Flores Girl: The Speculative Fiction Thriller
Will Soon be Available as a Free eBook For the Holidays

The Flores Girl Trilogy Story Line

Sarah finds herself clinging for life aboard a small boat that is being tossed about by a tempest in the Flores Sea . Sarah is an attractive young lady and a leading authority on the study of the great apes but she is questioning her own sanity for having taken this journey. This is one of many trips Sarah has made to assist her mentor but this trip takes wrong turn when the boat's engine dies and forcing her and her guides to seek shelter on a small, uncharted island in the Flores Sea.

As the guides repair the motor of their stranded boat, Sarah wanders off from the beach, heading to the woods to observe the local bird population. While she is sitting in the woods she suddenly feels as if she is being watched. Sarah is not easily scared, since she has spent many days alone in the wild while observing her beloved chimps and gorillas. But this experience is entirely different to her and she begins to feels a strange presence closing in about her. Then she actually hears the presence! Strange human-like voices, much like the mumbling's of the damned, begin to fill her ears coming from all directions. Sarah is terrified and paralyzed with fear as they begin to surround her. In the distance Sarah can hear the guides frantically searching for her but it is too late for rescue...

Wire Story October 28th - Scientists announce a major find on the Indonesian island of Flores where they find the remains of six hobbit-like skeletons. They are seemingly a human ancestor, but as adults they stood only three feet tall with an even smaller skull. Stranger yet, the skeletons are only 18,000 years old making Flores Man contemporary with modern man on the island. Perhaps coincidently, there is a local Flores legend told by the natives about a miniature people called the Ebu Gogo that recently inhabited the island. Flores man or Homo Floresiensis, lived with modern humans up until the arrival of the Dutch explorers in the region. (The fossil find is a factual and receives a fair amount of press coverage as the “Flores Island Hobbits” including its own CBS 60 Minutes segment “In Search of the Hobbit”). The debate about the legitimacy of the fine continues to this day with challenges from scientists such as the late Teuku Jacob. The Ebu Gogo legend lives!

Richard Staller reads the "Flores Man" announcement with great interest and concern. Richard is a handsome, young anthropologist with a robust sense of humor. Despite his intellectual talents his career has hit bottom as he loses his latest university position due to his combined lack of personal discipline, drinking and his constant womanizing. Richard has always been quick to make friends but he is even quicker to wear out his welcome with them. Richard's field of expertise is in ancient hominid DNA and when Richard reads about the Flores find he recognizes that access to the DNA samples will give him the opportunity to prove his thesis about human origins. However, without an affiliation with an accredited university Richard has to find a back door way to gain access to the Homo Floresiensis DNA.

Then Richard recalls a chance meeting with a pretty brunette at a university conference. Their meeting began as a drunken flirtation but the small, intense woman tells him about a mysterious encounter she had on an island near Flores with an unknown entity. The brunette is not swayed by Richard's charms or humor and immediately shoots down his brazen attempts to bed her. Richard recalls the episode, not just because of the bizarre conversation but when he goes to check on her credentials he astonished to discover that the pretty brunette is a well respected authority in her field of primatology. When Richard learns of the Flores discovery he quickly deduces that the eccentric brunette might know the location of the sole remaining Homo floresiensis or Ebu Gogo troop in the Indonesian area and he goes about contacting her.

In their unrelenting quest for knowledge, Sarah and Richard will unintentionally expose these innocents to the onslaught of the modern world. Moreover, while struggling with the ramifications of their find, Sarah and Richard find themselves strongly attracted to each other but they have to reconcile their own, very different personalities. In the process of discovery and befriending these ancient people, Sarah and Richard rediscover their own humanity and the opportunity to find true love.

Novel Review

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? This adventure novel is also about personal discovery and our limited opportunities for finding true love and spiritual meaning in our life's.

Many elements within the adventure novel have a strong connection with the topical issues of today ranging from Creationism, stem cell research and finally to the greed of our corporate economy. Moreover, Flores Man or the so-called Hobbit people described within the novel, were 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 ran a special on the Flores Island fossil find also called in the press "Flores Man" or Homo floresiensis.

The genre is a traditional adventure thriller with a few science fiction overtones comparable in nature with the novel "Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton. This novel combines these exploits with deeper philosophical issues as to what to it means to be a sentient being and the storyline fits comfortably in the speculative fiction genre.

Warning! The novel contains contemporary language, numerous naked Ebu Gogo, some sexual overtones and humor that some might find to be a bit raw. Additionally, there are strong elements of violence; after all it is a story about our true human nature. This is an adult book with violence, adult language and mild sexual situations. After all, this is book about human evolution and behavior and it is not a recommended book for children. Also keep in mind, this book has a complete disdain for almost all authority figures.

The Flores Girl Podcast at Podiobooks is Complete and the Sequel is on the way!

What about the sequel and the rest of the Flores Girl Trilogy? Life has a tendency to get in the way of art but the good news is I am already 530 pages into the writing of the sequel to Flores Girl. What format will the sequel come out in I'm haven't decided yet but please give me your input. I am considering a book format, perhaps another podcast or even an e-Book. Let me know what you think!

From the Author Erik John Bertel, July 20th, 2008

Copyright ©2008 - All rights reserved. Some or all of the materials on this Web site may be protected by copyright. Federal copyright law prohibits the reproduction, distribution, public performance, or public display of copyrighted materials without the express and written permission of the copyright owner, unless fair use or another exemption under copyright law applies.The author of the web site you just visited has clearly published notice of the copyright and the intention to protect the rights associated therewith. [A link from your web site to the copyrighted web page(s) is NOT an infringement upon the copyright]. The fair use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. Any other use is a violation of the laws of the United States of America.