A tragedy sparked The Great Horse trilogy (of which Eclipsed by Shadow is the first volume). I came to know of this sad event because I lived in Cambridge, MA, where it occurred.

It happened in the 1990’s as a wave of corporatization washed over Harvard Square, which was at the time a vibrant, diverse, spirited bright spot of educational culture situated near the heart of Harvard Yard. Due to the end of rent control, incoming corporate chains and commercial development replaced the great old used bookstores in Harvard Square, which housed decades of professor libraries on their shelves and in high-piled boxes and book stacks.

A trove of civilization’s knowledge, irreplaceable in aggregate, telling the story of the decades of the twentieth century in first person. Walking along the crowded aisles and browsing historical works was like running your fingers through treasure that was never to be yours—or anyone’s.  So “the Market” had decided.

It seemed strangely foreboding that such a record of human endeavor could not “compete” with blind commerce, as if humanity itself could not “compete” with its own opportunistic forces. I didn’t know the answers, but I did find out how little I really understood about history. As I learned I came to believe the lessons of history were imperative to remember, but this act of careless destruction seemed more like an act of forgetting. I wondered if our society was losing its own memories, and I still do.

My fascination with history was fueled by the doomed abundance of the historical record preserved in those sleepy bookstores. I was learning that history not only repeated but it echoed. As Faulkner said, the past isn’t dead, it isn’t even past. It seems more evident today, twelve years later, as we watch world events take stunning turns that defy logic or intent. Reality does not correspond to our wishes or beliefs: it is necessary for humanity to correspond to the reality of human nature and social dynamics.

I began to see the trial and error component of human society, and discovered that civilization’s progress was not so much a smooth path upward as a broken one with pits and valleys. Societies grew as they learned, and as they grew they corrupted and lost their lessons and finally perished. Over and over again.

So what made the Harvard bookstore demolition so tragic in my view was not just the loss of the threads of our historical conversation, but that the act itself was already evidence of the process of forgetting. Unfortunately, what makes the 21st Century truly different from other times is the penalty for this kind of forgetting. Crowded humanity has come to a place when it can effectively destroy itself; our technology is too advanced for us to revert to failed ideas and patterns.

How will we avoid the old pitfalls if we cannot remember them? That was the problem that intrigued me: the answers are in the pages of history, if we can only be persuaded to look.

I wanted a way to thread history together, and looked for clues in the gilded pages of those ill-fated history books. A cohesive clue must be discoverable in all those old books, something nearly universal to all humanity. Perhaps an invention like the wheel, maybe music, or clothing, or food … if there were only some common link somehow obscured and hidden within all these colorful pages with their images of countless horses…

Chariots of early history (16th century BC)

This is my third “Mirror” post in a row, and where I finally explain the use of the metaphor and close the barn door after it.

In the first post of this Mirror trilogy, I mentioned becoming interested in reading about history while browsing the shelves of the doomed used bookstores in Harvard.

I didn’t and don’t have answers about what history people should remember, or what conclusions should be drawn. I am simply interested in knowing about factual history and discussing it. That interest led to the idea of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy.

My blog’s “Mirror” Trilogy Concludes

Horses were a common factor in almost every time from primitive man and antiquity to the Renaissance and the American West. The animal has literally been with mankind every step of the way. As someone who competed in equestrian sports and worked in the horse industry, I found this to be an example of common knowledge not commonly explored.

Horsemanship was not an obvious process to humanity: it took thousands of years for mankind to learn to control a horse as a rider. While the first uses of horses are misty and inconclusive, truth be told early horsemanship was a dog’s breakfast of nose-rings, superstition and brutality.  So poor were the prospects of the first mounted riders ending up where (and how) they wished to arrive, that as a practical matter driving appears to have been the main use for horses in the early days of civilization.

This changed in the last millenia B.C. with a new kind of horsemanship based on working with the horse in an empathetic and humane way. The horse responded to empathetic methods so well that the new art, today called “dressage,” led to a revolution in mounted riding. As the human consciousness arced up our horsemanship advanced to new levels of cooperation and partnership.

da Vinci’s “Rearing Horse”

However, when Rome fell into centuries of brutalized Dark Ages, dressage was lost to Western Civilization. In fact, dressage was one of the “rediscovered” Classical arts that sparked the new age of the European Renaissance. Riding schools were set up and Riding Masters emerged as students in the laboratory of the ménage. Horsemanship recovered its humane component and advanced to unprecedented heights of sport and art.

