The Apes of Eden - The Antiquities by Jon P. Gunn (books to read in your 20s .txt) 📕

The Apes of Eden

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Jon P. Gunn

iCrew Digital Productions

Chula Vista, California

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Social Media

Acknowledgements

The Apes of Eden

Prologue and Invocation

Antiquities of Eden

Genesis

Exodus

The Fall

The Classicist

The Classicist continued

The Classicist (concluded)

The Missionaries

The Missionaries (Continued)

The Missionaries (concluded)

David and the Cyclops

About the Author

The Apes of Eden: The Journey Begins

Copyright © 2013 by Kent F. Gunn

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

iCrew Digital Productions

Website: icrewdigital.com

Email: [email protected]

First eBook Edition: September 2013

iCrew Digital Productions is an independent publisher of digital works. We support the efforts of authors who wish to self-publish in the digital realm

ISBN 978-0-9851752-0-7

Apes of Eden on the Internet

Website for The Apes of Eden

Literate Louie’s Facebook Page

Follow @LiterateLouie on Twitter

Acknowledgments

I met Jon P. Gunn through a Navy friend in 1983. He inspired me, entertained me, challenged me and then finally gave me one of the greatest gifts that I ever received, the manuscript for The Apes of Eden. He died shortly thereafter but made a solemn last request that I wait 30 years before sharing the Apes with the world. I am honoring that request by publishing The Apes of Eden as a trilogy.

iCrew Digital Productions started as a high school club at Hilltop High consisting of very talented individuals who are just now reaching the primes of their careers. iCrew was preceded by another group of students equally talented as a part of Southwest High Video Productions. iCrew continues with young, talented group of photographers at Mater Dei Catholic High School in Chula Vista. These kids are my inspiration and my family.

I would like to thank some of the many who the Apes of Eden begin their journey including Abigail Nieuwenhuis, formerly iCrew member Abby Beckner, who performed much of the editing on the Apes. iCrew Member Karin Street has provided much needed business sense and advice. Thanks to iCrew member Stacee Strickland, who pointed me to Annie Hobbs, who has created an inspiring cover that will bring in countless curious readers to the world of Literate Louie, the Scribe of the Tribe.

Special thanks to Cheryl Johnson of Skye’s the Limit Publishing for formatting the print version of The Apes of Eden. Her friendship and advice through the years have been invaluable.

And my greatest thanks to the author, who continues to inspire me. Each time I read the Apes of Eden, I learn more about him and his wonderful legacy. He was a magician with words. Let the magic continue.

Rick Lakin, Publisher

iCrew Digital Productions

The Apes of Eden

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Literate Louie, the Scribe of the Tribe

Prologue and Invocation

My present goal is briefly to describe

the mighty deeds of Eden’s famous Tribe

from high antiquity to modern times

in lucid, readable Heroic Rhymes

that nearly any member of our band

with brains between his ears, can understand.

Permit me, first, a word on scribal Style:

Traditions have been fixed for quite a while;

and I shall follow them, however it

displeases readers lacking taste and wit.

I write as Eden’s classic authors wrote.

Wherever possible, I try to quote

their golden iambs. Thus should every scribe

of Eden keep the records of the Tribe.

All tastes are not alike, I realize.

I nonetheless decline to compromise!

What compromise is possible? One type

of reader savors Art, the other, tripe.

There is no tepid "Middle Way" to go.

Like death, or pregnancy, it’s Yes or No--

You’ll either be enraptured by the terse,

majestic cadence of Heroic Verse

or else it drives you screaming up the wall.

There seems to be no neutral ground at all.

I don’t expect my work to go to waste.

We have, among us, apes of cultured taste:

the Literate Elite. I write for those.

Let lowbrows read some Scribbler’s dreary prose.

This book will fill some long-felt needs. For one,

our present tribal Archives weigh a ton.

The custom of inscribing all our lore

on chiseled slabs of stone, as heretofore,

has meant that history has put on weight

beyond my competence to estimate--

much less to carry. Nor have volunteers

come forth to share this load I’ve borne for years

through prairies, mountains, deserts, swamps and sloughs

as Eden’s Tribe it’s holy Quest pursues.

A sedentary race of stay-at-homes

is justified in storing weighty tomes,

but apes who have our quest-pursuing bent

with lighter reading ought to be content.

The land through which we travel now is rife

with deadly hazards to one’s health and life:

explosive gas from smoking fumeroles,

and dragons darting out of clefts and holes,

and winged snakes, concealed in clouds of gray

volcano smoke, to pounce upon their prey.

It’s difficult for someone to compete

unless he’s quick and agile on his feet,

and not encumbered by a heavy sack

of Literary Treasures on his back.

And if the harsh, relentless truth be told,

I’m past my prime of life: I’m getting old.

A lighter load would be a boon to me.

I’m not as nimble as I used to be.

Besides, too many "documents" we keep

are uninformative--a cumbrous heap

of sherds and fragments which cannot be read;

or commentaries, made by scribes long dead,

on writings which were subsequently lost

among the swamps and deserts we have crossed;

or whopping tales the ancient used to weave,

which now not even gaffers can believe

or myths our Senior Tribesmen have themselves

devised--of goblins, pixies, spooks and elves--

which scribes with little talent of their own

as chroniclers, immortalized in stone.

We have some archives which exist in three

or four editions, none of which agree.

Least valuable of all our books are those

in cryptic tongues no living tribesman knows.

Be sensible: Do antiquaries need

archaic texts which none of us can read?

There’s too much trash the Tribe of Eden owns

of which in vain we ask: What Mean These Stones?

The monsters we contend with, day by day,

have proven helpful, in a passive way.

The fuming pits abounding in this land

provide the chemicals with which I’ve tanned

the dragon-leather which, if bleached, makes quite

a choice material on which to write.

One modest credit more: I’m first to think

of using dragons’ soot-black blood for ink.

If all goes well, I shall present the whole

of Eden’s history on one small scroll,

in style and portability improved,

with errors and obscurities removed--

a text which may an inspiration be

to apes, throughout our future destiny,

instead of merely stirring up dissent

by giving quibblers grounds for argument.

In place of many clashing texts, I give

you one, coherent and definitive!

No “food for thought” is lost. I promise that.

I save the meat, although I trim the fat.

For this first time in many days, the view

is relatively peaceful--with a few

small winged serpents soaring in the night;

but not a single Dragon is in sight.

I’ll seize this priceless opportunity

to finish editing my History

before another troupe of monsters choose

to interrupt me. Let’s get started, Muse!

Literate Louie

Scribe of the Tribe

December, 19067

The First Book of Louie

commonly called

The Antiquities of Eden

Genesis

According to the legends of our race

the Tribe originated in a place

called Eden. It lies "east," but east of where

is now no longer known. It’s said that there

our first progenitors came down from trees

where they had ripened in the sun and breeze.

A second legend contradicts the first,

and says we fell from Heaven, roundly cursed

by worried gods who recognized that we

were latent threats to their supremacy,

and wisely chose to banish us to Hell

before they had a Great Revolt to quell.

We outmaneuvered them, and landed here

on Earth. Just how we did it isn’t clear;

the legend’s Happy Ending seems to