Serialization of Lance Morcan’s historical adventure NEW ZEALAND: A NOVEL continues (weekly) for your reading pleasure. Here’s Chapter 1…

Posted: June 26, 2026 in New Zealand: A Novel
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Part One

NEW HORIZONS

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CHAPTER 1

Hawaiki, Autumn, 1300 AD

Kafoa snuggled close to his father as Hotu and the rangatiras of the other villages of Nuku Hiva, together with tribal elders from his own village, continued debating through the night. They sat outside around a roaring campfire midway between the beach and the village meeting house, which had been rebuilt since the invasion of the previous year. Collectively, the forty or so men present represented the fifty thousand residents who occupied the numerous settlements scattered throughout Hawaiki’s largest island.

The campfire’s soft glow lit up Hotu’s strong features as he spoke. “We either go or we perish!” the big rangatira said, scooping up a live gecko and throwing it onto the fire to emphasise his point. The lizard-like creature, which had made the fatal mistake of walking over Hotu’s bare foot, instantly shrivelled in the flames. “Every year we grow weaker while the Dogfaces grow stronger.” This time he spat into the fire. His spittle sizzled for an instant.

A tense silence settled over the meeting. This was the third time the rangatiras and elders had met since the last raid. In that time, Hotu’s village had been rebuilt, the only obvious legacy of the invasion being the reduced number of villagers – warriors in particular – and the extra graves in the sacred burial ground close by. Although the raiders had bypassed other villages on that occasion, most had been invaded before, and, as everyone knew full well, the risk of future invasion was very real. Even so, Hotu found there was little sympathy for his views in the ongoing debate. He reminded them of his ancestor Kupe’s discovery of a new land far to the south, but even that fell flat.

The purpose of these interminable meetings was to come up with a solution to the age-old problem of invasion by the Hawaikans’ enemies. Unfortunately, this meeting was going the same way as the others. Kafoa sensed it would likely end in total disagreement and everyone would stomp off, highly disgruntled, before repeating the process in another round of debates at some later date.

Irimia, the host village’s senior priest and its oldest resident, stood to speak. The effort of standing was almost too much for him, and his bandy legs shook as he directed his comments at Hotu. “The brave exploits of the great Kupe are not in doubt,” he rasped. “Nor is the fact that he returned to our island to tell of his discovery.”

Those who considered Kupe’s discovery of a new land to be nothing more than a myth shook their heads in silent disagreement.

“If Kupe…” A coughing fit interrupted the old man’s discourse. Irimia’s listeners waited respectfully until he recovered his breath. “If Kupe did discover land to the south, where is it and how would we find it?” the priest asked.

“Exactly!” exclaimed Ra, one of Hawaiki’s most respected rangatiras, and, as it happened, a close friend and ally of Hotu’s. Unfortunately, on this matter, the two friends were not in agreement. “Even if the land exists,” Ra argued, “it would be like looking for a tadpole in an ocean.”

Others murmured their assent.

Ra, whose muscular, tattooed body bore the scars of past battles, turned to face Hotu squarely. “How would you find this land of Kupe’s, my friend?”

All eyes turned to Hotu.

“I would do what our ancestors did,” the host rangatira said. “I would follow the signs.” He reminded everyone of their great heritage, of their seafaring ancestors who, four thousand years earlier, had left a land mass somewhere to the north and west of Hawaiki, and progressively populated the islands of the South Pacific.

Just as Hotu had done when he was young, Kafoa soaked up these stories of his people’s magnificent past. He never tired of hearing about the daring explorers whose skilled crews island-hopped from islands far to the west all the way to Hawaiki in the east, Hawaii in the north and Tahiti in the south, sometimes travelling many hundreds of miles in their voyaging canoes.

In particular, Kafoa loved to hear about Kupe. He was the bravest of them all, and, most importantly, the boy was directly descended from him. This was a great source of pride to him and his entire family – indeed to all who shared the belief that the explorer had discovered a distant land. Through a wonderful feat of memory, his father could recite his lengthy genealogy from Kupe right down the blood-lines to the present day. Kafoa vowed he’d be able to do the same one day. His father’s voice brought him back to the present.

“Deep down, every one of us here knows Kupe’s land exists!” Hotu challenged his fellow warriors. “If he was able to find it then so can we.”

His supporters nodded in agreement. Others murmured their dissent and some voiced their doubts.

“We could all perish trying to prove what you say is true!” Ra shouted. His supporters concurred. “We do not know how many times the sun rises and sets before the migrating cuckoos find land. It could be located at the end of the world for all we know!”

Now the support for Ra’s viewpoint became more vocal. Much shouting and fist-waving followed. Kafoa wasn’t alarmed. It always happened at these meetings.

