New York Times bestselling
novelists W. Michael and Kathleen O’Neal Gear have long
been considered the foremost chroniclers of early Native
American life. Now, in a critically acclaimed, sweeping
new series, they recreate the conflict-filled years
following one of the first European invasions. Seen
through the eyes of a courageous pair of Native
Americans, Fire the Sky follows Hernando de
Soto’s brutal expedition north from the Florida
peninsula as the explorer plunders the heart of a
complex and fragile civilization. An itinerant
trader and outcast from his tribe, Black Shell was swept
into the Spirit World and returned a transformed man.
Now, carrying his white-feathered trader’s staff, he
devotes his life to a sacred mission that only the tall,
beautiful Pearl Hand—his lover, confidant and wife—truly
understands. Black Shell has seen what the
incomprehensibly violent, shining-armored invaders are
capable of doing to his world and knows that if his
people are to survive, he and his “Orphans,” a small
band of fierce warriors, must kill as many Kristianos as
they can. After being fought to a standstill by the
courageous Apalachee Nation, de Soto has changed his
tactics. He will employ promises of peace to accomplish
what cannot be achieved by violence alone. Lured by a
young man’s tale of gold and aided by an arrogant
princess’s treachery, he makes his way through the
beautiful southeastern landscape. One by one, the
ancient Nations fall victim to his lies as rulers and
commoners alike are tricked into enslavement. In spite
of the price de Soto has placed on his head, Black Shell
shadows the Kristiano advance and finds that his own
legend precedes him. Some will heed Black Shell’s
strategies of sacrifice and deception. Others will
ignore him—and suffer unspeakable horrors as a result.
In this moving, vivid portrait of a lost American
civilization and a powerful love between a man and a
woman, the Gears illuminate a little-understood time in
our history, as this bloody conflict between two peoples
hurtles toward an apocalyptic battle that may change the
course of the war forever. . . .
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