The killer and whale story at the very beginning

Use this forum to discuss the February 2022 Book of the month Totem: (Strong Heart #3) by Charlie Sheldon
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The killer and whale story at the very beginning

Post by Charlie Sheldon »

The story Myra tells Sarah at the very start of Totem is taken from the first book in the series, Strong Heart, which takes place the summer before Totem begins. What does this story reveal about the series?
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Post by Timothy Rucinski »

I've just started reading the book, but I devoured the first two books in the series. If the first two books are any indication and based on the story Myra tells at the beginning, this book will be filled with Native American references to the creation of the people of the land, living off the land in consort with other living creatures, and the intriguing mystical themes that filled the previous two novels. It also provides a snippet of a revelation about how much Sarah has gravitated toward the community, in addition to becoming the embodiment of the mystic culture of her forebearers.
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Post by Susan Kihleng »

I'm just getting started with Strong Heart so I haven't started Totem yet. Do you think it's necessary to read this series in order? Would it matter if I read Totem first?
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Post by Verna Coy »

Charlie Sheldon wrote: 02 Feb 2022, 10:10 The story Myra tells Sarah at the very start of Totem is taken from the first book in the series, Strong Heart, which takes place the summer before Totem begins. What does this story reveal about the series?
For me, it reveals that the author is a 'holder of stories,' and that this series may just be one of many stories that are possible in time.
It also reveals that this series was born out of old legend and stories that have been carried down through the histories of the northern peoples.
Great job!
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Post by Charlie Sheldon »

I wrote the books to be stand alone tales, and have had enough readers start with, say Adrift or Totem, and then they go back to read the first two, usually. Of course, it is best to read the books in order to fully experience how the characters and events start and grow, and how the books are linked, separate but telling one grand story. When I started writing the first one, Strong Heart, in 2013, I had no idea or sense this might be a series. None. A series, at least to me, is both good and terrible - good because you can play with many characters and complex story lines, but terrible because you are then trapped in the series, and must decide how to finish, how many books to write. When I started writing Strong Heart I used the story frame Conrad uses in Heart of Darkness - he had a group of men meet at a pilot boat and then while waiting for the tide to turn to go out to the ship one of the people, I think it was Marlowe, told the story of Kurtz and the Heart of Darkness. I love that sort of frame, stories in stories, so in my initial draft I had a lifeboat crashing ashore up on Haida Gwaii off British Columbia and the trapped sailors, in winter, marooned, unable to cross the mountains to the one known settlement far away until the weather broke,. forced to hunker down in shelter. The mate asks one of the characters, William, who is a sailor from the ship the lifeboat came from, and who was born on Haida Gwaii years before before being sent away to a government school to become like a white man, then running away to the states, to tell the others a story to keep them sane. That was my frame, but when I finished the book the tale seemed too long and so I simplified it, removed the frame and just told the story William told as a tale itself, Strong Heart. But I had all these chapters about this lifeboat and sailors and storms and after finishing Strong Heart thought, well, what about this lifeboat? Where did it come from? What happened to the ship? What happened to the other sailors? So that was when the series began, as I built those chapters into Adrift, which became the second story, happening about four or five months after the first. The third tale, Totem, is really two books in one, and I debated long about how long to make the series, and in the end decided I wanted a trilogy, something long, one grand tale, but not endless, and hope the readers will agree. In the end of course, all that is important is that the reader, in the best case, fall into the book, be there, in it, whatever order the tales are read.
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Post by J Edwards »