Hotu leaped to his feet and called for silence. As the host and one of Hawaiki’s most celebrated rangatiras, his words carried weight. Silence descended on the meeting as Hotu paced before them. The others could sense his frustration building. The silence dragged on. No-one dared break it. Hotu’s bulky presence commanded respect from friend and foe alike. Now, as he prepared to speak, he raised himself up to his full imposing height. As he glared at his seated audience, even Kafoa shrank back before the onslaught that followed.

“Why do we argue?” Hotu cajolled them. It was more of a challenge than a question. “The Dogfaces keep returning and we keep arguing among ourselves. They must find that amusing. No wonder they have no fear of us!” He paused to let his scathing words have the desired effect. “Every time the Dogfaces come they kill our people, burn our villages and take our crops. They even steal our wahines!” He paused again, letting his last words sink in.

Everyone present was aware the rangatira’s young daughter had been abducted some years earlier. Those whose wives, sisters or daughters had been taken by the raiders, stirred angrily.

Hotu lowered his voice. “We know the Dogfaces will return. It is ordained.”

His audience nodded as one.

“We know also we are not strong enough to withstand their onslaughts. And we know our island can no longer sustain us.”

Again there was common agreement. With each passing season Hawaiki’s over-exploited soils became less fertile and yielded less food for its ever-growing population. The previous summer, and the one before that, had seen widespread crop failures and poor fishing as well, and many had gone hungry.

It was Irimia, the priest, who dared to speak next. “Great rangatira, we know what you say is true, but this island is the only home we know,” the old man reasoned. “We have survived crop failures and enemy raids before, and we will do so again. Hawaiki is the land of our ancestors. Their spirits live here. We are not like the cuckoos. We cannot fly away.”

Irimia’s words rallied the dissenters and once again the meeting disintegrated into a shouting match.

Just as Hotu feared, the debate ended as had the others before it. Everyone agreed to disagree and part company until the next time. The frustrated rangatira picked up his now-sleeping son and walked dejectedly back to his bure.

Kafoa awoke almost immediately, but sensing his father’s black mood he remained silent. He wasn’t to know that despite the meeting’s outcome, Hotu had made a decision – a decision that wouldn’t sit well with everyone.

As the rangatira often did, he sought solace in the arms of his youngest wife, and, as Kafoa often did, he listened to the sounds of their love-making in the darkness of their bure. In his dreamy state, the boy didn’t know what to make of the groans and other sounds that disturbed the silence, but somehow they comforted him and quickly lulled him to sleep.

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The sounds grew louder. Kafoa was drawn out of his bure and into the jungle by the distant ringing of stone axes chopping into wood. As he drew closer, he recognised his father’s voice. Stepping into a clearing, he saw Hotu and two other men chopping down a tree so high it towered above all other trees on the island.

“Papa!” the boy voiced his alarm. “What are you doing? Why are you chopping down that tree?” For as long as he could remember he and his friends had climbed this particular tree for the panoramic views it afforded.

Hotu’s face creased into a grin when he saw his son. He lifted him up and sat him on the branch of a nearby breadfruit tree so their faces were level. Adopting a grave expression, he asked, “Can you keep a secret?”

Matching his father’s conspiring tone, Kafoa confirmed he could.

Hotu continued, “You have seen the cuckoos that fly south from our island every spring.”

The boy nodded.

“Well, your ancestor Kupe saw them, too. He knew they were land birds and would only leave Hawaiki if there was land waiting for them at journey’s end.”

Kafoa’s keen mind quickly registered what his father was getting at. “Are we going to follow the cuckoos like Kupe did, papa?”

“Yes, son,” Hotu smiled. “Just like Kupe did.”

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CHAPTER 2

Hawaiki, Winter, 1300 AD

Hotu’s twin-hulled canoe was the biggest of all the double voyaging canoes ever seen in Hawaiki – bigger even than the giant catamarans favoured by their enemies…

NOVEL CONTINUES NEXT WEEK…

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Here’s NEW ZEALAND: A NOVEL – by Lance Morcan – Serialized for lovers of historical fiction, adventure and romance with a new chapter blogged every Saturday NZT!

Posted: June 24, 2026 in New Zealand: A Novel
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This novel is dedicated to those brave Pacific Islanders who discovered and settled New Zealand, and to the daring European explorers and settlers who followed them; it is also dedicated to my wife and soulmate Diane and to our beloved children Dana and Jamie.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

New Zealand: A Novel is, as the title conveys, a novel and therefore a work of fiction, albeit historical fiction. In the interests of telling a good story I have dramatised events and deviated from Maori and European history in places. Examples of such divergences are listed in the Historical Notes section at the end of this book.

While this novel may not always convey exactly what happened during the discovery and settlement of New Zealand, first by Pacific Islanders and later by Europeans, I believe it captures the spirit of those sometimes romantic, always fascinating and often bloody times.

