Posts Tagged ‘Amazon’

‘Vaccine Science Revisited’ highlights use of infant monkeys to assess impact of CDC’s childhood vaccine schedule

Posted: May 3, 2025 in Underground Knowledge, Vaccine Science Revisited
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

There was a very interesting study published in PubMed in 2010 some 10 years after it was conducted into the CDC’s recommended childhood vaccine schedule we feel hasn’t gotten the recognition it deserves. More than two decades since the study was done, as far as we can tell, discussions about it and its results are almost non-existent.

My co-author James Morcan and I refer to this study in a chapter titled ‘Definitely maybe science’ in our book ‘VACCINE SCIENCE REVISITED: Are Childhood Immunizations as Safe as Claimed?’  

The study randomly selected 16 infant rhesus monkeys and divided them into two groups. One group of 12 monkeys received the CDC’s then-recommended childhood vaccine schedule at the same rate American children would. The remaining four infant monkeys, which comprised the control group, received placebo (saline) vaccines according to the same schedule. (It would be interesting if they added a second control group using the placebos used in vaccine safety studies today. We are very curious to know how it would compare).

This was a longitudinal study lasting from 1994 to 1999 to follow the vaccine schedule in a proper timeline. The study found the vaccinated monkeys had a much “greater total brain volume” than the average healthy brain. They also observed that the amygdala in the vaccinated monkeys didn’t mature with time as it was supposed to. The amygdala, incidentally, plays an important role in social interactions.

Maybe it’s not so surprising they also observed that in the vaccinated monkeys the opioid antagonist diprenorphine (DPN) levels never lowered throughout the study. In the placebo group, the DPN levels decreased noticeably.  One function of DPN is to block social interaction. What this means is the research showed that the social behavior of those monkeys that received the actual vaccines, where the DPN levels did not decrease, turned anti-social.

We found there was at least one more study undertaken to verify the association between DPN and social behavior. Performed in 1981, the authors of that study believe the release of opioids in the brain encourages social interactions. So, when the body fails to decrease the amount of the antagonist DPN, it not only blocks the opioids that encourage social interactions, but it blocks the desire to socially interact.

We were unable to find published studies that show a link between DPN and autism. However, we did look a little closer into DPN. Apparently, there are three different variations of opioid receptors: mu, µ; delta, δ; and kappa, κ.  We are only interested in the kappa (κ1 and κ2) receptors. There are more kappa receptors in the brain than any other opioid receptor. Not surprisingly, you’ll find these receptors in the amygdala. 

The paper states:

“The κ opioid receptors have been implicated in several clinical brain disorders, including drug abuse, epilepsy, Tourette’s syndrome, and Alzheimer’s disease.”

What DPN does is bind to the kappa receptors and that’s how it accumulates in the amygdala. So, it makes sense how DPN could cause problems when it doesn’t go away with time…

Excerpt ends.

‘VACCINE SCIENCE REVISITED’ is available via Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores, public libraries and via Amazon where it has a global review rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars. https://www.amazon.com/VACCINE-SCIENCE-REVISITED-Immunizations-Underground/dp/0473521598/

**********************************************************

Author John Perkins’ economic hitmen still alive and well in Africa

Posted: April 19, 2025 in Bankrupting the Third World, Underground Knowledge
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

The poverty in South Sudan is too awful to behold as its people try to cope with escalating violence and a deepening humanitarian crisis. This despite the fact that the world’s youngest nation possesses an enviable variety of natural resources, including gold, diamonds, silver, various ores, water resources, luxury timber, fertile land, and diverse wildlife. Not to mention oil, its major export.

South Sudan’s story is essentially the story of Africa, which John Perkins highlights in his bestselling (must-read) book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, and which we highlight in our book Bankrupting the Third World: How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt.

John Perkins…coined economic hitmen.

In our lesser-known book, we regrettably inform readers that the economic hit men popularized in Perkins’ 2004 bestseller are still alive and well – in Africa in particular but elsewhere as well.

Just look at the humanitarian crisis in the DRC (Congo), which possesses a vast array of natural resources, including significant mineral deposits of copper, cobalt, coltan, and diamonds, as well as substantial hydroelectric potential, fertile land, and diverse wildlife within the world’s second-largest rainforest.

