jame5c
Ms Jean M. Auel's best-selling book "The Clan of the Cave Bear" and "Earth's Children" book series is a beautiful depiction of our planet 35,000 years ago. Her six books brought me many hours of enthralled reading, at different times in my life.
Written (and read) over a couple of decades, many "Earth's Children" readers have posed questions on certain sections of Ms Auel's epic. It is delightful to read different writers' fan fiction interpretations, who build on the foundational ancient world brought to life by Ms Auel.
My first Earth's Children fan-fiction piece, "The Clan in the Valley", imagined Durc's life after Ayla was forced to leave Broud's clan. This second fan-fiction work gives an interpretation of a time before Ayla. In it, some characters are Ms Auel's creation and copyright, some are mine. Passages from various "Earth's Children" books are extracted as vignettes to preface my chapters.
While writing, I am grateful for the cartographical resources meticulously crafted and curated by Mr Don Hitchcock in his excellent website https://donsmaps.com. Mr Hitchcock's maps helped me picture a sense of space and geography as I researched for and outlined my stories.
As a father to two daughters, thanks most of all to Ms Auel, for giving us Ayla - who continues to inspire girls (and boys) even in today's vastly different world of ours.
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This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.