ISBN 1-58939-548-4. $14.95. Softcover. 268 Pages.
Thorlainen finds his mundane and generally pointless life disrupted by an apparent galactic catastrophe and is soon on the run from the totalitarian world of Tellus, the non-affluents, like him, have reluctantly submitted to for too long. His first impression is, he is the sole survivor but surviving brings mortal danger. He meets a young affluent woman, Chitmaa, caring for two intelligent children. Thorlainen is a Non-Commercial-Being but Chitmaa believes they must conjugate traditionally. Thorlainen agrees though he can see he is right out of his depth in this relationship and in his understanding of her motives.
Normally a solitary character, Thorlainen's acquaintances snowball as they flee, and gradually he takes the lead, assisted by a paradoxical old man and a military officer, escaping execution.
Unlike Thorlainen, the others have friends and relatives, who (if they are still live) are at the deportation area awaiting relocation. Thorlainen helps them, and then reluctantly takes command of a ship full of deportees: his nautical expertise becoming paramount, when it becomes evident they must try to escape by sea.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zak B. Tjewell's life has been boats: Grammar School naval cadets, sailing, designing, building... Except for hitchhiking across North Africa and ending up under house arrest in Libya during the revolution, Zak spent his youth sailing the Caribbean and Mediterranean.
One day, and quite unprepared, he found himself in Finland. This country was a complete contrast to those far off sunny islands and, in staying here, Zak met his greatest trails.
Several times, he fled to the sun; back again to Africa, once to visit a missionary in Kenya, and then later, to teach ambulance drivers to drive ambulance boats on Lake Tanganyika for SIDA.
But, Finland is a land of linguists and he stayed there for his children. This decision proved right as, unlike Zak, who has never managed to ever learn Finnish, his children all speak several languages fluently.
The nineties recession in Finland hit Zak hard and he and his wife were out of work. He switched from designing workboats to computers and was employed by a software company as technical writer, webmaster, CD designer, etc.
Unfortunately, ten years on, the recession has arrived once more and redundancy has struck again. So where to now, old Zak...?
Login to review this product
