Supercharge "Sacred Trust" the Book

Help us supercharge the completion and publication of a novel with a mission to challenge a private high voltage powerline.

“Within minutes of the inauguration of Donald Trump as President all trace of information about climate change was removed from the White House Website.” ~ Canadian Broadcasting Company.

Hi I’m Wayne King the author of "Sacred Trust".

This crowdfunding campaign is a little different than most you have been asked to support. I’m going to use the time in this introductory message to tell you how and why.


Sacred Trust is a work of fiction that I have been writing for over a year now about a group of unlikely compatriots who find themselves unexpectedly camping together at a spot on Lake Umbagog on the border of New Hampshire and Maine.  The site is said to have been frequented by the Indian medicine woman Moll Ockett in the early days of the American Republic. Moll Ockett divided her time between the various tribes of the region and the white world. She was the consumate example of a woman with her feet in both worlds but her love for the wild continued to dominate her life and travels.


The compatriots soon discover that they have one very important thing in common  - a passionate opposition to a proposed private power transmission project to transport electricity from the massive hydro-complexes of Canada to the toney suburbs of Boston, New York, Connecticut, Philadelphia and Washington DC.


Sound Familiar?

That’s because it is a story that is being played out - not just in New Hampshire - but all over the country. Most recently, as it burns beneath the surface here in New Hampshire, the fire has erupted in the Dakota Pipeline Protests, and it smolders in many other parts of the country where Utility companies are gathering investors to build monolithic transmission systems intended to secure their place in an energy future that is very rapidly transitioning away from them.

The election of Donald Trump as the 45th President has made the matter all the more urgent. According to the New York Times and the CBC within minutes of Donald Trump’s inauguration all reference to climate change was wiped from the White House Website.

The forces aligned to turn back the clock on our progress and the Climate Change deniers now control the oval office and the Congress and New Hampshire’s governorship. If we don’t push back NOW - and push back hard - they will stall our efforts for the next decade and perhaps irreversibly harm efforts to stem the warming of the planet.

The threat to the environment and the scenic beauty are only the tip of an iceberg that includes the value of homes, farms and businesses built by generations of men and women in this hardscrabble land. Already affecting life for many caught up in the mere shadow of this proposed transmission line, Granite Skyway poses an existential threat to an entire way of life.

Determined to do more than shuffle papers and employ lawyers, the compatriots form a band of brothers and sisters (along with a timberwolf named Cochise and a moose named Metallak) calling themselves "The Trust". they vow to actively oppose the Granite Skyway by all peaceful means - including  a willingness to push the boundaries of opposition to stop it.  Armed with only their wits - and a lot of heart - they embark on a campaign of civil disobedience that would make Thoreau, Alinsky and Dr. King proud.

Along the way, there will be a lot of soul searching about power, energy, smart grids, climate change and our obligations to place and to the planet.

The book employs the device of asking real experts in various aspects of this issue to play the role of Gazetteers,  writing essays ostensibly in support of our heroes, but speaking to the issues of climate change, smart grids, decentralized energy production, the sustainability of large scale hydro etc.. It is my hope that this will make this work of fiction a useful tool for classrooms, discussion groups, book groups and others.

We’ll also confront the questions of how America can continue to make an honored space for free speech and civil disobedience in an era of terror; how social media can help create accountability in an increasingly corporatized mega-media landscape; and, how citizens can challenge the corporate oligarchies that threaten our planet's future.

As I have said, I have been working on this book for more than a year. Now I can keep writing as I have been and then begin the process of trying to find a publisher and possibly be finished in another year or two. But if I wait that long, many of the decisions that are to be made - will be made and it will be too late to have an impact on the debate, or the decision.  


I’m asking you to help me super-charge the process of finishing and publishing the book - including possibly self-publishing it initially. Permitting me to finish the book within the next few months.

Your help will give me the time to commission help finding a publisher or a self-publishing resource and to begin to get the word out on the book. At the same time it will allow me to continue to follow our heroes along a long and heartstopping journey employing civil disobedience, a sense of humor and a whole lot of imagination and heart to try and stop the transmission project.

Now I don’t delude myself into thinking that this book will turn the tide. It is only a stone thrown into the pond seeking to create a ripple. But as Bobby Kennedy said those ripples can “build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

Despite the fact that the storyline of this book is a work of fiction, the issues raised within the book are real and compelling.  I believe that will make this book a resource that can be used in the classroom, and in other forums for discussion around these issues. It is the classic example of how art can be employed to catalyze change.

I am willing to set aside everything else for the next few months in order to finish the book and to insert it into the debate as I do.

I estimate that we we’ll need between $10,000 and $15,000 to do this. Including the cost of having real experts contribute essays on everything from climate change to economics that will be folded into the story through the devise of the Gazatteers essays..

If we are very fortunate and we are able to raise more I will put it directly into marketing the book and spurring the debate between massive transmission lines and pipelines that mar the land and smart grids and microgrids, laterally scaled to create more than enough power without selling our landscape, our security or our planet in the process.

I’m asking for your help. No contribution is too small and all will be appreciated.

You can also help by sharing the campaign with your friends and contacts and asking them to do the same.

Members of the media are saying that this battle is over. I am saying, in the immortal words of John Paul Jones -  we have not yet begun to fight!

Below is a list of perks we are offering for your help. You can receive the first 6 chapters of "Sacred Trust" at no cost by signing up for the mailing list at the address at the bottom of this page.

Perks

Chapter One Perks
Contribute $1-$9.00 and receive a  Big "Thank You" and a listing on the Sacred Trust facebook page.

Chapter Two Perks
Contribute $10- $24 and receive a digital copy of Sacred Trust delivered to your in-box.

Chapter Three Perks
Contribute $25-$74 and receive a listing in the books addenda entitled People Who Made This Book possible

Chapter Four Perks
Contribute  $75 - $99 and receive select chapters by email soliciting your input and ideas


Chapter Five Perks
Contribute $100-$249 and receive Chapter 1-4 perks and a signed print of “Ripple of Hope” 15”x 23” fine art poster by Wayne King and a thank you in the front acknowledgements as well as a hard copy of Sacred Trust

Chapter Six Perks
Contribute $250-499 and receive Chapter 1-5 perks
plus your name used for a character in the book - one of the people our heroes meet along the way.

Chapter Seven Perks
Contribute  $500-$999 and receive Chapter 1-6 perks and Your name used for a bad guy!

Chapter Eight Perks
Contribute  $1,000 - $10,000 and receive Chapter 1-7 perks and your name used for a heroic figure.



Sign up for the Sacred Trust mailing list and receive the first 6 chapters of the book in your in-box. We'll also send you emails with updates from time to time and we get closer to completion.

Join the email list and receive updates and occasional snippets from the book.

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