PROLOGUE

Hawaiki, South Pacific, Spring, 1299 AD

The pull of the southern land was strong now. Stronger than ever. Almost as strong as the offshore currents that swept past Hawaiki, the South Pacific island nation hidden away in one of the world’s most isolated regions. Hotu had experienced this pull before, but never like today.

Ever since boyhood, he had dreamed of the mysterious place his ancestors had discovered far to the south centuries earlier. A direct descendant of the great Polynesian explorer Kupe, Hotu shared many of his famous forefather’s traits. Like Kupe and, indeed, like most Hawaikans, he was a born sailor. He had that uncanny ability to safely cross huge tracts of ocean, using only the sun and stars as his compass. But he was something else too: he was a rangatira, or chief, and as such he was the one his people looked to in times of trouble.

This was one of those times.

Nuku Hiva, the largest of Hawaiki’s islands, had been attacked yet again by its traditional enemies from an island nation far to the west. The Hawaikans referred to them as Dogfaces because of their penchant for wearing the pelts and sometimes the heads of the fierce hunting dogs they bred. Every few years for as long as Hotu could remember these tattooed marauders had appeared over the horizon aboard their huge double voyaging canoes. Sometimes they sailed on by if unfavourable tides or currents wouldn’t permit their craft through the dangerous tropical reef that ringed Hawaiki, protecting it from the open sea. Not on this occasion, however.

At dawn, the Dogfaces had successfully negotiated the tricky passage through the reef and had attacked in great numbers. Hotu had counted nine craft, each manned by at least fifty warriors. His people’s resistance had been ferocious, but short-lived. They’d been overwhelmed by the invaders’ superior numbers. Only a disciplined fighting retreat from the beach to the sanctuary of caves in the nearby jungle-covered hills had saved them from total annihilation.

The attack had taken a terrible toll – worse even than the oldest villager could remember. Three-quarters of Hotu’s fighting force had been destroyed, scores of wahines [women] and children slaughtered and the entire village laid to waste. The element of surprise had been complete: the enemy war canoes had arrived while the villagers still slept, and they’d speared through the narrow opening in the reef like the barracootas that abound in these tropical waters. 

Nuku Hiva village had been totally ransacked, its bures [huts] and meeting house burned to the ground. Flames still flickered in places and smoke curled into the cloudless sky, casting shadows along the entire length of the black-sand beach.

Hotu had been the first to return to the village after the Dogfaces departed. The scene awaiting him was one of total death and destruction. All around him the bodies of his kinsmen lay broken and bleeding like slaughtered pigs at some island feast. Some lay piled on top of each other in and around the smouldering remains of the bures. Others floated face-down in the nearby lagoon, their mutilated bodies already attracting the attention of blacktip reef sharks drawn by the smell of blood while the mortally wounded could only pray to their island gods that death would come quickly.

As was the custom of the day, the eyes of the dead and dying had been gouged out by the invaders. Victorious warriors prevented their enemies from making the final journey to their spiritual homeland by gouging out the victims’ eyes so their spirits couldn’t find their way home. This ensured they would never rest in peace. Some of the victims’ limbs and internal organs were missing also. Like most Islanders, the invaders resorted to cannibalism to supplement their rations on lengthy ocean voyages. Even uncooked, a human kidney or liver, or the flesh from a man’s shoulder or a wahine’s thigh was a delicacy for those who hadn’t eaten for a while.

More disturbing to Hotu was the number of wahines who were missing. A head count would later reveal that thirteen, every one young and healthy, had been taken. Relatives would mourn them as if they were dead for they knew their loved-ones faced a life of sexual slavery. That was if they survived the abuse they’d be subjected to. If their captors tired of them during the homeward voyage, they’d be killed and eaten or fed to the sharks.  

The rangatira had more reason than some to bereave the loss of those who had been taken. His first-born, Obadia, had been abducted by raiders seven years earlier, and not a day went by that he and his oldest wife, Obadia’s mother, didn’t think about her.

So bereft was Hotu as he surveyed the desolate scene before him, he was oblivious to wounds he’d suffered. Blood flowed from a nasty head wound and he had to blink constantly to clear his vision. Like many of his fellow Hawaikans he was a big man, and, as befitting a rangatira, a fearsome warrior. However, for all his size and fighting ability, he had been powerless to resist the invaders.

The rangatira counted over two hundred bodies before grief and exhaustion overtook him and he collapsed face-down on the black sand. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been lying there when he regained his senses. As he looked around, he gradually became aware other survivors were returning. They stumbled about blindly, dazed and barely able to comprehend what had happened. The quiet was interrupted by tormented wailing as family members identified slaughtered kin.

