World Without Columbus, part 2

"Columbus left with three small ships. The largest was the Santa Maria, a carrack owned and captained by Juan de la Cosa. La Niña and the Pinta were small caravels owned by the Pinzón brothers, Martin and Vicente Yáñez. Most of the crews were experienced Portuguese sailors, loyal to the Pinzóns.

On October 12, the lookout sighted land after a voyage of only five weeks. Columbus thought he had found the Japans, but it was actually the Bahamas. By October 28, the expedition found Cuba, which Columbus assumed was China. He should have known better. Even by his faulty mathematics, it was too soon. The Earth could not be so small, and it did not take a genius to realize that these islands were not the Indies.

Martin Pinzón was a more experienced and accomplished sailor than Columbus, and they often disagreed on matters of navigation. After the expedition left Cuba on November 21, he took the Pinta and went exploring on his own.

When the Santa Maria broke on a reef off the Northern coast of Hispaniola on Christmas morning, Columbus had the difficult task of loading as much plunder as possible on the tiny caravel, La Nina, in order to make the voyage back to Spain. Gold, tobacco, and slaves were among the precious cargo, which Columbus needed to justify the expense of the expedition. Most of the crew would be left on the island, along with considerable provisions. As it was, La Nina would be seriously overburdened.

Just in time, on January 6, the Pinta returned and distributed the load between the two ships. Even so, 39 men had to be left behind. They founded the settlement known as La Navidad, and were wiped out by the local Caribs within a year.

On the return voyage, the ships encountered a fierce winter storm. Many scholars believe that the skills of the Pinzón brothers were all that prevented the heavily laden caravels from being lost in the storm. What might have happened if Martin Pinzón had not returned to the expedition? For whatever reason, the region of the Northern Caribbean known as the Bermuda Triangle has claimed many victims. What if the Pinta had been one of them?

Alone in the Mid-Atlantic storm, and burdened beyond capacity or reason, La Nina would surely have capsized and gone down with all hands."


-- From the Afterword of Burning Woman and the Ghost Lance, available on Amazon.com

World Without Columbus, part 1

"It all changed in 1492.

The Muslim Kingdom of Granada fell to the monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, uniting Spain under their rule. In addition, they expelled all Jews in Spain who refused to convert to Christianity by royal edict. By seizing the lands and wealth held by the non-Christians in their country, the rulers of Spain hoped to offset the expenses of their military efforts.

Still, the coffers in Córdoba begged for gold, and the financial prospects for the new monarchy were scarce. Trade with China and India was the surest path to wealth, but The Ottoman Empire blocked the traditional Silk Road to the East, and the sea route around Africa, discovered in 1488 by the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias, was lengthy and hazardous.

An Italian navigator, known to the Spanish as Cristóbal Colón, had been lobbying the Spanish Court for seven years to finance an exploratory mission to find a route to the Indies by sailing West across the Atlantic Ocean. His argument was passionate, and the rewards could be enormous, but the risk was also considerable. With the help of a few private investors from his native Italy, and some creative money shuffling by the Spanish Royal Treasurer, the expedition set forth from the port of Palos on the evening of August 3, 1492.

It was a desperate gamble, and neither Isabella nor Ferdinand truly believed the expedition would ever return. Columbus’ calculations on the circumference of the Earth were clearly erroneous. He thought the world was much smaller than it actually was, and most authorities believed the crew would starve to death before reaching land.

He never reached China or India, but found a land and people unknown to Europeans at the time, and the world changed forever.

However, what would have happened if he had not returned? It was a very close thing…"

There is the question: What would the world look like if Columbus had not returned?

From the Afterword of Burning Woman and the Ghost Lance, available on Amazon.com

Space Opera: The Opening

I also have a shorter story on Amazon.com, also in Kindle-format. The price reflects the small size, not the quality. Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

Burning Woman and the Ghost Lance

I have written a new story, which is available on Amazon.com as a Kindle book. This novela has been a labor of love for many years for me, and I am happy to finally see it published. If you decide to purchase it, please leave a review on Amazon.com. Good or bad, a review always helps the author, and I appreciate the feedback.

Thanks!

Blue Tiger: Sex and Death on the Night the Shades Came

I have written (and will continue to add to) a series of adult-oriented urban fantasy stories, to be published for Amazon Kindle. This is my first effort with self-publishing, and I realize the subject matter is going to be controversial. If you decide to buy one of the stories, please post a review on Amazon. The review can be positive or negative, just be honest and polite. The more reviews I get the better, I've been told. Thanks!

I have an author's page on Amazon now. Take a look!

Perspective

I look around the classroom and I see the masks of my peers, equals in the bondage of maturity. I think I can also see who they were, as the days of memory accumulate like the birth of another person with the same soul. Forms change without awareness. Not new, but not the same, either. Only the pinpoint between the temples maintains the muster-sheet of identity. Call the roll now.

There are six-year-olds playing peek-a-boo among the desks. Chasing that big red ball of time down the hall. Bouncing, bouncing, and bouncing into the unknowable. Running and shouting and laughing for the joy of innocence in the fog-fenced playground.

Twelve, and pulling the string of a kite across an open field. Friends run alongside, either real or fairytale. The kite rising into the summer clouds like a phoenix not yet reborn. Unburned. Unimpaired by experience. Free to hang in the sky like a fool.

Then, the teens who flirt and beg. Social animals without an instruction manual. Hormones stalking prey, objects of feral lust, driven by hunger that can’t be named. Denied satiation by fear of failure, most took the directions they were given and followed the safe road to the final game. The others, so many others, found other paths. Some escaped into closet worlds to play new games. Not all the ways led out of the nightmares.

The final game crept in and pounced like an invisible tiger, chasing them from the comforting radiance of their only known world. What dark future waited? No light to guide them except what they could build out of moss, scraps of dry twigs, and a bonfire of cash. Dressed in the clothes of acceptability, they learned to cover their faces with virtue and work ethic and financial responsibility. Thus they arrived to this singular step on the stairway of life.

I see their masks of now, but I imagine other selves slipping out to disturb the readers who pretend not to see and smile at the antics between paragraphs.

Innocence is never lost, simply buried under the accretion of suffering. There are still games to be played, and the freedom to be foolish waits only for the unmasking. All the people that we were still live within. Every day adds to the crowd. Too many now to sort.

But, if I could just return to that six-year-old… That pure child. Just a day from that one day. It would be as though the massive pile of time were washed away like a sandcastle battered by the tide. Rediscovering that moment of innocence might be the medicine that makes the remainder bearable.