Ardent Publishing - Science Fiction - The Alarai Chronicles - Songs of Deep Green & Exile To The Stars

Biography of the author

The Alarai Chronicles is a six book series, and possibly seven, which begins on Earth, moves to the planet Aketti early in the first book, and returns to Earth in the sixth. While each book stands alone as a complete story, the series is best viewed as a saga in six parts. The first three books and much of the fourth were written back-to-back over a period of several years in order to maintain plot and character integrity.

The series, taken as a whole, is a story of two worlds that are very different from one another. Worlds whose destinies are tied together by Jeff Friedrick and his friend, Carl Jorgenson. While Earth is technologically sophisticated and Aketti primitive, it is Earth that is beginning a rapid slide back to barbarism.

Each volume is a voyage of discovery laced with adventure and intrigue, love and war, a voyage of two men who see little meaning to life on Earth in the year 2025. On Aketti, life is straightforward. Say what you mean, and stand ready to back up what you say. Judged by this criteria, the men discover that what they know and what they can do will make a difference. Not surprisingly, there are no lawyers.

New peoples Jeff and Carl encounter pose a question that is rarely explored on Earth other than to rationalize genocide: how do you define what it means to be human? Is it appearance? Behavior? What? The people appear to be the same on Aketti as on Earth, but as time passes it becomes clear that definitely is not the case. Some of their customs are terrifying. And what about other life forms? Many people wonder what it would be like to speak with animals. Maybe animals wonder the same thing about humans.

Hagstol Mountain. Located far north on the continent of Arvalia in the Bora Mountain range. When Jeff is ripped from Earth and dumped on Aketti, he awakens high in this mountain range and close to Hagstol. In this view, Jeff is looking northwest toward the mountain from on top of Spine Rock. The mountain is about 100 miles away.

Bora Mountains & Surrounding Countryside.The red circle toward the top and right is where Jeff landed on Aketti near Hagstol Mountain. His path will take him south to Valholm and from there to Rugen, a medieval city. It isn't an easy trip.
Note: Maps and tactical images were created by the author, Dale Mattheis, as line drawings while writing the series. Later, the drawings were digitized and modified in PhotoShop. No attempt was made to change the original drawings other than to add color and a few strokes here and there to assist clarity. He does not claim to be an illustrator.

Physical map of the planet Aketti. The scale of miles on the map is close but not exact. It is a big planet with a lot of water. In the second and third books in the series, Jeff and Carl have the opportunity to explore far beyond the confines of Arvalia. What they find destroys any remaining doubts. Aketti is not similar to Earth.

Winner take all. What can be said about war? It all boils down to killing them before they can kill you. In book four, two army groups meet on the southern plains of Arvalia to decide who stays and who goes. Yet this is more than a story of war. It is also a story of how two families endure and find strength in one another. At times, it seems likely that no one will be left standing when the war ends.

Fear and hope, fury and revenge, but above all enduring love that will never accept defeat.

Travel log.It's show and tell time in book five of The Alarai Chronicles. The earthquake that transported Jeff and Carl was a Richter 9. The West Coast of America was devastated, dormant volcanoes exploded along the coast. Millions of tons of ash were blown into the stratosphere. An ice age is on the way, anarchy and civil war seem certain.

Somehow, Jeff and Carl have to intervene. The gods say so. But with what? Bows and arrows? Then there's the little problem of how to find Earth, much less get there. They might not even be in the same galaxy. Still, you never know what you might find out in the woods.

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