Flores Girl: The Children God Forgot
The media eagerly made the startling announcement about the unique hobbit fossil find and the existence of hobbit human relatives on Flores Island 16,000 years ago, prehistoric survivors that seemingly went extinct just a few short years ago. Only, the scientists were dead wrong. They are still alive today and two American scientists are going to discover them and unwittingly they will introduce this tribe of small, archaic people to the ultimate modern predator: humanity.
These three-foot tall bipeds are not the Hobbits of the JRR Tolkien’s stories, but a small tribe of prehistoric people, Homo Floresiensis, living in seeming isolation for nearly a half million years on the Indonesian tropical island of Irmã Flores. In their unrelenting quest for knowledge, Sarah and Richard unintentionally expose these innocents to the onslaught of the modern world including corporate raiders, Indonesian pirates and ardent religious zealots. In the process of discovery and befriending these ancient people, Sarah and Richard must survive a serious clash of divergent personalities while rediscovering their own humanity and need for love.
Warning, this adventure novel contains adult themes, language, a dose of graphic violence and a complete disdain for most authority figures.
Headlines and television documentaries announce the finding of Flores Island hobbits
From the headlines of today’s newspapers comes the ultimate adventure story of discovery. Two scientists unwittingly introduce a small tribe of prehistoric people living in isolation for a half million years to the ultimate modern predator: humanity. This is their adventure combining a clash of cultures, religious ardor with the oldest stories of all: the meaning of friendship and love.
In summary, this as a rousing adventure book with serious undertones about our very definition of humanity, and how we treat the other sentient creatures that occupy our small planet. What is at the core of being human, and how are we systematically destroying those very same qualities that we hold so dear?
Many elements within the novel have a strong connection with the topical issues of today ranging from Creationism, stem cell research and finally to the greed of our consumer economy. Moreover, the so-called Hobbit people described within the novel, locally known by Flores natives as the Ebu Gogo, are being searched for by scientists in Indonesia as we speak. This story is so gripping that “Sixty Minutes†on CBS and National Geographic ran a special on the Flores Island fossil find.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
i like the new “release all episodes” button. I like to wait till a book is complete and get the whole thing at on time. this is much more convenient than releasing each episode individually.
May 29th, 2006 at 5:07 am
Hey, sounds great so far! Awesome story! My only suggestion is that the story would be read a tiny bit slower. Just a tad. I really like the author’s voice, though. Great stuff.
June 9th, 2006 at 7:05 am
I’ve actually had the pleasure of reading the entire Flores Girl novel and I must say that the story, while seemingly complex, is also profound. Sequentially, several clues are discovered on this island and basically trigger certain events integral to the novel. What are they? Where did they come from? What do they do? These are all questions one asks oneself while the story develops. And is it develops you are asked to embark on a journey with the main characters to find his/her own way in life. Each individual reader will have to decide what it means to them. Any way one decides to answer these questions results in profound solutions. Experience it yourself for more clarification. The end result is quite chilling, no matter what your personal solution. I highly recommend this book to all lovers of fantasy and fiction. Usually a person can’t put a good book down, but Flores Girl is the one book that won’t put YOU down.
July 3rd, 2006 at 10:45 am
The 8th file isn’t downloading properly, nor is it launching properly. What’s up?
Also, the book is very interesting. I would suggest, however, making it a bit louder in general as I have had to max my volume to hear it, this is not true of other podiobooks.com productions.
July 6th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Duncan,
I’m glad you find the book interesting and you’ll find in the upcoming chapters the pace really picks up as well. I’ll take a look for you regarding Chapter 8. Also, I’ll review the volume issue as well. What MP3 player are you using?
thanks for the feedback,
Erik Bertel
August 16th, 2006 at 11:03 am
I hope we get some new episodes soon as this is a fantastic story. However, the release pacing is faltering. Please hold in there and get some more out to us and don’t become one of those tease and release authors.
