Wanders Far-An Unlikely Hero's Journey: Part of the Adirondack Spirit Series

Wanders Far-An Unlikely Hero's Journey: Part of the Adirondack Spirit Series

by David Fitz-Gerald

Overview

Wanders Far lived in dangerous times and was faced with one difficult challenge after another. He was a skinny, quiet boy who was raised on the banks of a tributary of New York State’s Mohawk River, hundreds of years before colonists arrived. One lifetime was not enough for Wanders Far’s old soul.

From a very young age, his wanderlust compelled him down one path after another. No village could contain him.

He was happy living a simple life in the physical world during challenging times. The spirit world had other plans.

A wise, enigmatic shaman mentored Wanders Far and helped him cultivate the supernatural visions that haunted him. His guide could only help him so far.

He set out to become a runner, carrying important messages across the lands of his people and their enemies. He ended up fulfilling a much greater destiny than he ever imagined.

This is the first installment in the Adirondack Spirit Series.

You might like this book if you like historical novels, westerns, supernatural thrillers, or books featuring distance hikers. If you like all of those, hopefully this book will be one of your favorites.

Table of Contents

Grandfather Is Dead

A Good Place to Start a New Life

Runaway Toddler

Too Many Trout to Count

Ambushed

Swamp Creature

The Fierce Scream of a Fisher Cat

Trading with the Narraganset

Choosing a New Chief

Attacked at Dawn

An Algonquin Captive

Utopia

Magic Crystal

Stealing Souvenirs from a Camp of Giants

A Malevolent Presence

Great Roaring Waterfalls

He Who Follows the Stars

That Is How Your Story Should Be Told, My Friend

People of the Longhouse

The Great White Stag

Justice

The First Full Moon of Summer

A Young Man with an Old Soul

About David Fitz-Gerald:

David Fitz-Gerald is an author. Okay, make that amateur author. If you’re looking for the atheist activist author by the same name, keep looking—this book is DEFINITELY not for you! After a chaotic day as a business person, Dave enjoys getting lost in the settings he imagines and spending time with the characters he creates. Writing historical fiction is like making paintings of the past. He loves to weave fact and fiction together, stirring in action, adventure, romance, and a heavy dose of the supernatural with the hope of transporting the reader to another time and place. He is an Adirondack 46-er, which means he has hiked all of the highest peaks in New York State, so it should not be surprising when Dave attempts to glorify hikers as swashbuckling superheroes in his writing. Wanders Far—An Unlikely Hero’s Journey is the first in a series of books in the Adirondack Spirit Series.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781977211378
Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc.
Publication date: 05/11/2019
Pages: 198
Sales rank: 239,162
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.45(d)

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Wanders Far-An Unlikely Hero's Journey: Part of the Adirondack Spirit Series 4.7 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. 3 reviews.
ReadersFavorite 16 days ago
Reviewed by Astrid Iustulin for Readers' Favorite Books that mix different genres may appear chaotic or incomplete. The difficulty is that every element must be balanced so as not to overwhelm the others. Of course, this result is possible with a fine author, and David Fitz-Gerald has worked wonders in his amazing book Wanders Far: An Unlikely Hero's Journey. This novel blends historical, spiritual, and adventurous elements. It tells the story of a young Native American, Wanders Far, who lived several centuries before the colonists arrived. A wanderer since an early age, Wanders Far’s wish is to become a runner and carry messages for his people. However, he has visions that make him different from the others. After a shaman helps him understand his gift, Wanders Far will fulfill his destiny. Wanders Far is a praiseworthy book from many viewpoints. The first is that it benefits from exquisite storytelling. Fitz-Gerald’s descriptions of people and places are mesmerizing. The characters are well carved, and it is quite surprising to think that they are fictional. Some of them, like Wanders Far and his mother, Bear Fat, are fully-rounded, and in the end, I had the impression that I had personally met them. The ease with which Fitz-Gerald blends reality and spiritual, almost supernatural elements reveals his superior writing skills. Wanders Far: An Unlikely Hero's Journey is one of those books that creates the illusion that everything you read is real. I think that the characters will accompany every reader for a long time. I am glad this is the first installment of a series, and I am looking forward to the next books.
Anonymous 6 months ago
As a lover of the Adirondack Mountains, I enjoyed this historical novel imagining the life of an Indian boy in the 11th in those mountains. The descriptions of everyday life provided interesting context for the story, and historical content was also informative and engagingly presented. It was fun to be able to recognize the locations in which the story occurred The characters of Wanders Far and his mother, Bear Fat, were well developed and I found myself quickly drawn into their stories, and I enjoyed the way the author flowed the story through time. I would recommend this book to fellow lovers of the Adirondacks, and I think it would also be quite suitable and enjoyable for young readers.
CGBetit 7 months ago
What a pleasure to read David Fitz-Gerald’s historical novel, Wanders Far: An Unlikely Hero’s Journey. The story opens with Wanders Far’s mother, Bear Fat—matriarchal leader being distracted from her proposal to relocate the three clans to ensure good food supply and continued well-being. Her thoughts return often to the moment she saw her baby girl being snatched while she was digging for tubers a short distance away. As her meeting concludes, her young son runs up to her to tell that her father had died. This dynamic beginning to the story continues developing the reader’s interest with the birth of Wanders Far, his many adventures to his thoughts after fifty years of marriage, evolving relationships among members of the family and those they meet, descriptions of every day Native American life of the mid-1100s, hunting and putting food by, traveling, the efforts to join the five tribes, deepening spiritual insights and spirit interventions—interspersed with a few major surprises. Throughout, Wanders Far is insightful, reasonable, clever, reflective, responsible, aspiring and wise. Within the happenings and Wanders Far’s adventures are descriptions of the land, rivers, lakes and waterfalls and the myths from northern New York lore. I thoroughly enjoyed Wanders Far: An Unlikely Hero’s Journey, This is an enriching read and I highly recommend this book.