Prehistoric Fiction
Did the recent Exploring Human Origins exhibition spark an interest in human culture prior to recorded history? If so, take a look at these fictional tales of prehistoric human (and canid) life set in Africa, Europe and North America:
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
Jean M. Auel's storytelling takes us back to the harsh and beautiful Ice Age world. A natural disaster leaves the young girl wandering alone in an unfamiliar, dangerous land until she is found by a woman of the Clan. Though to them, blonde, blue-eyed Ayla looks peculiar and ugly, Iza cannot leave the girl to die. But the brutal and proud youth who is destined to become their next leader sees her as a threat to his authority.
Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson
Thorn, a shaman, lives to pass down his wisdom and his stories—to teach those who would follow in his footsteps. Heather, the healer, in many ways holds the clan together. And Loon, the next shaman, is determined to find his own path. But in a world so treacherous, that journey is never simple. Shaman is a thrilling story of one young man's journey into adulthood and an awe-inspiring vision of how we lived thirty thousand years ago.
The Dog Master by Bruce W. Cameron
Thirty thousand years ago, ice stormed the planet. Among the species forced out of the trees and onto the steppes by the advancing cold was modern man. Mankind stood on the brink of extinction, but they had a unique advantage: domesticated wolves. Only a set of extraordinary circumstances could have transformed one of these fierce creatures into a hunting companion, a bodyguard, a soldier, and a friend.
Daughter of Kura by Debra Austin
On the parched African earth half a million years ago sits the village of Kura, a matriarchal society of Homo erectus. Snap is destined to lead her people, and this year she must select a mate for the first time. Will she choose someone different each year, or will she find one permanent mate, like her mother, Whistle, the next leader of Kura? But Whistle chooses a stranger with dangerous ideas. When Snap challenges the stranger's growing power, she is cast out. Abandoned and alone, she risks her life to stand up against an unthinkable evil.
Promise of the Wolves by Dorothy Hearst
Wolf cub Kaala is determined to earn a place in the Swift River pack, but her world is turned upside down when she saves a human girl from drowning. Risking expulsion from their pack, Kaala and her young packmates begin to hunt with the humans. But when war between wolves and humans threatens, Kaala must choose between safety for herself and her friends and the survival of her pack. Set 14,000 years ago, Promise of the Wolves takes us to a land where time is counted in phases of the moon, distance is measured in wolflengths, and direction by the scent of the nearest trail.
Stonehenge : A Novel of 2000 BC by Bernard Cornwell
Four thousand years ago, a stranger's death at the Old Temple of Fatharryn, and his ominous "gift" of gold, precipitates the building of what for centuries to come will be known as one of mankind's most remarkable achievements. This epic catapults us into a vibrant world of ritual and sacrifice at once timeless and wholly original, a tale of patricide, betrayal and murder; of bloody brotherly rivalry; and of the neverending pursuit of power, wealth and spiritual fulfillment.
Daughter of the Sun by Barbara Wood
Seventeen-year-old Hoshi'tiwa, the daughter of a humble corn grower, planned to marry a storyteller's apprentice. But her world is turned upside down when she is captured by the ruler of an infamous city with legends of untold wealth and unspeakable acts of violence to its name. Hoshi'tiwa is thrown into the court of the Dark Lord, where she begins an illicit affair with the one man who can destroy her. Set against the backdrop of Chaco Canyon and the mysterious Anasazi people, Daughter of the Sun is an unforgettable novel of power, seduction, murder and betrayal.
The First Heroes: New Tales of the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age: the era of Troy, of Gilgamesh, of the dawning of human mastery over the earth. For decades, fantasists have set tales of heroism and adventure in imagined worlds based on the real Bronze Age, from the "Hyborean Age" of Conan to the Third Age of Middle-Earth. Now bestselling author Harry Turtledove, a noted expert on the ancient world, teams up with author and Egyptologist Noreen Doyle to present fourteen new tales of the real Bronze Age from some of the best writers in SF.
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