Calek's Tale

A boy named Calek lives in the town of Refuge on a quaint island in the northern Great Lakes. Growing up, he constantly heard stories about what happened on the Mainland before he was born, a huge conflagration that engulfed the entire world. All that remained were the Forsaken - drooling, mindless monsters who found their way to the island in boats, killing and maiming like rabid dogs. The people of Refuge fought them off with much loss of life, surviving as the last remnants of humanity and dreaming of the day they will repopulate the Mainland and start the world anew. Sometimes Calek wonders if all of that really happened. It's what he's always been told, but maybe Hezekiah, the Spiritual Leader who runs things on the island, made the whole thing up. It would be a good way to keep people afraid so they continued to follow his Revelations. But if none of that happened, what about the rows of graves in the Refuge cemetery, all from the same year? When he's not pondering these mysteries, Calek's mind is filled with visions about the Old World, and how ancient things can be put together in entirely new ways. Because he has a bright, shining gift. His father knows how dangerous that gift could turn out to be. But Calek is just eleven years old and his dreams will not leave him alone... Calek's Tale is the first book in a new trilogy written by Wayne Faust. With vivid descriptions of the northern Great Lakes (Faust spent several summers performing on Mackinac Island), richly-drawn characters, and a plot full of flashbacks, mystery, and suspense, this book will keep you listening until the end.

After fleeing the island on the northern Great Lakes where he was born and raised, 12 year old Calek finds himself on The Mainland for the first time. He discovers that he has been lied to, and that the Old World is far different than he'd been told. There are still Forsaken there, drooling, mindless monsters that have haunted his nightmares ever since he was a toddler. But there are also people that are not Forsaken and they believe something very different than what he has been taught all his life by Hezekiah, the Spiritual Leader of the island. Calek is torn between what he used to believe and what he now sees with his own eyes. Book Two is a fast-paced tale where Calek is caught up in a whirlwind of new ideas, fascinating discoveries, gut-wrenching conflicts, and a wealth of new characters. And, just like in book one, his very life is at stake... 2024 Wayne Faust (P)2024 Wayne Faust

In the thrilling climax to the Calek's Tale Trilogy, Wayne Faust weaves all the elements together from the first two books, and introduces new and fascinating characters, while fleshing out existing ones. The War is not only a physical battle between the people on the Mainland, who are desperate to rescue Calek and his twin brother John, vs. the people on the Island, most notably Hezekiah, the spiritual leader, who is desperate to hang onto his waning power. It's also a spiritual battle between two very different ways of looking at the world. In the very center of the story is Calek, caught between these two opposing forces, trying to decide what is true and what is not, and hoping his recently discovered twin brother is really on his side. At stake is his long held dream to invent new things, to figure out how the marvelous things of the Old World work, and most importantly, how to hang onto his very life.