The history of horsemanship seems to highlight the relationship between empathy and human progress. It is fascinating to see how horses have adapted to the different stages of human development; horses are not only a true link with our past but a reflection of their times. Progress in horsemanship has mirrored the progress of mankind itself.

It makes for a fascinating study–and the greatest canvas on which to tell a story.

Contact: Robert Hall
Tel: 617/301-2901
Email: R_Hall@MicronPress.com

OCTOBER 20, 2008 | Eclipsed by Shadow, the first book of the new trilogy The Legend of the Great Horse, arrives this Summer 2008 with a fresh and original look at the colorful role of horses in civilization.

Horseman and author John Royce has crafted a mix of history and horsemanship into a page-turning event. Lively writing combines suspense, mystery and humor into a startlingly realistic adventure through man’s past—on horseback.

Educational, literary, fast-paced and vivid in detail, Eclipsed by Shadow brings to life man’s ancient partnership with the horse. Readers travel through the pages of history to a time when primitive man stalked horses as prey, and witness the fascinating development of horsemanship in ancient and medieval cultures.

Further information about this unique and imaginative novel can be found at www.TheGreatHorse.com. The book is available for review upon request.

For more information or to schedule an interview with the author, please contact:

Robert Hall
R_Hall@MicronPress.com
Micron Press | Marketing Director

The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy takes place across many historical eras, from pre-history to modern times, and research was fundamental to telling an accurate story. I followed a method I found enjoyable and fascinating, and which I believe brought authenticity to the work.

Basically, I gathered writings from each era visited in the book, and spent significant time immersing myself in that culture. To an important degree, writing is a distillation of the thoughts and emotions of the society it comes from, and I found that by experiencing (reading) a variety of preserved texts that the ideas and mindset of its society could surface in my own writing. I found a lot of surprises.

For example, one of the historical periods visited in Eclipsed by Shadow is ancient Rome. There is no shortage of writing from our Roman ancestors, but there is a profusion of literary works of quality during the late Republic and early days of Empire. The fascinating Roman “novel” Satyricon was written then, and also the legendary works of the great chronicler Tacitus who wrote scandalous histories of Rome. Reading established facts about Rome along with works of Romans themselves reveals their world in a new and authentic way: through the eyes of our ancestors.

Though no new facts are discovered by this process, in the archaeological sense, what is gained is sense of the day. For example, I learned how Rome grew as a new idea in the hearts of man, that of shared citizenship and the power of harmony, a melting pot of peoples that was gradually corrupted by ongoing appeal to military virtues and primacy of commerce. Tacitus, former Consul who lived through nine emperors, writes bravely as his world is descending into debased madness that would end in twelve centuries of what we call Dark Ages. Western Civilization literally died once before. If I had been taught this history, I did not fully appreciate it in those terms.

I hope that my research provides the reader with something valuable and different in their knowledge of the world. I will say that the experience changed me. History is always what it seems, and it is certainly not a closed book.

If you enjoy horses this will be a fun book because horses are the hero. The main character is a young, enthusiastic rider. The story follows Meagan as she visits different historical cultures and experiences how horses were a part of the day.

If you like learning while you read something fun, this is a book you should enjoy. Whether or not you have interest in horses, consider taking a journey across cultures from pre-historic man to present day. You will become immersed in the development of humankind from a bestial brute to modern man.

If you like historical fiction, this book was written for you! Each of the fourteen time periods traveled are well-researched and detailed. The characters are lively and accurate to period, creating a worthwhile and page-turning journey through history.  Please check out the book’s Media Kit for more information and reviews.

If you enjoy literary works, you may especially wish to explore this title. The First Chapter gives an sample of the story, and more excerpts will soon be posted here. Reading time is precious and books must be selected carefully, so you may wish to see the industry reviews and other information in the book’s Media Kit.