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    The Family Tree
    The Family Tree
    The Family Tree
    Ebook20 pages16 minutes

    The Family Tree

    By Gary Kuyper

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This prize-winning (Nova Short Story Competition) adult fantasy tale has an intriguing mixture of bright hopes and light humor blended with subtle shadows and mysterious dark overtones.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGary Kuyper
    Release dateJan 9, 2018
    ISBN9781370513536
    The Family Tree
    Author

    Gary Kuyper

    Gary Kuyper began his professional literary career writing self-help and general interest articles for Daan Retief Publishers who produced a monthly book for their woman’s club called Woman’s Forum. These articles would sometimes require research and had titles as diverse as The Human Brain and Body Painting!Being a professional photographer on a part-time basis Gary has also managed to have his articles on photography (With accompanying photographs) published in books and magazines. He has also done some free-lance photography and photojournalism projects for numerous local newspapers.Over the past four years he has constantly managed to be one of the top finalists in the Nova Short Story Competition (A competition for budding writers of science fiction and/or fantasy).Last year (2009) Gary had the pleasure of seeing The Devil's Little Tadpoles grace the pages of the local SF & Fantasy Fanzine Probe.He is an avid film buff and amateur film maker. A few years ago I managed to take first prize in the SA Ten Best Film Makers Competition with a short film entitled The Crimson Cobra - An action-packed martial arts / superhero movie using some of the very talented local artists.He is a qualified prosthetics make-up artist and has used this talent on both amateur and professional productions. He has also appeared on television in a youth program especially made for enlightening people in the art of special effects make-up.Gary has a rather excellent general knowledge being not only an avid writer but reader of any material that is able to stimulate him cerebrally.He taught himself Adobe Photoshop and has become adapt and proficient enough at utilizing the software to such a degree that he has managed to sell a number of creations to various institutes and organizations. He is particularly fond of a logo designed for the Krazy Mug Coffee Shop and several covers that have graced the front of Probe.Gary has a vast knowledge of music and has appeared on the local Television Music Quiz Show Note for Note where he was able to win a substantial amount of prize money.In 2008 he entered the SF / Fantasy Mini Radio Play Competition and took first prize with his The Adventures of Captain Max Power of the Intergalactic Police - an obvious homage to the early Flash Gordon radio series’. A number of skilled professionals are now planning to produce Max to CD and have it aired on a local radio station (SAfm).All his literary and photojournalistic accomplishments have been done on a part-time basis due to the fact that his full time career is lecturing mathematics as well as engineering science at a Technical College. Although this is a most fulfilling profession, it has long been Gary's ideal to become a full-time writer – especially of fantasy, science fiction and horror novels.He has recently published his first full-length fantasy novel - The Chronicles of Baltrath: The DARK WIZARDS.As a considerable amount of time and effort has been expended in building the world of Baltrath, Gary has begun work on a sequel to The Dark Wizards.

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      Book preview

      The Family Tree - Gary Kuyper

      This is a first edition

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author

      Copyright © 2018

      Smashwords Edition

      # # #

      The Family Tree

      by

      Gary Kuyper

      Prologue

      On hot sweltering days Tilia would sit on its shady side; on cold miserable days against the bright mossless side where it protected her from the chilly winter breezes. With her back against its tall proud sturdy trunk she would recite aloud from the books that she brought along. Whenever she read a melancholy tale the wind would resonate mournfully through the leaves and branches that swayed high above her head.

      The tree stood in a circular clearing. She had learned to tell time by its molasses shadow that seeped across the rich earth – it was a beautiful and magnificent sundial. When its edge touched the grassy knoll she would spread out her crimson shawl on the ground and partake of a meager midday meal. When its rim touched, always too soon, the anemic boulder near the edge of the clearing she would sigh sadly. It was a long walk back to the

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