Why Did the Three Goats Cross the River?

When I started writing Crossing the Naiad, I knew that Kimmer’s goats weren’t as healthy as they ought to be. The rural people of Silmaren wouldn’t have access to the vitamin and mineral supplements that modern day herders do or even that wealthier farmers in my North-lands possess.

Curious GoatsI also knew that sometimes the plants growing in pasture aren’t the right ones to ensure the animals grazing there receive all the nutrients they need.

Thus Kimmer would need to take the family goats to better pasturage to improve their health.

Once away from the familiar environs of home, she encounters a perilous remnant from the ancient past and the story unfolds.

So far, so good.

But, while some writers could take the narrative from there, I’m not one of them! I needed to know what the missing nutrient was, what symptoms it might cause, and what plant could remedy the problem.

So I started digging.

And came up with a promising candidate right away: copper.

Craigieburn Valley, Canterbury, New ZealandAnemia, weak bones (particularly in the young), poor wound healing, and frequent infections are all symptoms of copper deficiency. That sounded plenty “dowly” enough – as Kimmer calls it – to me.

There are several circumstances that can cause lack of copper in pasturage.

Peaty and acid soils are deficient in copper, especially moorland soils. If you’ve got heather, wild bilberries, birch, rowan and pine growing on your land, then it is moorland and the soil simply hasn’t got much copper in it. Thus the plants lack it as well.

Silmaren doesn’t have much heather, but all the other plants on that list are common. Bingo!

Interestingly, lime soils also cause copper deficiency, but not because the soil lacks the mineral. Lime soils increase the bio-availabilty of molybdenum several fold. And high levels of molybdenum interfere with the utilization of copper in the body. I doubt this is the issue in Silmaren, however.

Acid rainfall could be the culprit. Silmaren has newly entered the age of steam, and produces steam largely by the burning of coal. The city of Andamn is a major mining center, and Kimmer’s hamlet – while rural – lies close enough to feel the effects of pollution. Acid rain possesses a heavy sulphur content. High sulphur levels in herbage suppress the uptake of copper from the soil. Voila! Copper-poor plants.

Finally, the mix of plants in the pasture may simply be one that doesn’t feature copper. Most wild grasses are poor in copper. And that is what Kimmer and, indeed all of her neighbors, must contend with. They depend largely on the bounty of nature. What grows is what they have.

Cocksfoot, a wild grassRed clover and yarrow are rich in copper, but the meadows of their hamlet lack these plants. Wild grasses and more wild grasses were nature’s gift.

Luckily the wild grass named cocksfoot does have copper. It’s been overgrazed in the pastures close to home, but thrives in more distant grasslands. That is what Kimmer seeks.

Once I’d researched that much I felt confidant enough to proceed with my story.

As is usual for many writers, most of my research never appears directly on the page.

In Crossing the Naiad, all of the above generated:

Mama said the goats were dowly because they needed copper salts. A spell of cropping the cocksfoot in the foothills beyond the river would put them right.

And it seemed she was correct.

web imageIf every three sentences in my stories demanded this kind of research, I’d not be happy. But that’s not the case. The preparations for Naiad required that I know a little bit about goat nutrition and that I devise the the history of the naiad whose will Kimmer crosses. That sufficed for generating the confidence I need for storytelling.

I always do some research. And I always do some pre-planning. After that, the story takes over.

For more about the world of the Kaunis-clan, see:
What Is a Bednook?
The Kaunis Clan Home
Hammarleeding Fete-days
Origin of Canning—Not What You’d Think!
Livli’s Family
Ivvar’s Family
Pickled Greens, a Hammarleeding Delicacy

 

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Crossing the Naiad in Paperback!

Designing the front covers for my paperbacks is easy. I want them to match the ebook editions, so a little adjustment to allow for the difference in size – thumbnail ebook versus X” by Y” trade paperback – and it’s good.

Front cover images of a naiad underwater

Designing the back cover is fun! It’s like an art puzzle. How do I take the visual theme of the front cover and continue it on the back in a way that will work? Satisfying to work on the puzzle. Even more satisfying to solve it.

Designing the interiors involves similar pleasures of visual ingenuity and creativity.

All the design work is play for me.

Then comes the hard part!

I upload the files to CreateSpace. I look at the digital proof online. It looks good. I order the physical proof. The margins on the cover are different than those I’ve specified in my files. I make a guess as to what CreateSpace will do at their end.

(They’re not organized in such a way that I can talk with the technician who actually does the work of converting my files for the print-on-demand printing machine.)

I upload the files again. This time, the margins are correct, but the title on the spine has slipped and is lopsided. I make more guesses about the best adjustments to make. I upload the file again and order yet another proof.

The cover is perfect! Yay! But as I flip through the interior – the interior that has been proofread umpteen million times – I spot a typo. It’s in the copyright statement about fair use. I grit my teeth and decide to live with it. Then I spot another typo. Grr! This one is in the body of the story. No, I can’t live with it. I correct the files again. This time, the proof copy is perfect.

I click the approve button at CreateSpace.

And three days later, my book is available for purchase on Amazon! As several more weeks go by, my book makes its way into the extended distribution system. Eventually it will appear in such bookstores as Powell’s in Portland, Oregon and Fishpond in Australia!

Now, that makes it all worthwhile. But you can see why I’m pretty thrilled when I make it all the way through the gauntlet of CreateSpace.

Recently, a spate of my books has passed through that treacherous channel. Today I’m pleased to announce the release of Crossing the Naiad in paper.

Front and back book covers depicting a naiad underwater

Its truth forgotten in the mists of time, the old bridge harbors a lethal secret. Neither marble statues awakened for battle nor an ancient roadbed grown hungry, something darker and more primal haunts the stones and the wild river below.

Kimmer knows the stories, but she doesn’t know why the crumbling span feels so fraught with menace. Her way home lies across the ruin. Dare she take it? Or will horror from the lost past rise up to claim her, when she does?

Crossing the Naiad as a trade paperback:
5″x 8″ trim size • 46 pages
ISBN-10: 061589058X
ISBN-13: 978-0615890586
Amazon.com I Amazon UK I Amazon DE I Amazon ES I CreateSpace

Crossing the Naiad continues to be available as an ebook:
Amazon.com I Amazon UK I Amazon DE I Amazon ES
B&N I iTunes I Kobo I Smashwords

Just a few weeks ago, Crossing the Naiad received a very positive review on Goodreads!

“A quick, refreshing piece of literature. Like a cool sip of water after a grueling endurance marathon . . . It’s swift and concise, but the prose is eloquent and deft, to the point, yet gracefully articulate . . . again I am enthralled with the completeness of the picture the author is painting. The world comes to life . . .”

 

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Ebook Release: Crossing the Naiad

For fans of Sarvet, as well as readers who enjoy tales of how the dead past reaches forward through time to touch later ages, Crossing the Naiad follows Sarvet on the first adventure of her wanderyar. Below a ruined bridge, she encounters two lowlanders and two ghosts.

water spirit under waterIts truth forgotten in the mists of time, the old bridge harbors a lethal secret. Neither marble statues awakened for battle nor an ancient roadbed grown hungry, something darker and more primal haunts the stones and the wild river below.

Kimmer knows the stories, but she doesn’t know why the crumbling span feels so fraught with menace. Her way home lies across the ruin. Dare she take it? Or will horror from the lost past rise up to claim her, when she does?

 
 
 

Crossing the Naiad is available in electronic bookstores.
Amazon.com I Amazon UK I Amazon DE I Amazon ES
B&N I Diesel I iTunes I Kobo I Smashwords I Sony

 

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