Forward
Forward
This book is for all those who are tired of the same old romance tropes and those who are tired of weird alien Sci-fi romance books. Yet it is also for those who love Star Trek: Imzadi and enjoy Imzadi fan fiction. It is all of that, but without the copyright issues and confines of the Fandom. There are no billionaire men, Mafia, bikers, or enemies to lovers, but there is proximity and shapeshifters are in the story. The main couple are not shifters.
There is a hint of Native American and Pagan rituals, which were adapted to the story and not the actual rituals of either. There are ships. The romance gets steamy, even somewhat spicy without hardcore BDSM. While it is not Star Trek or Babylon 5, it is sci-fi and romance, with a touch of paranormal, but both lovers look human, even though one is humanoid.
This book, as well as others in the series, started as fan fiction. After writing them, I thought about trying for a Star Trek book only to find it too complicated to get it published with the powers that be after discussing how to do it with two established Star Trek authors. So, I decided to remove all the potential copyright stuff, removing established constraints, and opening my stories up to new possibilities. The story became a Sci-fi, paranormal, mythical, romance book, as I played with the gods and goddesses of the past, mythology, paganism, Native Americanism, and of course love in space. However, I thank the late Peter David for inspiration and I thank David Mack and Dayton Ward for their advice and guidance, which freed me from constraints.
The romance is between a human and a humanoid, who mostly looks like a human female, except for the eyes that give away her species as telepathic. It has a Star Trek Imzadi flavor with even a touch of Babylon 5, which also had a Star Trek flavor. Thus, the introduction is important to understand humanoids from Ianna, who are similar, yet different.
Some disclaimers: The Cherokee words are real. At least I tried to keep them real, but the visions and vision quests in my stories are not Native American. They are only a work of fiction to fit the story. Though the idea of going to a place where the deaf can hear did come from the song “Ghost Dance” by Bill Miller. The Ianni language is purely my own creation, but I made every effort to keep the Cherokee language authentic.
Walela, Cherokee for hummingbird, has many legends from many different tribes and cultures: The hummingbird is associated with being a healer, as well as gifting or bringing fire to humans. The Ohlone Tribe has a story about how the hummingbird got fire, which made its throat red. South American tribes believe that hummingbirds brought fire to humans. Depending on the culture, they are also bringers of healing, peace, love, luck, perseverance, and fertility. It is also said they sprung from tears of grieving women. Sighting a hummingbird is also said to be a sign a woman will soon conceive. Walela also keep secrets and even brings tobacco, a sacred medicine among Native Americans. There are many legends concerning the hummingbird. Some of these legends, such as fire, healing, love, and pregnancy, are incorporated into this story, but only symbolic to fit the story and ironically I did not realized that I had done it until I did research for the rewrite.
The eagle is a symbol of strength, freedom, and resilience. In some indigenous cultures, since the eagle flies very high, he is close to the Creator, bringing sacred messages from the Creator to the people. The Eagle, according to the Cherokee, talks to the Creator. He is guardian and protector of the inhabitants of Earth. He insures balance and harmony within nature. He has a connection with the cosmos, maintaining natural order, even has a relationship with the elements- Earth, fire, air, water, and spirit. Paganism shares the same five elements in the shape of a pentagram too.
The Welsh “witch”, or a woman who could not be controlled by the Church or society, Rhiannon was associated with birds, so that mythology shows in this story too. Again, I did not know this until after I wrote the first version and began researching. The birds can wake the spirit and induce sleep to mortals, even heal, or enchant. Rhiannon is also associated with horses, but spaceships and shuttlecrafts are as close as one gets to horses in this story. She is said to be the goddess of fertility, beauty, and love. She’s associated with the moon, wind, sage, the number seven, and more. While she is also associated with the loss of a baby and accused of infanticide, that is not in this story. The number seven does not appear in this story either. Birds, sage, spirits, goddesses, mortals, wind, fertility, beauty, and love do and yes, there is a connection between Ianni, Ianna, and Inanna. The connection is not just with Rhiannon and Rhianna.
The bobcat can symbolize stronger intuition, independence, adaptability, survival instincts, mystery, among other things. The timber wolf can symbolize strength, courage, and independence also. The wolf is also communal, loyalty, family, courage, unity, cooperation, and protection, even teach and guide through difficult times. All of which are seen in this series of stories, which starts with this one, but there will be prequels, other couples, and post war stories.
The eagle and the walela vision was created from a dream I had about an eagle and hummingbird. I incorporated my dream into the love scene, because I thought it was very fitting to the story. Ironically, I knew nothing about the goddess Rhiannon having an association with birds or the hummingbird bringing fire or even an eagle being a symbol of love and protection or being close to the Creator, until I felt the need to look these things up during my rewrite, creating the relationship between them in the story beforehand.
Many thanks to Markeebookcovers.com for the cover for my book.