We identify the cause of Africa’s woes: corrupt politicians, greedy corporates (a la the economic hitmen) and questionable aid packages provided by the likes of the World Bank, the IMF and USAID. Packages some suggest are scams designed to subjugate Third World countries.

Bankrupting the Third World is dedicated to the impoverished in forgotten places of the world. When we wrote it 21,000 people were dying from starvation every day. That’s one person every four seconds! We suspect the toll is even higher today.

*

Bankrupting the Third World: How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt is available via Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores and public libraries and via Amazon… 

https://www.amazon.com/BANKRUPTING-THIRD-WORLD-Underground-Knowledge/dp/B08CJNJRQK/

*********************************************************

‘INTERNATIONAL BANKSTER$’ still very relevant in Trump era 2.0

Posted: April 14, 2025 in INTERNATIONAL BANKSTER$, Underground Knowledge
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

As world stock markets reel from huge losses in Trump era 2.0, it seems much has changed and little has changed since our book INTERNATIONAL BANKSTER$ was published.

The man of the moment.

Trump’s tariffs war might have turned the markets upside down like never before, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the contents of our book’s very first chapter titled ‘Banksters on the rampage’. In it we remind readers we live in a really perverse world where we have almost unlimited military expenditure to finance wars, where our governments readily bail out privately-owned banks with multi-trillion-dollar relief packages, and yet politicians tell us there is not enough money to cover the measly costs of citizens’ basic healthcare, food, education and shelter.

The above-mentioned chapter, incidentally, includes my favorite quote of Warren Buffett’s:

“If a graduating MBA student were to ask me, ‘How do I get rich in a hurry?’ I would not respond with quotations from Ben Franklin or Horatio Alger but would instead hold my nose with one hand and point with the other toward Wall Street.”

There’s a growing awareness in the general population of large-scale financial corruption by the so-called global elite, or the 1%, if you will. Regardless of whether or not Trump’s tariffs work, I hope the 99% demand greater transparency in the way their money is being managed, and I pray the grotesque gap between the haves and the have-nots closes sooner rather than later.

*

INTERNATIONAL BANKSTER$: The Global Banking Elite Exposed and the Case for Restructuring Capitalism is book 5 in our contentious Underground Knowledge Series. It’s available via Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores, public libraries and Amazon.

***********************************************************************

The historical adventure ‘Fiji: A Novel’ resonates with Fijian book critic… “Awesome!”

Posted: April 9, 2025 in Fiji: A Novel
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

This Fijian’s 5-star review of Fiji: A Novel remains one of my favourite critiques of this the first of several historical adventure novels co-authored by James Morcan and I…

“As a Fijian, I find the old traditions of our people fascinating and just as great as they are crude and gruesome. The novel touches on most of these now extinct practices, in mad detail and it’s AWESOME! … Racial prejudice, religion, culture and family were the underlying messages … The adventure, fast-paced and nail biting … The romance, sizzling, exciting, forbidden … I give it 5 stars because that’s the maximum amount of stars we’re allowed to give.” -Random Writings Book Reviews (Suva, Fiji)

Another reviewer describes this book as “a spellbinding novel of adventure, cultural misunderstandings, religious conflict and sexual tension set in one of the most exotic and isolated places on earth.”

The storyline:

In the mid-1800’s, Fiji is a melting pot of cannibals, warring native tribes, sailors, traders, prostitutes, escaped convicts and all manner of foreign undesirables. It’s in this hostile environment an innocent young Englishwoman and a worldly American adventurer find themselves.

Susannah Drake, a missionary, questions her calling to spread God’s Word as she’s torn between her spiritual and sexual selves. As her forbidden desires intensify, she turns to the scriptures and prayer to quash the sinful thoughts – without success. Nathan Johnson arrives to trade muskets to the Fijians and immediately finds himself at odds with Susannah. She despises him for introducing the white man’s weapons to the very people she is trying to convert and he pities her for her naivety. Despite their differences, there’s an undeniable chemistry between them. When their lives are suddenly endangered by marauding cannibals, Susannah and Nathan are forced to rely on each other for their very survival.

Fiji: A Novel is available via Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores, public libraries and via Amazon… https://www.amazon.com/Fiji-Novel-Lance-Morcan/dp/0473194716/

Other historical adventure novels of ours include World Odyssey, Into the Americas and White Spirit as well as my solo-authored recent release New Zealand: A Novel.