Hotu was hopeful his wives and children hadn’t been harmed. He had helped them escape to the safety of the jungle before the invaders could reach them. His elderly parents were safe, too, as they were staying with relatives at another village. Even so, the grief was no less real for him than it was for the kinfolk of the dead. Tribal life was like an extended family: every villager felt like one of his own. When misfortune struck any, it affected him. That was the Hawaikan way.

Hotu’s grief was so intense he was only vaguely aware of the stinging in his eyes as blood poured from his wound. Still dazed, he limped to the water’s edge, knelt down and splashed saltwater over his face and over the deep gash. He shook his head to clear his senses and forced himself to focus his thoughts. His people needed a leader at this time. Their enemies would return. Maybe not this year or next, but return they always did. Next time his people might not survive.

A flock of long-tailed cuckoos flying out to sea caught his attention. He watched the distinctive birds until they disappeared over the southern horizon. They departed Hawaiki every spring, and logic told him their destination was some distant land mass for they were essentially land birds. Their annual migration served as a further reminder of the land that awaited them to the south.

“Papa!”

A small voice interrupted his thoughts.

Hotu turned and smiled. It was his oldest son. A roar of emotion erupted from his chest. “Kafoa!” He scooped the five-year-old up in his arms, clasping him to his bare chest in a vice-like grip. It meant everything to him that Kafoa had survived. In his son, he saw his people’s future.

“Papa, I cannot breathe!”

Hotu relaxed his grip. “My son, thank the spirits you are safe.” Looking around, he asked, “Where is your mother…and the others?”

Looking at the steep, jungle-clad hills behind the village, Kafoa said, “They are still hiding in the caves, papa.”

Hotu was thankful for that. The rangatira didn’t want his other children, or any of his kin for that matter, to see the wretched state of the village. Not before the dead had been collected and the wounded cared for. He lowered his son onto the sand and together they walked hand in hand along the beach. As they proceeded, the groans of the dying and the cries of bereaved villagers carried to them on the faint breeze.

“Papa, why do the Dogfaces keep coming?” Kafoa asked at length.

Hotu looked down at the boy. “Because the spirits have ordained that it be so.”

“Why?”

“Many seasons ago, Tua, a Hawaikan rangatira, angered the spirits, so they placed a curse on our island.”        

“What kind of curse, papa?”

“They decreed that warriors would attack us from the west every second or third migration of the long-tailed cuckoo.”  Hotu explained how the cuckoos flew south every spring.

“How can we end this curse, papa?”

Hotu didn’t answer.

“Papa?” Kafoa tugged his father’s hand. Still there was no response.

Hotu removed his hand from Kafoa’s and rubbed the stub of an extra middle finger he’d been born with. The inch-long stub, on his right hand, was a trait randomly passed down to males in his family tree – random because it sometimes missed whole generations. In Hotu’s lifetime, only two others had inherited the same trait: his paternal grandfather and his oldest son. In Kafoa’s case, the stub had materialised as an extra small finger, as yet only half an inch long, on his left hand. The unusual disfigurements bothered neither of them.

Still rubbing the stub, Hotu’s eyes searched the southern horizon. Again he felt drawn by the pull of the land Kupe had discovered.

There had long been debate among his people as to whether Kupe’s discovery was true. Some argued it was true only in the spirit world, but Hotu knew differently. His grandfather had told him the great Kupe had not only found the southern land but had returned to Hawaiki to tell his people of it.

“Papa!” Kafoa tugged his hand again.

Hotu remained lost in thought. He scanned the horizon as if trying to see beyond it – to see a land he knew existed.

Suddenly the answer to his son’s question about the curse became clear. Kupe’s discovery provided the solution: the southern land was where they had to go to escape the curse of the spirits.

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CHAPTER 1 follows next Saturday 27th June NZT.

New Zealand: A Novel audiobook is available via Amazon’s Audible Audiobooks initiative.  (Listening time: 11hrs. 25mins.).

The paperback version is available from Harvard Book Store, Mighty Ape NZ, Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores, Barnes & Noble, Kete Books NZ, Amazon and via public libraries.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/New-Zealand-Novel-Lance-Morcan/dp/0473728524/

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Hola, Spanish readers! Introducing… ‘El Misterio de el Guardián Entre el Centeno’ (a.k.a. ‘The Catcher in the Rye Enigma’)

Posted: June 9, 2026 in The Catcher in the Rye Enigma, Underground Knowledge
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Co-authored by James & Lance Morcan & translated by Gómez Barroso, the Spanish version of our contentious book The Catcher in the Rye Enigma is now available as a Kindle eBook on Amazon.

Saca a la luz los misterios de la famosa novela de 1951 El guardián entre el Centeno, de J.D. Salinger – probablemente la novela más controvertida de todos los tiempos.

