir of a Rookie Anasazi Potter
More here: Anasazi North Towns: Aztec and Salmon
Influential Books
Anasazi America, by David E. Stuart
Anasazi Architecture and American Design, edited by Baker H. Morrow and V.B. Price
Ancient Ruins of the Southwest: An Archaeological Guide (Arizona and the Southwest), by David Grant Noble
The Ancient Southwest: Chaco Canyon, Bandelier, and Mesa Verde, by David E. Stuart
Book of the Hopi, by Frank Waters
The Chaco Handbook, an Encyclopedic Guide, by R. Gwinn Vivian and Bruce Hilpert
A Field Guide to Rock Art Symbols of the Greater Southwest, by Alex Patterson
A History of the Ancient Southwest, by Stephen H. Lekson
Hopi Dictionary/Hopiikwa Lavaytutuveni: A Hopi-English Dictionary of the Third Mesa Dialect, by Kenneth C. Hill, Ekkehart Malotki, Mary E. Black, and The Hopi Dictionary Project.
House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest, by Craig Childs.
In Search of the Old Ones: Exploring the Anasazi World of the Southwest, by David Roberts
In the Shadow of the Rocks: Archaeology of the Chimney Rock District in Southern Colorado, by Florence C. Lister
Living the Sky: The Cosmos of the American Indian, by Ray A. Williamson
Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest, by Christy G Turner II and Jacqueline A. Turner
People of Chaco: A Canyon and Its Culture, by Kendrick Frazier
Visions of Chimney Rock: A Photographic Interpretation of the Place and Its People, Edited by Helen L. Richardson
Wild Plants of the Pueblo Province: Exploring Ancient and Enduring Uses, by William W. Dunmire and Gail D. Tierney
Wild Plants and Native Peoples of the Four Corners, by William W. Dunmire and Gail D. Tierney
A Note on Names and Words
Not all names and words. Just a few. I spent way too much time rabbit-trailing all this. No reason for you to go along for much of that ride.
Primary source is Hopi Dictionary/Hopiikwa Lavaytutuveni: A Hopi-English Dictionary of the Third Mesa Dialect, by Kenneth C. Hill, Ekkehart Malotki, Mary E. Black, and The Hopi Dictionary Project, unless otherwise noted.
In alphabetical order.
Bluestone: Turquoise.
Center Place Canyon: Today’s Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico.
Choovio: From the Hopi word chöövio, which means “antelope.”
Chumana: From Chu’mana, which means “snake maiden.”
Corn Beer: Did the Anasazi really have corn beer? I don’t know. Archaeology isn’t very good at finding evidence of ancient beer. But don’t you know that, sooner or later, some Anasazi person would have stumbled upon a mash of corn that would ferment and make alcohol? In the course of human history, that seems both common and inevitable.
The Fat Man: I don’t know if there really could have been a fat man in the Anasazi culture, which was so obviously calorie-starved. But if there were, it would almost certainly be among the top elite, perhaps the one who controlled the black market.
Hakidonmuya: From Hakitonmuya, which means “leap month,” the month they insert into the calendar to adjust it as needed. In the book, I have it mean “time of waiting for the full moon.” I obviously took some liberty with the meaning of this one.
Ihu: From the Hopi word for “coyote,” ihu. It also means “gullible fool,” which doesn’t really match what the character became in this story.
Kaphe: From napikaphe, which is a Hopi word for “tea.”
Kopavi: From Ko’pavi, which means “the open door at the crown of the head.”
Lightfoot: Not derived from anything. I just made it up. Seemed right for the kid.
Long-Haired Star: The long-haired star that appears every seventy-six years is known to us as Halley’s Comet.
Másaw: The Hopi spirit-being that is the lord and caretaker of the Third World of the Hopi (from Book of the Hopi, by Frank Waters). But he became too self-important, and the Creator demoted him to being the deity of death and the underworld in the current Fourth World.
Natwani: From the Hopi word spelled the same that means “practices related to the continued renewal or rejuvenation of life, such as planting, ritual obligations, hunting and gathering.”
Nuva: Snow.
Peelay: Derived from his namesake, the famous Anasazi flute player, Kokopelli.
The Pochtéca: As explained in Wikipedia, “A pochtecatl (plural pochteca) was a professional long-distance traveling merchant in the Aztec Empire.” I’ve abused the word a bit by making it into a singular pronoun. While there’s no conclusive evidence that such a traveling merchant class existed in the world of the Anasazi, there’s plenty of evidence that long-distance trade took place. (See In Search of the Old Ones, by David Roberts, for easy-to-read illumination on the pochtecan-style trading class.) The evidence for long-distance trade is overwhelming, from Pacific Ocean coastal seashe
lls to colorful jungle-bird feathers (macaws in particular; live birds were even kept in places) and wonderful tiny copper bells smelted and formed in Central America—where the people of the jungles, Toltec and Mayan, built massive pyramids to their gods. The Anasazi, in return, provided finely worked turquoise in trade.
Pokunyesva (Pók): Pokunyesva means “man before altar” according to the Book of the Hopi, by Frank Waters; in my usage it is often shortened or changed by those who hate him to something similar to pokkwita, which is dog excrement.