Matt
August 18th, 2006 at 9:59 am
Hang in there Matt, I got two more chapters on the way. Unfortunately, my allergies have gotten the better of me and my voice is at best marginal. I love hearing that people are following this story and I assure you that this is no tease on my part. And believe me the novel is complete and I’m work on a sequel as well.
Erik John Bertel
January 3rd, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Flores Girl looks interesting, but long gaps between episodes. I will wait until the book is (almost) finished and start then. How many planned episodes are there?
Thank you for reading us your book and making it available here.
January 8th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Geroge, I agree the pace is way too slow and I am hoping to correct that soon. A new chapter will be out the weekend of the January 13th. Also I hope to pick up the pace by knocking out a chapter a week a little later this month. Hopefully, I won’t get sick like I did last month. By the way, there are ten remaining chapters, give or take (the book is written but podcast lengths are different from regular chapters). Thanks for staying with the story.
Erik John Bertel
February 7th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Flores Girl: The Children the Author Forgot. Interesting and engaging story, funny, good thoughts abound, though a bit biased against anyone having faith in a higher power. However the episodes are released at the pace of an evolving primate. What gives?
February 8th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Elipes,
The biases against faith you are sensing are the sentiments of the two protagonists in the book who are scientists and do not reflect the opinions of the author necessarily. The book will leave all matters of faith to the individual reader just like in real life. The slow pace is due to my personal commitments at a full-time job, some issues with chronic illness and the fact that each chapter takes a minimum of 12 hours to prepare. Not enough hours in the weekend and I apologize for the slow pace. I got another hopefully ready to go this weekend. (I did like the evolution reference though!)
March 6th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
(Pertaining to Episode 17) Hehehe…this is the part where I eat my own words….
Take care.
March 29th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Erik,
I think you have a wonderful narrative voice! My suggestion is to reduce background music and/or eliminate the sound effects. I think they are not so necessary (except perhaps in between scenes or chapters). That might cut the production time a little…
March 31st, 2007 at 8:56 am
Jude,
Thanks for the feedback and I have decided to go with a compromise. To stay consistent with the previous chapters I will continue with the music but cut the volume back so that they interfere less with the narration. Let me know if that works for you in Chapter 18.
Thanks again,
Erik John Bertel
April 8th, 2007 at 8:38 am
I just wanted to let everybody know that Chapter 18 has been forwarded to Podiobooks over a week ago. Unfortunately, as you maybe aware the site has had some performance issues that the Podiobooks has been working hard to rectify. Hopefully changes will be made by April 14th and then you will be able to enjoy a new chapter of Flores Girl.
Thanks for your patience
Erik John Bertel
June 19th, 2007 at 5:31 am
Just to let everyone know there are new chapters available but there is a delay by Podiobooks in posting them. Please stay tuned.
June 27th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
New chapters have been posted. Waiting on new ones!
August 19th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Hello? Great book! Please hurry with the next chapter before I forget who’s who and what’s what.
August 20th, 2007 at 5:51 am
It’s already on its way!
October 14th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Chapter 23 will soon be posted!
October 24th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
I just listened to “The Capture” Its…..over? Please. say it isn’t so! I was so enjoying the story going to and from work!
October 25th, 2007 at 3:25 am
Despite the rumors the good news is that Chapter 23 is not, I repeat, is not the final chapter. There will be three more chapters posted to complete the book in the weeks ahead.
Erik John Bertel
October 29th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Chapter 24 is on its way!
Erik John Bertel
November 1st, 2007 at 5:30 pm
That is very good to hear!
December 29th, 2007 at 8:03 am
Chapter 25 is on the way!
Erik John Bertel
February 4th, 2008 at 6:04 am
The grand finale to Flores Girl, Chapter 26 and the Epilogue is near completion and on its way. Thanks for hanging in there!
February 13th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
And it’s over, I’m glad I hung in till the end because there were some huge gaps between the chapters. It was a good story, there were definitely some places that could have been tightened up, but it was pretty enjoyable overall.
February 14th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
wow….just finished it,…..nooooooo want more!
