Mauna Kea: A Novel of Hawai'i

by Tom Peek, John D Dawson (Other)

Overview

Winner of the 2024 Nautilus Award for Small Press Fiction!

A boundary-bridging novel that will surprise, captivate, and move readers who thought they knew Hawaiʻi; an age-old story of healing a seared heart and finding home. 

Mauna Kea: A Novel of Hawai'i is a gripping tale of clashing passions—science and spirituality, vengeance and compassion, fear and courage—set atop Hawaiʻi’s 14,000-foot Mauna Kea, realm of revered goddesses and star-wise explorers. A young vagabond running from America’s turmoil is forced to confront his own grief and rage on an embattled holy mountain in the Pacific. There he encounters a mysterious domain of ancient mountain deities and the Native Hawaiians who revere them, including two wise elders who take him under their wings and a young woman with a world-weary heart akin to his own. 

Through his startling experiences with them—and a motley cadre of other islanders—he learns the power of aloha and discovers an untapped reservoir of faith and courage that rekindles his hope in himself and in the world we share.

Includes an illustrated map and 12 original pen-and-ink drawings made especially for the novel by John D. Dawson

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632261205
Publisher:	Easton Studio Press, LLC
Publication date:	10/10/2023
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	1,078,426
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

An award-winning novelist and acclaimed writing teacher, Tom Peek lived his early life on Minnesota’s Upper Mississippi River. After hitchhiking by boat through the South Seas, he settled on Hawaiʻi Island three decades ago. There he’s been, among other things, an astronomy and mountain guide on Mauna Kea, an eruption ranger and exhibit writer on Kilauea, and an insider participant in the efforts to protect both sacred volcanoes. In praising his award-winning debut novel, Daughters of Fire, Maile Meyer, founder of Honolulu’s Native Books/Nā Mea Hawai‘i, said, “Peek’s understanding of place, culture, and current issues is deep and respectful without being heavy-handed.” The Contemporary Pacific Journal called him “a storyteller extraordinaire, cut from an older cloth seldom seen today.”  

Illustrator John D. Dawson was raised in San Diego and has lived on Hawai‘i Island for three decades. A graduate of the Art Center School, Los Angeles, now the ArtCenter College of Design, Dawson has illustrated books for national publishers as well as stamps for the US Postal Service, including its entire "Nature of America" series. He’s also done commissions for the United Nations, National Park Service, National Geographic Society, National Wildlife Federation, and Audubon Society. His fine art watercolors and acrylics are represented by the Volcano Art Center gallery in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

Editorial Reviews

"In Mauna Kea, Hawaiʻi-based author Tom Peek develops his craft far beyond his first novel, the award-winning Daughters of Fire. Peek's down-to-earth storytelling voice speaks to a broad audience—national, global, and local—no small feat. His compelling and deftly woven plot lines, keen sense of pacing, and finely-etched, authentic characters combine to bring to life the world of the Mauna Kea Protectors Movement while also offering a particularly intimate perspective on those who trace their ancestry to this sacred mountain."—Susan Najita, Associate Professor of Literature and Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies, University of Michigan

“The novel is a compelling, extremely entertaining story that encompasses ancient Hawaiian concepts and American thought patterns. The authentic characters are perfect. It’s a Hawaiian cultural primer, a gift that lifts the spirits high! ʻIolanaʻoe! (You soar like a hawk!)” — Kaluna West, Native Hawaiian artist, educator, and former Kahoʻolawe activist

“An authentic, eye-opening novel that lifts the veil on the ancient traditions and modern political intrigues that underlie the longstanding controversy over telescopes on Mauna Kea.”—Nelson Ho, Sierra Club leader and longtime Mauna Kea activist

“In this age of countless battles, whether over indigenous resources in the Americas or territory in Ukraine, here’s a novel that offers a deeper way to think about conflict, a hopeful book sorely needed in these often-disheartening times.”—Michael Osmera PhD, retired cultural anthropologist, Linfield Universityin Oregon

“Tom Peek is an organic intellectual in the tradition of Mark Twain.”—Poet Jaime Jacinto, author of Heaven is Just Another Country

 

“This novel is medicine for the world.” —Arnie Kotler, editor of Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh

“If youʻre interested in Native Hawaiian culture, or in the community politics of Hawaiʻi, or in deep-universe astronomy, you should read this book. You likewise may wish to read it if you followed the epic 2019 protest in which an improvised village of mostly Native Hawaiians blocked construction of one of the worldʻs largest telescope on Hawai‘i Island . . . Author Tom Peek is an insider to this story. He has stepped back to give us a novelistʻs view from high in the heavens of what the next protest might look like. He hooks you on his multiple characters, who variously collude and collide, as people have and will continue to do so in real life over this sacred mountain.”—Tom Coffman, writer/director of the film Mauna Kea, Sacred Conduct/Sacred Mountain, and author of Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawaiʻi

“Majestic, deep, compelling . . . a feat of high literary skill and imagination. . . . [Peek’s] love for both the Hawaiian people and their land (‘aina) is as pervasive as it is palpable. I expect it to cement his place as a fine chronicler of the archipelago and culture he loves so much. A great read, well-written, compelling, Mauna Kea is a sword cut performed by a master, both fast and deep at the same time. I highly recommend it.”—Monk Yun Rou (Arthur Rosenfeld), award-winning author of numerous Taoist books, including Nautilus Award winner Mad Monk Manifesto: A Prescription for Evolution, Revolution, and Global Awakening, the novels Wasp Warrior and The Jade Boy, and his memoir The Monk of Park Avenue

“Mauna Kea has authority on every page. I admire very much about all of it, but perhaps especially the way Tom Peek shows the simultaneity of past and present on the mountain, and by implication in all of Hawaiian history. It is both so true and so hard to do believably—and yet he does it."—Elinor Langer, author of The Nation Special Issue on Hawaiian History, Famous Are the Flowers: Hawaiian Resistance Then—and Now

From the Publisher