Pointed Teeth: A few skulls with teeth in place have been recovered in Anasazi ruins that show, as the archaeologist put it, “dental transfiguration.” That means they’ve been filed to a point. It’s a practice much more common to the south among the Maya and Toltec cultures. (See especially Man Corn, by Christy G. and Jacqueline A. Turner—note that this book is not for the faint of heart.)
Ráana: From raana, which means “bullfrog.”
The Six Directions: It’s a subtle thing, but on rare occasion, in the oldest of oral stories that could plausibly contain tendrils of those from the Anasazi a thousand years ago, six primary directions are mentioned. We have north and south, around which the Earth spins (although they would not have interpreted it that way, they would still have been able to precisely determine it—though not by the North Star, because due to the wobbling of the planet, what we now call the North Star was several moon widths away from its current apparent position). Then we have the directions of sunrise and sunset in the winter and in summer, which gives four more directions. That’s six total. But there’s also the possibility that the directions could include up and down.
Ungwaputi: From Hopi ungwa, meaning blood, and ungwnga, a plant used to stop bleeding (much as yarrow was used in the American Civil War). Also ungwvöplàngputi, to form blood clots.
String Records: While there is no evidence to my knowledge that the Anasazi used such strings, ancient cultures in Central and South America certainly did so, particularly the Inca. It’s worth noting that early Spanish-Catholic missionaries burned enormous piles of these strings, making it as if a long line of these ancient people had never lived, which breaks my heart.
Sowi: From Sowi’yngwa, which means “deer.”
Sweet Corn Cakes: Enzymes in saliva truly do render the starches in cornmeal into sugars that many Native American cultures use to render a sweet corn cake. If enough saliva is gathered in pots and cornmeal is added and allowed time to work, a sweet batter is produced. It may have been the most frequent experience the Anasazi had with sweetness.
Tokpelamongwi (Grandfather): Tokpelamongwi is sky chief (tokpela for sky; mongwi for chief).
Tootsa: From tòotsa, which means “hummingbird.”
Tuwa: Many meanings in Hopi, including “find, locate, discover,” “perceive,” and “recover, get back what was lost.”
Village of the Twins: The ancient village below the twin cliffs or spires at Chimney Rock National Monument, twenty miles west of Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
Wooti: From wuyòoti, which means “get old.”
Acknowledgments
To everyone who helped with this book:
Danielle Posey, my story consultant and alpha reader.
Jason Myers, my story-arc consultant and construction inspector, which makes him my primary beta reader.
Sue Posey, my mother. She is not Anasazi.
Ken Posey, my father. Neither is he.
Connor Posey, my son. He may be.
The DFW Writers’ Workshop, especially those in my read-critique groups who listened attentively and gave helpful advice.
The #FridayFlash gang of flash-fiction bloggers, who read and commented on my foundational flash pieces that greatly influenced this story.
Special thanks to Dave Truesdale, professional editor, for his critique and outstanding detailed editing.
Titles by Jeff Posey
Novels
Historical Novels and Collections
The Next Skywatcher: Prequel to The Last Skywatcher Triple Trilogy Series
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, Kindle e-ink readers, or paperback. Find out more here on HotWaterPress.com.
Thirteen Spiral Stars: Book 2 of The Last Skywatcher Series
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, Kindle e-ink readers, or paperback. Find out more here on HotWaterPress.com.
Anasazi Readers Group Starter Library: The Witchery of Flutes, The Next Skywatcher, and Thirteen Spiral Stars
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. Find out more here on HotWaterPress.com. This ebook collection is complimentary to all members of Jeff Posey’s Anasazi Readers Group (requires email address; you can safely unsubscribe at any time).
* * *
Contemporary Novels
Price on Their Heads: A Novel of Income Inequality and Mayhem
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, Kindle e-ink readers, or paperback. Find out more here on HotWaterPress.com.
The G.O.D. Journal: a search for gold
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, Kindle e-ink readers, or paperback. More here.
Anasazi Runner: a novel of identity and speed
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, Kindle e-ink readers, or paperback. More here.
* * *
Short Story Collections
The Witchery of Flutes: Forty-seven short dramas of Anasazi daily life
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. Find out more here on HotWaterPress.com.
Unwoven: six short stories
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. More here.
* * *
Short Stories
Tied to the Earth but Sailing
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. Find out more here on HotWaterPress.com.
Carl’s Hat Wins Marathon
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. More here.
An Invisible Man
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. More here.
Arturo’s Brains
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. More here.
The One-Hundredth Goliath
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. More here.
The Pump Jack Potion
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. More here.
Girl on a Rock
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. More here.
Walk, Not Stay
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. More here.
Making Spares
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. More here.
Miss Papa B.
Buy on Amazon: Kindle tablets and apps, or Kindle e-ink readers. More here.
To learn more and keep up with new releases by Jeff Posey, visit www.HotWaterPress.com or Sign Up for Jeff’s Anasazi Readers Group by Email (free books, special offers, and more—you can safely unsubscribe at any time).
