Author's Word - Eyes in the Sky

This is the story of any major city on Earth. Only the particulars are different.

The history of Vancouver changed dramatically when the modern-day Janus Clan arrived there in early 1986. Everything that has happened since in our reality was cast in doubt.

Vancouver, like all major cities is one drenched in poverty, injustice, unrest and disarray. Major parts of it were and are a derelict Wasteland of human misery.

The area around Hastings and Main was described in Vancouver Sun in 2006 as «four blocks of hell». The DTES (Downtown Eastside) is far bigger than that.

It has turned worse, not better since 1986. The EXPO 86 made everything worse, both short term and long term, the opposite of what the instigators of the World Fair promised. The rich got richer, and the poor grew poorer. The making of the town into Hollywood North made real estate and renting prices grow insanely high, way to high for most people.

More than a thousand tenants were evicted from the SRO (Single Room Occupancy) in DTES with little or no notice. The main reason for doing that was because the landlords/owners wished to capitalize on the World Fair, and they did.

The British Columbia's Innkeeper's Act was the valid law in this instance, not the laws regulating relationships between ordinary renters and landlords.

Olaf Solheim, a Norwegian who had lived at the Patricia Hotel for decades died not much more than three weeks after being evicted.

I looked for a new city for this book. As it turned out, Vancouver was a great find, the perfect place. It was also interesting to describe it before the massive change and population growth, before it turned fully into «Hollywood North».

This isn’t and was never meant to be an accurate historical record of the events. They are one of several backdrops to the story. If you read my novel Lewis of Modern York, you will probably know what I mean.

A dinner at Carnegie Center still costs only $3.50, other meals less.

If you want to know more about Martin and Lillian, read my upcoming novel From the Ashes, a Janus Clan companion book. And also Birds Flying in the Dark, Phoenix Green Earth and the upcoming, final release in the series, The Iron Cage.

To get the explanation concerning Iris and Sandy, about Lil Lith and Tha Lama, you need to read ShadowWalk and Phoenix Green Earth, and also selected passages throughout the series. They are just as important in a way as Ted and Liz, and the reason for that is explained in full. They are present in the entire Janus Clan story, even when their presence isn’t obvious or overt.

They’re there, even when they are not.

Alien visitations on Earth is a fact. They have left so much evidence, both in the distant past and near past that there should be a consensus about it. That is also true about various human governments hiding the truth and obscuring it as best they can.

There are basically three main groups of aliens. Those looking pretty much like us and the small Gray showing a notable interest in humanity and life on Earth. And those not caring about us at all, with totally unfathomable motives. Yes, they have all been here a very long time.

I was never in doubt that I would include that in the Janus Clan mythology, and planned their appearances from the start, well over fifty years ago. They are also an essential part of the story, even if they’re only featured prominently in two books.

The intention of the book isn’t to provide proof of alien visitation, only to provide one possible scenario based on my decades-long study of the subject.

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One Sherwood Forest

2022-05-05 - 2023-10-28

Printed version complete 2024-01-26

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«In my 12 years of work as a physician in the DTES (Downtown Eastside), I never met a female patient who had not been sexually abused as a child or adolescent, nor a male who had not suffered some form of severe trauma... Addictions are attempts to escape pain».

 Gabor Maté