–Lance Morcan

********************************************************************

‘Medical Industrial Complex’ highlights the disconnect between doctors and the role of nutrition in patients’ health

Posted: April 2, 2025 in Medical Industrial Complex, Underground Knowledge
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

When did your doctor last talk to you about your diet? In MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures my co-author James Morcan and I ask this question.

Most will be aware of the old adage, You are what you eat. It seems to us, though, that many members of the medical profession aren’t aware – or, if they are, they consider it an old wives’ tale.

We suspect that more often than not doctors only deign to discuss diet when a patient dares to raise the subject. And then, if your experience is like ours, you’ll be greeted with a frosty stare or, at best, a few mumbled banalities about not over-eating or the importance of a balanced diet or cut down on fats.

Which leads to more (related) questions such as: How long do doctors-in-training spend studying nutrition at medical school, and why isn’t nutrition on the curriculum alongside biochemistry, pathology, physiology and the like?  

These questions and more are raised in a very appropriate discussion thread on the ResearchGate.net site. A random selection of comments from that thread follows:

•“We need clinicians to remember to consider nutrition when seeing/treating a patient rather than being a full nutritional expert. However, they should know basics such as basic nutritional needs and guidelines, calculating and interpreting BMI, when to give nutritional support and be aware of the importance of using nutritional screening tools to see if referral to a dietitian is required.”

•“I would be a staunch supporter of making nutrition a major field of study in a medical doctors pursuit of their degree.”

•“Before health care providers can get into…details about individual response to nutrients and talk about personal nutrition, they need to establish their nutrition knowledge and clinical skills foundation. For physicians this needs to happen in medical school and requires a serious effort.”

•“Considering the importance of nutrition for a patient’s recovery from disease and maintenance of health it is surprising that nutrition isn’t a bigger part of conventional medical school education.”

•“It should be within the core responsibilities of doctors to address nutrition in patient care and it is essential that all doctors know the appropriate time to make a dietitian referral.”

•“Why is it so hard to understand that robust familiarity with nutrition is equally or even more important (than surgery training)?”

To add some balance to the discussion, one contributor (from the University of Jordan) to the above thread observes that nutrition is “a specialized field and huge in its content.”  He adds, “Medical students (are) overwhelmed by texts, labs, and courses. It requires an evolutionary plan to incorporate nutrition with medicine curricula”.

Medical educators at least pay lip service to the importance of nutrition, and they appear to be in general agreement that there’s not enough instruction on this topic in today’s medical schools.

For example, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) addresses this via its official online site AAFP News. In one article, the writer reports that although most medical schools (in the US) offer some form of nutrition education, only one-quarter require a dedicated nutrition course.

The article continues, “In fact, the amount of nutrition education that medical students receive is so ‘inadequate’ that ‘medical school graduates feel unprepared to intervene in their patients’ care with regard to nutrition,’ according to the UNC preliminary survey results”.

A report published by the US National Library of Medicine in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health concludes that “The amount of nutrition education that medical students receive continues to be inadequate”.

That report summarizes a survey of 109 medical schools, which revealed that “most (103) required some form of nutrition education” of their students. The most disturbing revelation, however, is that “Overall, medical students received 19.6 contact hours of nutrition instruction during their medical school careers”.

The link between diet and health is well proven and, more importantly, widely acknowledged by doctors for ailments such as diabetes and heart disease but are roundly ignored by them in treating other human conditions – cancer being one of those. Indeed, mainstream (Western) medicine seems to go out of its way to discourage cancer patients from making too much of the cancer-diet connection.

The good health site HoneyColony.com neatly addresses this in an article quoting Dr. Carolyn Dean, a medical advisory board member of the nonprofit Nutritional Magnesium Association. She says, “There are many reasons why diet is not stressed in cancer treatment” and “Most of them stem from the fact that medicine does not put any emphasis on nutrition in medical school…In about 3,500 hours of typical medical school training, maybe one, two or three hours’ worth of classes are devoted to basic nutrition”.