Conocida para muchos por representar la máxima expresión de la ansiedad en la adolescencia, esta novela ha sido catalogada como inmoral por distintos grupos sociales. De hecho, a lo largo de las décadas se ha prohibido su difusión en algunos estados norteamericanos. No obstante, el principal motivo que incentivó la prohibición de esta novela fue la implicación directa o la asociación del libro con algunos de los asesinatos más infames y crueles acaecidos en el siglo XX. Entre estos crímenes se incluyen el asesinato de John Lennon y el intento de asesinato del Presidente Reagan.

De este modo, se acusa a Salinger (y/o la editorial) de ingeniárselas astutamente para llenar su libro de pasajes neurolingüísticos, o mensajes ocultos, que actúan como sugestión post-hipnótica o controlan la mente. Y así, todos estos mensajes posibilitaron a los agentes de la CIA la creación de “Candidatos Manchúes”, es decir, asesinos controlados mentalmente por el Gobierno.

Muchos son los que piensan que la novela formó parte del amplio programa de control mental de la CIA, ya desclasificado en su mayoría, conocido como MK-Ultra, y que mientras los asesinos eran sometidos a un lavado de cerebro, también eran obligados a leer y releer la historia hasta que calase en sus mentes.

Los Morcans investigan estas teorías con sus argumentos en El Misterio de El guardián entre el centeno – el cuarto libro de The Underground Knowledge Series.

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Amazon link to ‘El Misterio de el Guardián Entre el Centeno’ – https://www.amazon.com/Misterio-Guardi%C3%A1n-Entre-Centeno-Spanish-ebook/dp/B073KY35NK/

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After 223 years we remember John Jewitt’s diary – the inspiration for ‘Into the Americas’

Posted: June 6, 2026 in Into the Americas, The Adventures of John Jewitt
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223 years ago this month, in June 1803, young English seaman John Jewitt began keeping a secret diary to document his harrowing experiences as a captive of the Mowachaht First Nations people of Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island.

We used that diary, which is now in the public domain, as the inspiration for our bestselling historical adventure Into the Americas (A novel based on a true story).

John Jewitt is one of only two survivors after his crewmates clash with the fierce Mowachaht tribe in the Pacific Northwest. Years of slavery await John and his fellow survivor. Desperate to taste freedom again, they make several doomed escape attempts over mountains and sea. As the seasons pass, John ‘goes Indian’ after falling in love with Eu-stochee, a beautiful maiden.

Book critics and readers agree, Jewitt’s story of survival is one of the great, true-life, wilderness survival tales.

★★★★★  “An awesome tale!” –Great Historical Fiction Book Reviews

★★★★★  “Extremely well researched, the main character’s ‘coming of age’ is told with detached and stark brutality.” –Award-winning author Lee Murray

★★★★★  “Want a great historical fiction read? Here it is!” –Author Alice DiNizo

★★★★★ “VERY entertaining! Near impossible to put down.” –Amazon Reviews

Into the Americas is available as an audiobook courtesy of Amazon’s Audible initiative. For those who prefer the printed word, the paperback version is available via Harvard Book Store, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores, Amazon and via public libraries. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lance-Morcan/author/B005ET3ZUO

Jewitt’s diarized observations of the First Nations peoples is an equally compelling read. Titled The Adventures of John Jewitt it’s available at: https://www.amazon.com/ADVENTURES-JOHN-JEWITT-inspired-Illustrated-ebook/dp/B07C36WL37/

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Historical recording of Transit of Venus captured in historical adventure novel

Posted: June 2, 2026 in Uncategorized
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This week (on June 3) in 1769, Captain James Cook recorded the Transit of Venus (pictured) when the planet passed directly between Earth and the Sun. Lance Morcan captures this in his bestselling historical adventure New Zealand: A Novel. Historically, the transit was crucial to astronomy because it enabled the first accurate calculation of the distance to the Sun, effectively measuring the size of the solar system.

Cook and his astronomers observed the transit from a fortified observatory at Point Venus, in Matavai Bay, Tahiti, after their bark the Endeavour anchored there enroute to the so-called Great Southern Continent, instead finding New Zealand.

Their historic observation is described in the following excerpt from Morcan’s novel in which Surgeon’s Boy Nicholas Young is an interested observer:

Nicholas felt himself caught up in the excitement even if he didn’t fully understand the significance of the event. The astronomical clock, with its gridiron pendulum, occupied pride of place in the centre of the tent. A few paces opposite stood the astronomical quadrant and journeyman clock. The telescopes themselves were the reflecting type, each with a focus of two feet, and Nicholas couldn’t help being impressed by their size.

When the transit began, Nicholas watched intrigued as Cook and Green manned the telescopes.

“Damnation!” Cook cursed, startling the onlookers. Still peering through his scope, he said, “There’s cloud up there.” He looked around at Green who nodded, indicating he concurred.

