Table of Contents
<there will be NO table of contents in this work> Author's Note Though Song of the Tides is a work of fiction, every attempt has been made to follow accurately the written accounts from the era made by European visitors. Unfortunately, while archeologists have compiled a wealth of material knowledge of Calusa culture and history, theirs was not a written language, and nor do oral records survive. We do know that the Calusa returned to their capital city, now called Mound Key in Estero Bay, and thrived for a time into the seventeenth century. Tragically, European diseases and the slave trade from the north took their toll. the Calusa tribe was largely extinct by the mid-1700s, though some Calusa refugees are known to have been transported to Cuba on Spanish vessels and might possibly have living descendants today. Of the mostly Spanish letters and memoranda that survive, three are primary and make for fascinating reading. Gonzalo Solis de Meras's Memorial recounts his brother-in-law Pedro Menendez's journeys in La Florida, including his historic meeting with Carlos and marriage to the cacique's sister. I read two versions: John E. Worth, translations prepared for 2004 Summer Stipend, National Endowment for the Humanities, "First-Contact Narratives from Florida's Lower Gulf Coast: An Annotated Translation Project," and Jeannette Thurber Connor (translator), Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Adelantado, Governor and Captain-General of Florida; Memorial by Gonzalo Solis de Meras (Florida State Historical Society, 1923). The 1575 Memoir of Hernando d'Escalante Fontaneda on the Country and Ancient Indian Tribes of Florida--he did finally make it to Spain--is both captivating and agonizingly incomplete. I used a few short passages verbatim in Escalante's otherwise fictitious journal entries, as well as his list of Calusa towns for place-names and as inspiration for characters' names, since Fontaneda's is the only known documentation of Calusa language. Dr. Worth also translated Fontaneda's memoir for the same project; others include David O. True's version of Buckingham Smith's translation (Glade House, 1944); translations are also available on the Internet. The letter from Father Juan Rogel to Father Jeronimo Ruiz del Portillo, April 25, 1568, found on pp. 230278 of John H. Hann's Missions to the Calusa (University Press of Florida, 1991), is the best document we have on Calusa spirituality, though of course it is filtered through the Jesuit's point of view. Many thanks to ethnohistorian John Worth, assistant professor of historical archaeology, Department of Anthropology, University of West Florida, for sharing both published and unpublished sources including his own translations, for his fine-toothed review of the manuscript, and for his confidence in the book as a work not only of history but of fiction as well. Thanks, too, to William H. Marquardt, curator in archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History and director of the University of Florida Institute of Archaeology and Paleoenvironmental Studies, whose knowledge of and insight into all things Calusa, as evidenced in his archeological research, his many writings, and the fabulous Calusa exhibit at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, is unsurpassed. Merald Clark's brilliant and meticulously authentic illustrations have helped me to visualize the Calusa culture, environment, and the people themselves. His drawing of the character he knew as Cacica, who became my novel's Aesha, graces the book's cover. This novel could not have been written, or re- or re-rewritten, without the help of many. Kathy Olberts helped me get started, and my sister Shauna Deb encouraged me throughout. The critiquing, editing, and unflagging support of Annamarie Beckel, Michele Bergstrom, David Brainard and Joey Wojtusik kept me from trainwrecking. Without Phil Paterson, Northern Writers would never have been born. David Peterman translated and shored up my Spanish and is as true a friend as a writer can have. And many thanks to all who read and commented on early drafts of the manuscript. To my daughters, Nikki, Jessica and Hillary, the girls, even if you're girls no longer, and my wife, Jeanne, who first brought me to Southwest Florida on our honeymoon in 1973, you're always here with and for me--how can I thank you enough? And to Nana, Anntiva, Mom, who introduced me to the living world of the Calusa, you were and are my inspiration. For those who have caught the Calusa itch, I can't recommend highly enough a visit to the Randell Research Center in Pineland, Florida (www.flmnh.ufl.edu/rrc/) at the historic site of Tanpa. Also, in addition to the sources listed above, the following make excellent reading: Darcie A. McMahon and William H Marquardt's The Calusa and Their Legacy (University Press of Florida, 2004); John H. Hann's Indians of Central and South Florida, 15131763 (University Press of Florida, 2003); Albert Manucy's Menendez (Copyright 1983 by the St. Augustine Historical Society, Pineapple Press, Inc., 1992); Robin C. Brown's Florida's First People (Pineapple Press, Inc., 1994); and Frank Hamilton Cushing, Phyllis E. Kolianos, and Brent Richards Weisman's The Lost Florida Manuscript of Frank Hamilton Cushing (Florida Museum of Natural History, 2005). Song of the Tides<COMP: put fig 3 on blank following 2nd half title>
