Great Books

From New York Times bestselling novelists W. Michael and Kathleen O'Neal Gear comes a landmark new series portraying the devastating clash of cultures that followed the European invasion of early America. Dramatic, authentic, and deeply moving, this first book in the Contact series tells the story of the blood-drenched years that followed Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto's landing in "La Florida" in 1539 -- as seen entirely through the eyes of two courageous Native Americans. Black Shell, an exiled Chickasaw trader, is fascinated by the pale, bearded newcomers who call themselves "Kristianos," and not even the wise counsel of Pearl Hand, the extraordinary and beautiful woman who has consented to be his mate, can dissuade him. It will unfortunately take a first-hand lesson in the Kristianos' unfathomable brutality for Black Shell to fully comprehend the dangers that these invaders pose to his people's way of life. While his first instinct is to run away with Pearl Hand, somewhere the Kristianos cannot find them, Black Shell has been called to a greater destiny by the Spirit Being known as Horned Serpent. With Pearl Hand by his side, Black Shell must find a way to unite the disparate tribes and settlements of his native land and overcome the merciless armies of de Soto, which will stop at nothing to attain wealth and power. For years readers have urged the Gears to bring the clash of Native American and European cultures to life as only they can. Now, with Coming of the Storm, the Gears unleash their expansive breadth of knowledge and stunning writing talents to dispel the myths and falsehoods surrounding Hernando de Soto, as they paint a vivid portrait of the heroic men and women who fought a terrifying, militarily superior power for their survival -- and in so doing defined the character of a nation.

Born in a time of violent upheaval, young Odion and his little sister, Tutelo, live in fear that one day Yellowtail Village will be attacked. When that day comes and Odion and Tutelo are marched away as slaves, Odion's only hope is that his parents are tracking them, coming to rescue them.They are. But War Chief Koracoo and Deputy Gonda think they are tracking an ordinary war party herding captive women and children to an enemy village. Instead, they are following close on the heels of legendary evil, an old witch-woman named Gannajero, who captures children for her own purposes….

By 1300 AD, the Sky Hand people had crushed and enslaved the Albaamaha people and built their high-walled capital, Split Sky City, to dominate towns up and down the Black Warrior River. But a violent wind is brewing that may topple the city's mighty walls. Great armies are on the march, and a cunning new leader, Smoke Shield, has risen. He will lead the Sky Hand people either to stunning triumph or to bloody doom.  Old White, Trader, and the mystical Two Petals are journeying across the Choctaw lands straight into the chaos. Old White, the Seeker, must play a delicate game of espionage. For Trader the slightest indiscretion--let alone the temptation of forbidden love--could lead to disaster. Two Petals, the Contrary, faces the toughest choice of all : She must betray herself and her friends to Smoke Shield or live forever in the backward grip of madness. And Spirit Power has laid a far deadlier trap for them in the rainbow colors just beneath the rolling surface of the Black Warrior River.  A novel of desperate political intrigue and spiritual power, People of the Thunder once again demonstrates the Gears' mastery of American prehistory. Explore the ancestral heritage of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Yuchi peoples as the majesty and genius of the vanished Mississippian mound builders' civilization comes to life.

There is an alternate story of the life of Jesus.  One the early Church fathers found so menacing they outlawed the books that documented it, ordered them burned, and threatened anyone found copying them with death.  International bestselling authors and award-winning archaeologists Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear put more than thirty years of exhaustive research into this fascinating novel. In A.D. 325, Brother Barnabas is a student of the ancient holy texts.  These books paint a portrait of Jesus that is radical, heretical, and irresistible.  In the writings of Mary Magdalene, Phillip, and James, Barnabas finds clues to a secret he must protect at all costs.  But the Ecumenical Council of Bishops has just declared his cherished books "a hotbed of manifold perversity."  Emperor Constantine has decreed that the documents must be burned and that anyone found copying them will be executed as a heretic. Barnabas's monastery is attacked.  Brother Barnabas flees with his trusted companions, but they are being followed, for the True Church cannot allow them to find the most sacred place on Earth.  In fact, it will do anything to stop them...

Thousands of years ago, small hunting bands crossed the fragile land bridge linking the Eurasian continent to the Americas and discovered a land untouched by humankind. Over the centuries that followed, their descendents spread throughout this land. Bestselling authors and award-winning archaeologists W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear bring the stories of these first North Americans to life in this magnificent, multi-volume saga.Seven thousand years ago, major climactic change was ushering in a 3,500 year drought. For a small band of pioneers in what is now Wyoming and the Montana Mountains, it was a time of fire. As they struggled valiantly to keep their ancestors’ dreams alive in an unforgiving, drought-stricken land, a heroic young dreamer and a fearless woman warrior united to lead their people to a magnificent destiny.