Glancing up at the clear blue sky, Nicholas wondered what the captain was talking about. The expressions on his fellow crewmates’ faces indicated they were similarly bemused.

“Venus has its own atmosphere,” Cook explained as if he’d read the minds of his men. Still peering into the scope, he said, “The planet’s rim is obscured.”

For the next 25 minutes, the men watched the captain and the assistant astronomer go about their work. As each minute passed, discussions between the pair signaled that weather conditions on the planet’s surface were steadily improving.

Nicholas could see that both men were becoming increasingly excited. Glancing at the pendulum clock that sat on a table between the two scopes, he saw it was still not quite nine-thirty.

“That’s it!” Cook said excitedly. Still peering into his scope, he added, “That’s an accurate fix, Mister Green.”

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New Zealand: A Novel is available from Harvard Book Store, Mighty Ape NZ, Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores, Barnes & Noble, Kete Books NZ, Amazon and via public libraries.

The audiobook version is available via Amazon’s Audible Audiobooks initiative. (Listening time: 11hrs. 25mins.). Amazon paperback link: https://www.amazon.com/New-Zealand-Novel-Lance-Morcan/dp/0473728524/

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‘New Zealand: A Novel’ resonates with Golden Quill Book Marketing founder

Posted: May 29, 2026 in New Zealand: A Novel
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“I discovered ‘New Zealand: A Novel’ through its description, and I confess I almost scrolled past.” This candid admission from Kavya Elizabeth, founder of Golden Quill Book Marketing, in a private email to me, the author of said novel.

With Kavya’s permission, I hereby include key comments from her email:

“Another historical novel about the collision of European and indigenous cultures? I have read that resume before. But then I read the line that stopped me cold: ‘Seen through the eyes of one of the Endeavour’s youngest and most engaging crewmembers, Surgeon’s Assistant Nicholas Young.’

“I had to sit with that sentence for a long moment.

“Because you did not write a story from a distant, omniscient perspective. You chose a specific narrator. A young man. A surgeon’s assistant. He is not the captain. He is not a scientist. He is a junior crewmember. His perspective is not the official record. It is personal. It is engaging.

“Here is the quiet genius of ‘New Zealand’…Most novels about first contact focus on the famous figures. Captain Cook. Joseph Banks. Tupaia. Lance Morcan focuses on Nicholas Young. He is real. He was on the Endeavour. But he is not famous. He is an everyman. The reader experiences the clash of cultures through his eyes. He finds true love with Anika, a Maori princess. The romance humanizes the history.

“What moved me most, what I keep turning over, is the structure. The novel starts in the 1300s with the departure of Islanders from Hawaiki. It traces the Maori through centuries before Cook arrives. The two stories are interposed. The reader understands the Maori perspective before the Europeans appear. That is not typical. Many novels about colonization start with the European arrival. Morcan gives the indigenous people their own narrative first…

“… The reader who picks up ‘New Zealand’ will travel back to the 1300s. They will follow the Maori from Hawaiki to Aotearoa. They will witness their violent and eventful lives. They will board the Endeavour with Nicholas Young. They will see the clash of European civilization and indigenous culture. They will feel the misunderstandings, tension, and bloodshed. They will watch Nicholas fall in love with Anika.

“The title is ‘New Zealand’. It is the name given by Europeans. But the Maori called it Aotearoa. The title uses the European name. That is a choice. The novel includes both names. The reader is aware of the dual naming. The title is simple, but the content is complex…

“…Your book is not “just” a historical novel. It is a mirror for every reader who is fascinated by New Zealand history, by Captain Cook’s voyages, by Maori culture, and by the collision of worlds.”

Kavya Elizabeth…Founder of Golden Quill Book Marketing.

Kavya Elizabeth founded Golden Quill Book Marketing to give authors the kind of strategic, attentive partnership she could not find when she first entered the publishing world. With a background that spans editorial work, digital strategy, and global brand building, she brings a rare combination of literary instinct and marketing precision.

In her words, “Golden Quill began with a frustration shared by countless authors. Brilliant manuscripts were being lost to crowded marketplaces, generic promotion templates, and agencies that cared more about contracts than craft. We knew there was a better way.

“What started as quiet, one on one consulting with a handful of authors has grown into a boutique agency serving writers in nearly fifty countries. Our scope has widened, but our standards have not. Every campaign we run is hand designed, ethically executed, and rooted in a deep respect for the writer behind the work.

“Today, Golden Quill is the partner that authors turn to when they want their book taken seriously. We bring strategy, taste, and accountability to a part of publishing that has too long been left to chance.”

