The Medicine Symbol by John A. Heatherly

Story is really interesting looking forward to more

 

I would love to take a look and offer feedback. PDF format would be great. Thanks in advance for all you do.

 

Thanks again to all who have responded. I look forward to our discussion of survival mental models, etc...

This particular giveaway is over for now but there is lots more material and discussion to come.

SurvivalMonkey is a fabulous place to find and develop ideas! I really appreciate the friendship and support.

 

i'd like pdf if possible, thanks.

 

The Medicine Symbol is now available at Smashwords! Those who do not have an ereader or are not familiar with Smashwords should know that the ebooks there can be downloaded in any format, to include PDF for viewing on normal computers.

The Medicine Symbol costs $1.99, as it is my goal to discuss these survival mental models in an efficient, inexpensive way. Please enjoy them and let me know what you think!

 

You can now also check out The Medicine Symbol at iTunes!

 

I wasn't sure what to expect when I got the copy from John. I hadn't yet read any of his material. It took a few pages for me to understand where he was coming from but the more I read, the more I became involved with the protaganist and his environment / situation.

I feel that one needs to have a spiritual side to get themselvs thru difficult times. I know that if I didn't have it I would find it difficult to " soldier " on when things got rough. I really appreciated that in this story.

The aspect of hearing the teachings of those who took the time to raise / mentor us when we were young, to help guide us, is a time honored technique that is universal to the human experience in all cultures. Also deciding to go to / follow the young love interest was wxactly what I would have done in that situation as someone must have something to look forward to inorder to acheive ( in this case survive ).

John, I enjoyed the story and will be purchasing your Survival Template in the very near future, once my queue of books get down to less than half a dozen, as every review I have read on it is excellent. Thanks for the copy and keep up the good work.

 

John, thank you very much for sending the book.

I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but reading the first pages, I thought "Oh boy, another swords and sorcery kinda read." Then I got to the pages with the explanations and philosophical thoughts. This kind of threw me, since my mind was into fiction mode! LOL

The book is well written and excellently edited. One thing that really gets my goat is to get a book with misspellings, errors in punctuation, etc. Part of my job involves reading and editing procedures and you'd be amazed at how many editing errors come to me in these documents, especially since they're supposedly been looked at by at least 10 folks before they get to me. This book has been well looked-at and it shows in a very positive manner.

Anywho, thanks tons for a read that actually has got me thinking. Maybe I've been reading PAW fiction too long.

Kajun

 

Gunny Highway and TXKajun - Hey thanks for the thoughtful comments. For me many of these ideas/concepts develop after some discussion. This is awesome.

Gunny - re: the spiritual side. Viktor Frankl, who spent years in a concentration camp and later wrote Man's Search for Meaning, said, "The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.” Also, "If a prisoner felt that he could no longer endure the realities of camp life, he found a way out in his mental life– an invaluable opportunity to dwell in the spiritual domain, the one that the SS were unable to destroy. Spiritual life strengthened the prisoner, helped him adapt, and
thereby improved his chances of survival.”

For me, I don't try to define "spiritual life" for other people in these stories, but I think it is worth studying individually as a survival skill.

2 other survival techniques that you mention (until you brought it up I hadn't framed it this way in my own mind): 1) "the time-honored technique of listening to mentors" - Wish I had been better at this one before now! 2) "Having something to look forward to" - Many POW's I have read about used this technique successfully for years.

Kajun - thanks for the compliments on the editing. I don't like being distracted by misspellings and errors myself.

Re: the environment and setting of the story - It is really cool to consider what happened in North America BEFORE Lewis and Clark pushed west and the Spanish pushed north into Mexico and California. I like to research what MIGHT HAVE happened in these years and then let the characters live through it. Like Stephen King said, "Fiction is the truth within the lie."

Thanks again, guys. I look forward to talking to you more.

 

Hi John,
You are a terrific writer. I really enjoyed the story/philosophy. While reading I made an image switch to Panther Paw (?) in Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. Panther Paw ultimately used the lessons that had been passed down to him from his father and those that preceded him. The warrior mentality was shown in both your hero and Panther Paw.
As an aside, I ended up chasing two rabbit trails; one for Lewis & Clark and the other for Sacagawea.
As a Christian I had to "overlook" the pagan thinking within the story. While that makes sense for a non-Christian warrior of the past it started me thinking about how my world view would mesh with the conditions the hero experienced.
While we enjoy fantasizing about our "warrior" skills or "Rambo" capabilities, the truth is there is relative safety in numbers. Also, in my case, my peer group is aged, saddled with many health issues, experienced in military matters, hunting, camping, and survival, for us we most likely would be cannon fodder of one type or another.
I would probably only get off a few rounds before being taken out or overrun. My Dear wife and I's plan is for her to get to safety while I try to buy her a few precious seconds of time to E&E.
In summary, I was glued to the story and sorry when it ended. I'd like to see how the hero gets to his tribe and survives from there.......
Regards,
GB
GO DAWGS!!

 

Hey Thanks, and GO DAWGS! You are the second person who has mentioned Apocalypto to me, so I really need to check it out.

I understand what you mean about the "non-Christian warrior of the past." My hope is that people will find the story entertaining and will be able to strengthen their own modern worldview/belief system with some of the concepts from the past. Of course, I advocate discarding concepts that don't work personally and practically as well! Yeah man - I am trying to consider how my worldview would mesh too.

Thanks for the thoughtful comments. You have got me thinking and rethinking about this stuff now.

JH

 

Well written and places you in Coes moccasins.
As always it leaves the reader wanting more.
I liked the primitive setting and the warrior mentality, very good.
thank you for your time and talent.

 

Metalsmith - thanks for the comments! Sometimes I feel like I am walking in Coe's moccasins. The next segment of his story will be out soon!

 

I don't know how I missed this offer! Doah!!!

 

Merry Christmas!!!