Now what am I gonna listen to on the drive home? Great book
February 18th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Great story. Started very very strong. Serious drop off in narrative style and content in the second half. Thank you very much for making the difficult effort to finish. You might want see where the wheels came off though.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Thanks for all of the great feedback and it goes without saying that the slow pace of the releases was a challenge for all listeners. But the novel is finally complete and I thank again all of the listeners that stayed with this story.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:35 am
Just to keep listeners in the loop I have re-recorded the first five chapters of the series. For whatever reasons, inexperience mostly, I narrated those chapters at the speed of a chipmunk on speed. The new chapters move at a more listenable pace.
The author Erik John Bertel
May 9th, 2008 at 9:27 am
We had a few issues with posting the first five re-recorded chapters but the good folks at Podiobooks have been able to come to the rescue and address the problems we were having. All should be good now.
Erik John Bertel
May 14th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
I really wanted to listen to this book, especially as I am in Indonesia at present BUT I was defeated by the music/effects and gave up half way through Chapter 5. I like the characters, the ideas and the Creationist debate and would love to know what happens. If you ever re-release it as ‘Flores Lite’ minus music etc I’ll be there waiting.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Sorry Om Jajo,
Podcasting novels is a new art form and I’m trying a different format from the other authors. Others liked the format and feel its a refreshing departure from the standard fare. However, all is not lost since there will be an eBook release of Flores Girl in the near future.
Erik John Bertel
May 20th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Thanks Erik, I look forward to reading the eBook.
June 15th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
The theme, storyline, and narration were well done. The writing could have used an editor’s touch however. I don’t know how many times the word “cretin” was used, but it was far too many. It also felt as if the author took too many trips to the thesaurus. While used correctly in most circumstances, the author’s penchant for verbosity generally curtailed the listeners’ ability to suspend disbelief.
All in all it was a good read (listen) and I look forward to future works by the author.
June 15th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
[…] can read the rest of this blog post by going to the original source, here […]
June 16th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Thanks Geoff for the critique. Regarding the gratuitous use of the word “cretin” well that is a character flaw Sarah is working through and its usage virtually disappears in the sequel. As to the verbosity of the novel, that can be attributed to a new author stretching his wings plus an unwillingness to dumb down this adventure story to the mentality level of a graphic novel. Frankly, there is a lot more going on to the story than just your usual routine murder and mayhem. Finally, I agree with you wholeheartedly regarding the need of an editor but unfortunately and unlike many fledgling authors, editors do expect to get paid for their services. Flores Girl is definitely a work in progress and will continue to evolve and improve over the next couple of years!
June 16th, 2008 at 7:56 am
[…] can read the rest of this blog post by going to the original source, here […]
July 11th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I just finished this book today, I think it took me about 2 days to finish and enjoyed the story, the ideas, the narrative very much. But, the ending left me wanting…..Unless you are setting up for a sequel, it felt like one of those hollywood movies were the producer says “It’s to long, scrap the good ending and just throw something in there fast to end the story”
I won’t say what it was about the ending that bugged me because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone coming to this book late like myself
July 12th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
David when I began writing the novel it quickly became apparent that the story and characters were taking on a direction and life of their own and consequently, one 550 page novel was not going to be sufficient to tell their entire story. This is the first of a trilogy and as the second book nears completion I guess “leaving you wanting more” is the correct sentiment I was aiming for. I struggled a bit with the end and the only correct solution would be to release the three novels one after another to help satiate the needs of the listener but unfortunately my pesky family insists on having both food and shelter so my time is somewhat limited.
That said, there are enough clues at the conclusion of the first novel to complete the narrative direction, similar I might add to what Chase did with the much maligned conclusion of the Sopranos (by the way, I was done long before that episode aired) but hell I’m the author and I should know where the story is going. All I can say is please hang in there for the arrival of the second novel, it will not disappoint.
July 19th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Erik,
That is killer news! I will sit by my computer eagerly awaiting the rest of the story for sure.
October 21st, 2008 at 8:14 pm
I am slowly getting through this story and it is great so far. The story is well read and the BGM is well done. Thanks.