To visit Golden Quill go to: https://goldenquillbookmarketing.lovable.app/

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MORCAN BOOK LAUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT: ‘The Oceania Fiction Collection’ – Six books in one

Posted: May 19, 2026 in The Oceania Fiction Collection
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The Oceania Fiction Collection: White Spirit / High Country Contract / Fiji: A Novel / New Zealand: A Novel / The Last Tasmanian Tiger / Once Were Brothers was launched today (19 May 2026 NZ Time) and is already ranked #1 in one New Release Category on Amazon.

This six-book box set, which comprises an intriguing mix of historical fiction and contemporary thrillers, is available as a Kindle ebook and Audible audiobook.

Each book in the collection has been well received by critics, and two of them (White Spirit and Fiji: A Novel) have featured in Amazon’s Bestseller lists.

The storylines are all set in a place known as Oceania – that vast geographical region spanning the Pacific Ocean and encompassing New Zealand, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

Brief synopses follow (in order) for each book in The Oceania Fiction Collection:

1. White Spirit (A novel based on a true story) – by Lance & James Morcan

Based on the remarkable true story of Irish convict John Graham, this novel is an epic historical adventure set in 19th Century Australia. After escaping from the notorious Moreton Bay Penal Settlement, Graham finds refuge with the Kabi, a tribe of Aborigines who eventually accept him as one of their own.

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2. High Country Contract – by Lance & James Morcan

In this tense, fast-paced, action-thriller, young Kiwi drifter Arch Quaid thinks he has landed the contract of his life when he’s hired to cull deer on a high-country property in New Zealand’s South Island. He quickly changes his mind when he discovers he’s the hunted, not the hunter. Caught up in the middle of it all is his new love Janine, a beautiful Maori girl.

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3. Fiji: A Novel – by Lance & James Morcan

Fiji is a spellbinding novel of adventure, cultural misunderstandings, religious conflict and sexual tension set in one of the most exotic and isolated places on earth. It’s in this hostile environment that Susannah Drake, an innocent English missionary, and Nathan Johnson, a worldly American adventurer find themselves.

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4. New Zealand: A Novel – by Lance Morcan

This epic adventure spans almost 500 years and covers the respective discoveries of New Zealand by Pacific Islanders and Europeans. From the outset the two stories are interposed. The hardy, brown-skinned people who arrive here first call themselves Maori and they call their new home Aotearoa – Land of the long, white cloud.

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5. The Last Tasmanian Tiger – by Lance Morcan

In this short story set in Tasmania, Australia, Aborigine Charlie Truganini can’t believe his eyes when trekking through the wilderness he sees a Tasmanian Tiger – a carnivorous marsupial considered by most Australians to be extinct. Charlie doesn’t want this tiger to meet the same fate as the last one. And so, he makes a decision – a decision that will have life-and-death consequences.

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6. Once were Brothers – by Lance Morcan

In this novella, set in 19th Century New Zealand, seven-year-old Daniel Thomas is abducted from this family’s farm by Maoris angered by the desecration of land considered sacred. Daniel’s father, devotes his remaining years to searching for his missing son. He’s assisted in his search by Daniel’s identical twin brother Benjamin. Twenty years later, Benjamin receives a tip-off that could confirm one way or another whether his brother is alive or dead.

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The #Amazon link to The Oceania Fiction Collection: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX336TS1/

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Cover reveal for ‘The Oceania Fiction Collection’ – a new box set coming soon!

Posted: May 15, 2026 in The Oceania Fiction Collection
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The Oceania Fiction Collection (White Spirit / High Country Contract / Fiji: A Novel / New Zealand: A Novel / The Last Tasmanian Tiger / Once Were Brothers) is a soon-to-be-published box set of Morcan novels, novellas and short stories set in a place called Oceania.

The first three books (all novels) in the six-book collection – White Spirit (A novel based on a true story), High Country Contract and Fiji: A Novel – are novels co-authored by Lance and James Morcan; the last three books – New Zealand: A Novel, The Last Tasmanian Tiger (a short story) and Once were Brothers (a novella) – are solo-authored by Lance.

All six books are available now in all formats as standalone books, and can be sourced via Morcan’s author page on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lance-Morcan/author/B005ET3ZUO

A mix of historical fiction and contemporary thrillers, they have one thing in common: all are set in that place known as Oceania – a vast geographical region spanning the Pacific Ocean and encompassing New Zealand, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Often considered the world’s smallest continent by land area, it has a population estimated at over 52 million.  

Watch this space! More info coming…

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The New World of Cinema After the Pandemic: Anno 2020 – a Letterboxd review

Posted: May 14, 2026 in ANNO 2020, Morcan films
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“This movie does not merely depict the year 2020, it also captures the functioning of cinema during that time and reveals how people genuinely struggled to survive.” That’s film critic Sila Parla’s take on the Australian-produced, James Morcan-helmed, mystery-drama Anno 2020 in her review on the respected film site Letterboxd.

Sila Parla…film critic, screenwriter, director, filmmaker.