There’s a serious disconnect between (most) doctors and the role of nutrition in their patients’ health. Whether you blame those who set the already crowded curricula at medical schools or whether you blame the tunnel vision mainstream medicine has regarding diet, the fact remains there’s a problem…

… If doctors are aware their patients are diet-conscious and if they’re constantly reminded nutrition is important to them, perhaps they’ll fall into line and give it (nutrition) the importance it deserves when it comes to treating people.

Hopefully, this chapter has provided you with some ammunition to fire their way.

Footnote: We acknowledge that the inference that doctors are not nutrition-minded or, for that matter, not supportive of alternative health measures is very much a generalization; we are aware there’s a growing number of physicians (and other health providers) in mainstream medicine who are very knowledgeable about nutrition and alternative health, and who incorporate this knowledge into their everyday practice.

Unfortunately, they are very much in the minority.

*

On a lighter note… “First the doctor told me the good news: I was going to have a disease named after me.” -Steve Martin

*

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures is available via Harvard Bookstore, Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores, public libraries and via Amazon.

The book’s Amazon link is: https://www.amazon.com/MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX-Suppressed-Underground/dp/B08CJR21HQ

************************************************************

‘Antigravity Propulsion’ authors examine Einstein’s unified field theory

Posted: March 26, 2025 in Antigravity Propulson, Underground Knowledge
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

There was a rumor going around at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study that Albert Einstein did indeed complete a version of his Unified Field Theory for Gravitation and Electricity – even though officially it remains a never-completed theory.

In a chapter titled “Einstein’s unified field theory”, we examine this in book two in our Underground Knowledge Series, ‘ANTIGRAVITY PROPULSION: Human or Alien Technologies?’

Albert Einstein…Famous theory completed?

Einstein’s theory was published in German and appeared in a few scientific journals. In his papers, the scientist called his purported mathematical proof of the connection between the forces of electromagnetism and gravity as being “highly convincing”. However, this work was withdrawn as incomplete, although no published reason is given save that Einstein suddenly grew dissatisfied with it.

British mathematician Lord Bertrand Russell considered Einstein’s Unified Field Theory complete but felt that “Man is not ready for it and shan’t be until after World War III.”

Thus the Unified Field Theory on the connection between gravity and the electromagnetic field remains unproven.

Leading scientist and former high-ranking employee of Japan’s Ministry of Defense, Dr. Takaaki Musha, published an article in the 2004, Issue 53 edition of the Infinite Energy Magazine relating to this very question. The article, which covers a unique formula Dr. Musha developed for the link between electromagnetism and gravitation, was titled The possibility of strong coupling between electricity and gravitation.

After publication of the article, Dr. Musha claims he was contacted by a scientist (name redacted) from the Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, in Bulgaria. The scientistwas already working on a similar formula to Dr. Musha’s.

According to Dr. Musha, the Bulgarian’s “formulation proves it is possible to create an unbalanced acceleration by creating intense electric and magnetic fields in a dielectric or ferromagnetic medium. These predicted coupling effects for electromagnetic and gravitational fields would be static and thus they should be able to produce a net force to propel a spaceship.”

The Bulgarian scientist wrote two papers on his formula in 1994.

“However,” Dr. Musha claims, these “papers were rejected by two well-known science journals.”

The strong implication is there was a cover-up. Either that or mainstream science was just not prepared to consider such theories on antigravity.

T. T. Brown, who discovered this electrogravitic effect first, conducted several experiments during the 1950’s and succeeded to generate thrust without the reliance on a surrounding medium, such as air, by applying high voltages to materials with high dielectric constants. Around this time, US aerospace companies also become involved in such research, but their results are mostly classified.

In the late 1990’s, Dr. Musha says he worked with the Honda Corporation Research Institute in Japan and conducted an experiment to confirm the electrogravitic effect. Astonishingly, Dr. Musha claims he and the Honda Corporation obtained a positive result.

Dr. Musha also says, “In Dr. Thomas Valone’s 1993 book Electrogravitics Systems: Reports on a New Propulsion Methodology, Dr. Paul LaViolette claimed that electrogravitic technology was developed under US Air Force black projects since late 1954, and it may now have been put to practical use in the B-2 Advanced Technology Bomber to provide an exotic auxiliary mode of propulsion.”

Dr. Musha continues, “An electrogravitic drive of B-2 could allow it to fly at a sufficiently high speed at high altitude, or even (in) space, and it could fly around the world without refueling in an antigravity mode.”

