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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).
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