Anno 2020 review (unabridged) follows:

Most films, as we know, revolve around stories. However, this film transforms the psychological archive of its own era in one of the most powerful ways possible. Anno 2020 feels like an archive documenting its time. In the future, if people want to look back at the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, this is the kind of film they will watch as part of that archive, and through it, they will experience a sense of belonging to that period.

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Shot across four continents, five countries, and seventeen cities.

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Perhaps this is the best place to begin: we are talking about the most intense period of COVID. That alone is one of the most important aspects of the film. Shot across four continents, five countries, and seventeen cities, the question becomes this: how does a production that is so fragmented in its creation still manage to build a single emotional atmosphere?

The most striking aspect of the film is not only its scale, but also the deep contradictions at its centre. Anno 2020 may have a globally constructed narrative structure, yet it must not be forgotten that this is an independent film made with a budget of only $6,000. Under normal circumstances, such a limited budget would inevitably bring technical limitations. What makes the film fascinating, however, is that it does not attempt to hide these limitations. Instead, it transforms them directly into an aesthetic identity.

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The film becomes a valuable piece belonging to that year.

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For this reason, while watching Anno 2020, you may not encounter the polished cinematic language of conventionally edited films. Yet its fragmented narrative consciously creates an atmosphere of its own, and this becomes one of the film’s greatest strengths. The reason is simple: this sense of fragmentation is itself the spirit of 2020. In this sense, the film becomes a valuable piece belonging to that year.

We witness the fragility, loneliness, fear, and search for meaning experienced simultaneously by people across different parts of the world. This is where the film becomes most powerful: because of the fragmented nature of 2020 itself, the film does not obsess over presenting itself as “perfect.” This is not because it is unaware of its imperfections, but because it deliberately transforms them into a conscious aesthetic approach. It becomes a mirror for the fragilities, irregularities, and emotional disorientation within human behaviour, as well as for those learning how to survive alongside them.

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It prioritises emotional truth over rigid structural conventions.

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When it comes to the performances, the film avoids controlled theatrical expressions and instead relies on deeply natural reactions. In some scenes, the characters do not even appear to be delivering scripted dialogue; rather, they seem to genuinely carry the psychological pressure of that era. This is one of the film’s most important qualities:

As someone whose area of expertise particularly focuses on the screenlife and found footage genres, I found the sections of the film that embraced these styles especially successful. The fragmented digital communication, the sense of isolation created through screens, and the raw, almost documentary-like atmosphere worked remarkably well within the film’s emotional structure. Rather than feeling stylistically forced, these elements blended naturally into the psychological reality of the pandemic era, making certain moments feel less like scripted cinema and more like genuine pieces of lived experience.

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The film does not merely depict the year 2020, it also… reveals how people genuinely struggled to survive.

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Ultimately, watching Anno 2020 is not simply about watching a film centred on the pandemic. It is also about witnessing how the pandemic altered the very form of cinematic production itself, creating something that feels almost singular in its structure. One particularly significant detail is this: the film does not merely depict the year 2020, it also captures the functioning of cinema during that time and reveals how people genuinely struggled to survive.

For that reason, the film’s greatest strength lies in its willingness to take risks and present raw, realistic, and courageous experiences without fear. Even years later, when revisited, it still has the power to make audiences genuinely feel what 2020 was like.

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To visit Sila Parla’s film reviews on Letterboxd go to:

https://letterboxd.com/silaparla

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New release ‘Unit 731: The Japanese Auschwitz’ resonates with book critics

Posted: May 13, 2026 in Underground Knowledge, Unit 731
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The new release book Unit 731: The Japanese Auschwitz is resonating with the critics – one saying “Lance and James Morcan continue to provide insights into our history, and in doing so they create well researched examinations of facts we all should know. Highly recommended! And another describing it as a “Shocking revelation of horrific truth!”

Unit 731 – Book 9 in the controversial Underground Knowledge Series – exposes one of the darkest and least acknowledged chapters of the 20th Century: a secret biological warfare program whose atrocities rival those of Nazi Germany’s most infamous death camps.

Drawing chilling parallels with Auschwitz, the narrative reveals how ordinary professionals, including doctors, scientists and clerks became cogs in a machine of dehumanization, where killing was routine and paperwork masked genocide.

The collapse of Unit 731, the frantic cover‑up that followed, and the postwar silence – fueled in part by geopolitical deals that shielded perpetrators – underscore a moral failure that still reverberates today. THAT’s what most angers this book’s authors, and by all accounts that’s what most angers readers.

Be warned: This book is no easy read.

Unit 731: The Japanese Auschwitz is now available on Amazon and Audible as an ebook and audiobook. (Paperback edition still to come).

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GRJ8LR8P

Audible: https://www.amazon.com/ITEM_NAME/dp/B0GRGFYB6G/

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