*

Antigravity Propulsion is available via Amazon and public libraries.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/ANTIGRAVITY-PROPULSION-Technologies-Underground-Knowledge/dp/0473365391/

**************************************************************

‘New Zealand: A Novel’ goes global via bookstores and public libraries

Posted: March 24, 2025 in New Zealand: A Novel
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
3

Readers are asking whereabouts besides Amazon they can obtain my new release, historical adventure New Zealand: A Novel. To date, it’s available via Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores, Mighty Ape NZ, and via public libraries.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/new-zealand/lance-morcan//9780473728526

Library members should note this book can be ordered via your community library if it’s not already in stock; and it may be listed simply as “New Zealand”.

New Zealand: A Novel 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. It starts in the 1300’s with the departure of Islanders from Hawaiki in search of land far to the south.

“Riveting. I could not put the book down. Historical facts were woven with some well-crafted narratives into a story of how the nation of New Zealand came to be.” –American author Stephen Heartland

WARNING: Readers are advised this is a raw, no-holds-barred account of New Zealand’s early history, fictionalized in places and not suitable reading for children.

****************************************************

Fellow writers – here’s one way to solve the dreaded writer’s block

Posted: March 22, 2025 in Books in general
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

So, you want to write a book but don’t have the time? Here’s a tip from my book GENIUS INTELLIGENCE: Secret Techniques and Technologies to Increase IQ – one of about 35 books (fiction and nonfiction) James and I have co-authored to date. In it, speed writing is one of numerous techniques we include because we believe it may hold brain boosting potential for aspiring geniuses.

Disclaimer: to our knowledge no studies, other than our own, have been done on speed writing from the perspective of boosting the brain’s potential. This despite the fact that there are numerous books and websites devoted to writing manuscripts quickly.

Ours is simply an unusual little technique we discovered by accident and noticed it worked wonderfully on many occasions and always when we were severely time pressured. We consider this fortuitous discovery an important ingredient in our progress as published authors and feature film screenwriters.

Speed writing, like many other techniques listed in this book, relates to outrunning the conscious mind and going so fast that the superior subconscious is forced to completely take over. So, as the name suggests, you write so quickly that you don’t even know what you’re writing anymore. The goal is not to get instantly well-written text, but rather stream-of-consciousness stuff that you can revise and give clearer meaning to later.

According to our individual experiences, the resulting stream will usually have pearls within it, but a lot will need to be edited out as well.

Some of our best plot ideas or character decisions in our novels and film scripts have come using this technique. We just write super-fast and almost without thinking – maybe for five minutes or so – and more often than not what we wrote solved a major storyline issue or character problem.

It seems that certain insights can only come in this manner – or at least come more easily – as opposed to writing at regular speed. Sometimes you hit a brick wall when writing novels or screenplays. Something is missing and that something cannot be rectified with the conscious mind no matter how hard you try.

Speed writing is one way to solve the dreaded writer’s block.

Whether you use this method to add to an existing draft of a document, or whether you’re still attempting to complete a first draft, it works. We’ve proven it to our own satisfaction on numerous occasions.

Speed writing is not just for authors of course. It can be used to good effect by others – students who may be writing essays, for example, or business executives drafting reports or preparing finance proposals. It can even be used in your personal life when you’re facing a dilemma and cannot think of any solutions with your conscious mind – in this case you can speed write a list of possible options and see what your subconscious mind delivers to you.

If you want to test the method we use, try the following: put yourself under a time constraint by setting an alarm clock for 5 to 10 minutes then tell yourself you must write as much as you’d normally write in 45-60 minutes. Go! Until the alarm clock rings, don’t judge yourself or censor yourself or analyze anything – simply write as much as you can, as quickly as you can.

During the process it may feel like you’re writing utter garbage, but if our experiences are anything to go by, there will at least be some gems you can retain or use to vastly improve whatever it is you’re writing.

Our theory on why speed writing works is that you are not only forcing yourself to operate at speeds that only the subconscious mind can keep up with, but you are also not analysing, censoring or critiquing what you write as you go. (Over-analysing is another trait of the conscious mind).

The best ideas often seem ridiculous at first and this technique allows you to just get all ideas out of your head and onto paper so you can consider them later. 