Charlie Sheldon wrote: 03 Feb 2022, 22:39 I wrote the books to be stand alone tales, and have had enough readers start with, say Adrift or Totem, and then they go back to read the first two, usually. Of course, it is best to read the books in order to fully experience how the characters and events start and grow, and how the books are linked, separate but telling one grand story. When I started writing the first one, Strong Heart, in 2013, I had no idea or sense this might be a series. None. A series, at least to me, is both good and terrible - good because you can play with many characters and complex story lines, but terrible because you are then trapped in the series, and must decide how to finish, how many books to write. When I started writing Strong Heart I used the story frame Conrad uses in Heart of Darkness - he had a group of men meet at a pilot boat and then while waiting for the tide to turn to go out to the ship one of the people, I think it was Marlowe, told the story of Kurtz and the Heart of Darkness. I love that sort of frame, stories in stories, so in my initial draft I had a lifeboat crashing ashore up on Haida Gwaii off British Columbia and the trapped sailors, in winter, marooned, unable to cross the mountains to the one known settlement far away until the weather broke,. forced to hunker down in shelter. The mate asks one of the characters, William, who is a sailor from the ship the lifeboat came from, and who was born on Haida Gwaii years before before being sent away to a government school to become like a white man, then running away to the states, to tell the others a story to keep them sane. That was my frame, but when I finished the book the tale seemed too long and so I simplified it, removed the frame and just told the story William told as a tale itself, Strong Heart. But I had all these chapters about this lifeboat and sailors and storms and after finishing Strong Heart thought, well, what about this lifeboat? Where did it come from? What happened to the ship? What happened to the other sailors? So that was when the series began, as I built those chapters into Adrift, which became the second story, happening about four or five months after the first. The third tale, Totem, is really two books in one, and I debated long about how long to make the series, and in the end decided I wanted a trilogy, something long, one grand tale, but not endless, and hope the readers will agree. In the end of course, all that is important is that the reader, in the best case, fall into the book, be there, in it, whatever order the tales are read.
I think I understand your explanation that all the books in this series are stand alone. I say this because I have not read the previous two books, especially where the tale of the the whale is relevant . I am an avid reader and I have previously read books by this author and this is what made me jump at the opportunity to sample this work of a genius writer.
:character-bart:
“We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.”

French novelist Marcel Proust.
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Post by Larissa Sawers »

I read the first book and this one. I will read Adrift soon. I think I understand, it was another connecting point. All the stories can stand on their own, but when they are together you get a larger picture. The story from book one didn't feel unfinished, but it has more depth when it was expanded on in book three. I can't wait to see Adrift ties everything together.
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Post by Uchechukwu Fortune Njoku »

It's good to know that Totem is a standalone book as I haven't read the previous books in the series. I am just getting started, and it's already super interesting.
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Post by Precious Amarachi Nzeakor »

Since I haven't read the other books, I can't for sure if this should representation of some story or be an entity of it's own. Hopefully, as I go on, I'll be able to connect the dots between all books.
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Post by Janelydia Mwangi »

Myra uses mythology to retell their people's origin through the bear which caught fish and fought over the same with the female killer whale but they reconciled fell in love married and bore children who were neither of the parents. This reveals that they are a tribe that originated from war and marriage across tribes. When Sarah explains about her vision of the bear she is told that it could have been her gift meaning perhaps her destiny.
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Post by Vidhi Adhikari »

I am not quite sure about the significance of the totem story in the beginning. But it might be mentioned to mirror the current predicament of the protagonist and also give a hint about her supernatural powers which are revealed eventually.
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Post by Susan Mcleod »

I have just started reading this book. It sounds like it is going to be very interesting as I have a background in Native American and can remember being told about different stories. It was interesting how she told her granddaughter the story about the whale and the bear. These two animals are going to have a different meaning as I further read the book. Native Americans have a way of telling stories so as to make it more interesting in traditions. It could be the white man coming to the territory that belonged to the Native Americans and they both learning a skill, falling in love, marrying and having a family.
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Post by peace_m »

Yes I know in the beginning of Totem, Myra told Sarah a story. Despite been likened to Strong Heart, I still think the trilogy is a standalone book. I think the story reveals the Northern history.
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Post by Kira Bonita Reece »

I think because the author meant the book to be a standalone read, he shares the whale story for those who haven't read the first two books.
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Post by Danielle Briggs »

I honestly had no idea the story was taken from the first book since I read Totem as a standalone. Even though I am unable to make the connection to the other books, I think the story gives us the initial beginning of the native people present within the book. It also provides a foreshadowing to the journey of the native people to find land that is not taken over by bears and other dangerous animals.
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