W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear, award-winning archaeologists and international bestselling authors, break extraordinary new ground in the riveting sequal to their bestselling The Summoning God. Bone Walker is more than a murder mystery, it is a psychological thriller filled with the action that have made this the dynamic duo of the historical. They have breathed life into the vanished world of the Anasazi, bringing out the spirit, the loves, and a mysterious world where mystery and horror lurk in every shadow, behind every door, sometimes right before you. The Gears invite you to follow them down the dark labyrinth of the serial killers mind in Book III of the Anasazi Mysteries.Eight hundred years have passed since the Mogollon holy man was murdered in Flowing Waters Town. The threads of evil spun by Two Hearts are drawn across time to ensnare modern archaeologists Dusty Stewart and Maureen Cole. The "Wolf Witch" has killed archaeologist Dale Emerson Robertson, and Dusty and Maureen must unmask the murderer before he strikes again. But in so doing, Dusty will root out disturbing secrets about his own past that will cast his father's suicide in an unsettling light. With so many skeletons in the closet, even a bone expert like Maureen can be baffled...and the Wolf Witch is two steps ahead of them, drawing them relentlessly into his trap...From the national award-winning archaeologists and international bestselling authors of The Visitant and The Summoning God comes a novel of unforgettable terror about a murder in America eight hundred years ago...and a power that transcends time.

Nearly a millennium ago, the Anasazi ruled the cliffs and canyons of New Mexico with a rich, vibrant culture that disappeared as mysteriously as it arose. The link between the 800-year-old murder of an Anasazi holy man and the ritual death of archaeologist Dusty Stewart's beloved mentor drive this rich tapestry of a novel, which moves almost seamlessly between the past and the present to its riveting conclusion. But long before that happens, the reader is drawn into the hunt for a wolf witch that resonates down the centuries, unearthing not only the secrets and relics of an ancient world but also those of Dusty's past--his father's suicide, his mother's desertion, the existence of a sister he never knew, and the reappearance of the woman whose tangled love life set a series of bloody crimes in motion. Archaeologists themselves, the authors bring the past to life with skill and verisimilitude in this terrific story. --Jane Adams

Clan fighting over a powerful totemic mask has brought the Mound Builder people of the Great Lakes region to the edge of destruction. It is up to Star Shell, daughter of a Hopewell chief, to rid her people of this curse. Along with her companions: Otter, a trader; Pearl, a runaway; and Green Spider, either prophet or madman, she braves the stormy waters of the lakes to reach the majestic waterfall known as Roaring Water. She is determined to banish the mask forever to a watery grave.But vengeful clan members are close on her heels, and they have a similar fate planned for her.

At its pinnacle in A.D. 1150 the Anasazi empire of the Southwest would see no equal in North America for almost eight hundred years. Yet even at this cultural zenith, the Anasazi held the seeds of their own destruction deep within themselves....On his deathbed, the Great Sun Chief learns a secret, a shame so vile to him that even at the brink of eternity he cannot let it pass: In a village far to the north is a fifteen-summers-old girl who must be found. Though he knows neither her name nor her face, the Great Sun decrees that the girl must at all costs be killed.Fleeing for her life as her village lies in ruins, young Cornsilk is befriended by Poor Singer, a curious youth seeking to touch the soul of the Katchinas. Together, they undertake the perilous task of staying alive long enough to discover her true identity. But time is running out for them all--a desperate killer stalks them, one who is willing to destroy the entire Anasazi world to get to her.

An all-new series, featuring a seamlessly integrated blend of ancient history and intriguing mystery that could only come from the international and USA Today bestselling authors of The First North Americans series. Award-winning archaeologists Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear have enriched and entertained an avid international audience of millions with their rousing historical epic of the pre-Columbian peoples of North America. Now these master storytellers turn to the American Southwest, to one of the most enigmatic people to ever inhabit this continent--the Anasazi. At its pinnacle in A.D. 1150, their empire was vast and sophisticated, unequaled until the arrival of the Europeans. Dr. Maureen Cole, one of the world's foremost physical anthropologists, has been called in to examine and evaluate a mass grave discovered in New Mexico. The burial site contains only the shattered skulls of women and children. Dr. Cole is appalled at the find and begins working immediately to unravel the mystery of these deaths. But as she works, strange things begin to happen around her. Little incidents at first, then her generator quits, and she begins to hear whispering voices emanating from the plastic bag of bones. In the nearby canyons, just a scant few moments ago in geologic time, a series of brutal murders has terrified the Katsinas' People. Their war chief, Browser, wanders the canyon rim at night, alone and terrified, searching for the killer. Eight women have been savagely murdered. Their bodies were dragged through the village, then disappeared. Browser desperately turns to the crazy old man they call "Stone Ghost." They say he has powers, but Browser has secrets he dare not allow anyone to reveal--even if it means that everything and everyone he loves will fall in the path of a ruthless murderer. Is the barrier between one time and another merely a construct of perception originating in the human mind? Whatever it is that separates the past and the present has grown perilously thin as a killer stalks helpless victims in two different centuries.

It has been a thousand years since Wolf Dreamer lead his people up through the dark hole in the ice to a rich, untouched continent bursting with game. But the world has changed. Most of the magnificent animals are gone, and the last of the great glaciers is melting, forming a huge freshwater lake in the middle of the world. Over the centuries the People of the Wolf have split into two clans. The People of the Nightland live in the honeycomb of ice caves that skirt the glacier. The People of the Sunpath live in hide lodges to the south, hunting the few remaining mammoths, bison, giant sloth, and short-faced bear. When a young orphaned boy named Silvertip receives a vision from Wolf Dreamer that their world is about to end, no one believes him--no one except a jaded war chief and a little girl. Led by Silvertip’s dream, the three of them must convince both people to leave the land of their ancestors and flee eastward as fast as they can before the Ice Giants destroy the world. This is the sweeping saga of a visionary boy who led his people out of the path of one of the worst catastrophes in the history of the world, and the brave little girl who loved him enough to believe in his dream.