Exactly how does speed writing relate to genius intelligence? Well, the connection is totally unproven, but instinct and personal experience tells us that, if done correctly (trance-like and without hesitation), you’ll tap into that great reservoir of the subconscious mind where all genius abilities come from.

A final point: when speed writing, it’s immaterial whether you write with pen in hand or use a computer keyboard. That said, we find speed writing seems to flow better when handwriting text – almost as if the pen’s a natural extension of the hand, allowing thoughts and words to flow directly from the brain onto the writing pad.

*

GENIUS INTELLIGENCE: Secret Techniques and Technologies to Increase IQ is available via Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores, Amazon and public libraries. The Amazon link is: https://www.amazon.com/GENIUS-INTELLIGENCE-Techniques-Technologies-Underground/dp/0473318490/

******************************************************************

Historical adventure novel set in the land that time forgot

Posted: March 19, 2025 in New Zealand: A Novel
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

Shrouded in cloud at the bottom of the world, this was the land that time forgot: the last sizeable piece of undiscovered land on Earth. Two hundred million years after breaking away from the vast southern continent of Gondwana, Man had yet to leave his footprints on this prehistoric place.

The land in question is New Zealand and the piece you are reading is the blurb for my historical adventure New Zealand: A Novel.

Mythology would have it the land was fished up out of the ocean. In fact, earthquakes and volcanic activity forced it to literally erupt from the seabed. This violent birth left it with a majestic ruggedness that would always reflect its former turbulence. The legacy of those fiery beginnings includes still-active volcanoes amidst the mountain chains that dissect the land.

Over time, its features softened. Scenes of beauty emerged out of the mists. There was a haunting stillness about the land. It was a place of mystery – of magical forests and sparkling lakes and rivers.

And the sea surrounded it – like some huge tidal moat.

Its isolation ensured it wouldn’t be until well into the First Millennium AD that Man would step foot on these shores. The brown-skinned people who settled here would call their new home Aotearoa – land of the long, white cloud. Not until its rediscovery centuries later by European explorers would the land receive the name by which it is known today…

*

New Zealand: A Novel currently enjoys a global review rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon…  https://www.amazon.com/New-Zealand-Novel-Lance-Morcan/dp/0473728524/

It is also available via Mighty Ape NZ and via Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores and via public libraries.

******************************************************************

Meet Nicholas Young… a leading character in ‘New Zealand: A Novel’

Posted: March 14, 2025 in New Zealand: A Novel
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Tall for his age, the good-looking, blond-haired, blue-eyed lad had an eye for the working girls who frequented London’s docks, and he inevitably attracted their attention. He was still inexperienced in matters of the opposite sex, but he vowed he’d do something about that in the next little while.

That’s how I introduce Nicholas Young (above) in an early chapter of my historical adventure New Zealand: A Novel. The 17-year-old medical student is about to be recruited to serve as Surgeon’s Assistant aboard a vessel called the Endeavour.

Excerpt continues:

Early in his first summer in London he struck up a conversation with a Mister Wilkie, the recruiting officer for a vessel called the Endeavour. Wilkie, a short, bald, engaging character with a twinkle in his eye, told him he was charged with the recruitment of crew members for a voyage of discovery.

Nicholas was intrigued – even more so when he learned where His Majesty’s bark, the Endeavour, was going.

“She sets sail soon for Tahiti and on to the bottom of the world,” Wilkie confided. He spoke in that distinctive rural drawl, which identified him as a native of Devon. When pressed for more information by the eager boy, Wilkie said, “The Lords of the Admiralty want us to look for Terra Australis Incognita.”

Nicholas’ brow creased uncomprehendingly.

“The Great Southern Continent,” the recruiting officer explained, warming to his subject.

“You mean New Holland?” Nicholas asked, referring to the newly-discovered continent that would one day be referred to as Australia. He’d overheard chatter about New Holland amongst Jack Tars in the taverns.

“Nay, lad. Our Admiralty and the learned gentlemen of the Royal Society have long held the belief there is a vast tract of land, a veritable continent, far to the east of New Holland and the known world. They want it found, explored and claimed for Mother England.”

*

To celebrate the acceptance of New Zealand: A Novel into Waterstones UK & Europe bookstores, the book’s Kindle version will be FREE on Amazon March 15-17 PDT.

************************************************************

Older Entries
Newer Entries