High School was Hell: Bullies. Drama. Chemistry homework. The horrors of puberty. And that was before the outbreak! After several semesters of pining, David has finally won over Mary, the girl of his dreams. But when a mysterious infection turns most of the student body into hormonal, blood-thirsty monsters, David's chances for a happy ending look slim. The only hope for David and his friends seems to be the mysterious John Harper Cearley, a quiet young man with a big secret who just might be able to stop the outbreak and save the world. The problem is, John doesn't agree that the world is worth saving.
Imagine a village in a beautiful, densely forested valley with hills and meadows as well as rivers and streams. The village fronts on an ocean to the west. Here, no one ages, illnesses and injuries heal in seconds. Work is rewarded with free housing, free meals, and beautiful clothing one can pick off a shelf and take home. Useful articles and deliciously prepared restaurant meals are . No money exists. Creative solutions are encouraged and sought after and shared. Love and glory are the parts of life that cause competition. Here, people can be true to themselves without suffering condemnation. People work to serve others. Government is committed to serving the needs of the people. There are no cars, no heavy machinery. Glenners travel long distances on the backs of horses or Maximum Monarchs, twenty-five foot tall monarch butterflies rigged with seating for human beings. King SkyGolden, a half elf, can transform himself into the flying horse named Trumpet. His wife, Rubikan, can do likewise. Golden Glen, a little piece of paradise! Or is it? This is a land where elves once ruled, where their descendants still possess magic. Eagles grow ten foot wingspans. They have teeth reminiscent of fossilized birds. Living in the Pariah Forest are strange creatures created by Kelpie eugenics. Terror Trees and Octopoda Grasses, bees as large as basketballs, a Royal Lamia, the owl that can change to many things, one a half snake, half woman. In addition, the Kelpie queen keeps an obedient pet, a beautiful Lepainea, created by genes from a leopard mixed with those of a hyena. The Kelpie are astonishingly beautiful women and they use magic to destroy men. They behave in vicious and murderous ways, transforming into flying horses. By using their beauty, the magic, and indulging in shocking sexual practices, the women are able to control men and destroy them. Ultimately, it is the intention of the Kelpie to conquer Golden Glen and turn it into Glendura, a place where they can create a commercial paradise by selling the secret of eternal life to people in the Left Behind, the world where the three newcomers are from. In the eastern mountains are the Troll, an ugly, misshapen little people with heads one third the size of humans. Very muscular but stupid, they are led by a queen who has entranced the Cenotaur, a beast born of a rape of a tiny female centaur by the Minotaur of Crete. Once enslaved by the elves, the Troll queen is determined to take over the Glen. The Troll and Kelpie continue their conflict, amoral women of great beauty who are offended by the ugliness of the little people. Battles between them were once commonplace but now, the battles break out only now and then. Kelpie use lepainea to attack the Troll, the Troll have the Cenotaur to counter the cats. But important for both, Glenners are their enemy. If they Troll and Kelpie unite, they could overrun the Glen in a day. This is the world into which the three young people, Sarabeth, Nita, and Zack are thrust, a world with different rules, where no death exists, yet people die. War lurks over each hill, even a sunrise is suspect. But love, like the Glen, is fragile, a tender bud aching to bloom.
Joseph Daniels narrates his family’s origins, beginning with their arrival from England among the 1820 Settlers that landed in Cape Town, South Africa. Starting with nothing except a plot of land and the promise of prosperity in the Dark Continent, his ancestors John Henry and Kathleen Daniels, build a legacy that will intertwine their European heritage and that of the Black, indigenous people of Africa. Generations later, their mixed-race descendant Joseph Daniels, born in the turbulent years leading up to Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, strives to adapt to an environment rife with racial contradictions, political tension, and violence. Joseph shares the tender, harrowing, and humorous moments of his family’s lives, set against a backdrop of Zimbabwe and South Africa’s rich culture and history. Starting with the clash of African kings in Southern Africa, Joseph’s multigenerational tale moves through European colonization, the Rhodesian Civil War, Zimbabwe’s independence, and Robert Mugabe’s long presidency. By the time Joseph comes of age in the 1990s, he must navigate the complexity of his mixed-race Coloured identity while seeking to establish his generational inheritance and legacy. An episodic novel that sweeps across the centuries, Once Upon a Time in Zimbabwe is replete with historical detail and unforgettable characters. At turns adventurous, romantic, thrilling, and heartbreaking, the story of Joseph Daniels and his family is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
