BEHIND THE BOOK
Backstories, character insights, and other research stuff that went into the development of my upcoming novel, PAY BACK WHAT YOU OWE.
Meet the Lead Characters…
In Hal J Finley's
Redde Quode Debes series
No records exist for a complex and dangerous past, Armel is a haunted man.
Without consultation or consent, he’s transported through time to protect a twice gifted young woman who may be the only family he’s got left…
Born to a woman sold into slavery during the1700’s, Shana (with help from her mother) escapes slavery and lives a free life, for a time, with the Mi’kmaq.
She’s the love of Armel’s life, friend to his little sister, Lettie, and confidant of Faustine, Armel’s mother.
Born to a Protestant family in Castres, France, in the 1700’s, Faustine’s sister is murdered for reasons of religion by the Inquisition, and her parents are sentenced to death. Faustine escapes to the “New World,” and starts a new life.
Faustine’s fictional character backstory was inspired by a real Protestant family living in the 1700’s in Castres, France, and persecuted by the Inquisition, then helped by Voltaire. Search – The Sirven Affair
Living in modern day Port Royal, she’s “Twice Gifted” but few have experienced her remarkable intellect because she doesn’t relate well to people, with the one exception of her beloved guardian, Uncle André. When André is brutally murdered by gangsters, a mysterious stranger saves Notté from certain death, and life for the twice gifted young woman is forever changed…
Friend to Shana, Armel, and his family. while living as a shaman with the Mi’kmaq in the 1700’s. Most of Koda’s family were murdered in Montauban, France. His back story is inspired (partly) by a real family from the 1700’s who helped build and operate a Protestant University and were killed by actions motivated by the Inquisition. Search -Jacques Boisseau Montauban/Saumur France
A pivotal character for the Redde Quod Debes series, Koda’s true identity remains a source of intrigue throughout the book, motivating Notté to ask, “You’ve all been wondering where he is, have you ever asked yourself, what he is?"
PAY BACK WHAT YOU OWE
Armel St. Louis
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Shana
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Faustine
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Notté
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Koda
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Background Notes: Acadia
Acadian history is deeply woven into the time-shifting narrative of Pay Back What You Owe.
Here are some background notes on Acadia to get up to speed.
Origin of the name “Acadia” is likely based on French settlers version of a Mi’kmaq word, "akadie" meaning abundance or place of occurrence. Back in the day, no one had time to write stuff down and if they did, the Brits usually burned it…
Most claim that Port Royal was the first permanent European settlement to be established in Canada and this claim continues to annoy the pro Viking crowd and their mead drinking buddies…
Port Royal was established by a bunch of French guys including Samuel de Champlain.
Acadians and their Horses
Port Royal
There must have also been a bunch of French and Mi’kmaq women because Acadian settlers had an exceptionally high fertility rate! Eventually the Acadian population reached ten to fifteen thousand.
Their “spruce beer” might have played a role…
Images here depict the 1645 Siege of St John and the 1758 plundering of the city of Grimross.
Grim numbers associated with “The Acadian Expulsion”:
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Between 10,000 - 12,000 Acadians were forcibly deported.
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About 5,000 Acadians died during the deportation (small pox, typhus, shipwrecks and starvation).
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Survivors were lucky if they were dumped in a distant land and abandoned. Many were sold into slavery or imprisoned.
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They were shipped to distant places, including The Thirteen Colonies, Caribbean Islands, France, and Britain.
Between 1765 and 1785, about 3,000 Acadians made their way to Louisiana and became a significant part of “Cajun Culture.”
In 1847, some guy name Longfellow published an epic poem of two (fictional) young lovers torn apart by the expulsion and their lifelong search to find one another. This famous poem (Evangeline) provides some evidence for the enduring social impact of that horrific event.
July 20, 1920, a statue of (fictional) Evangeline was unveiled at the Grand-Pré National Historic Site in Nova Scotia.
The Invasion
Statue of Evangeline
Cajun Country
Louisiana is home to Cajun Culture, and a chunk of my story (Pay Back What You Owe) occurs in “the Pelican State.”
Following the Acadian Expulsion, roughly 4,000 survivors of the expulsion ended up in Louisiana where they settled and mixed with other folks looking for a new home.
North American people (i.e. Chitimacha and Houma) some Spanish colonists, Afro-Caribbeans, Germans, and French Creoles ended up in Louisiana (in the same general time frame) looking for shelter from a troubled world.
This large scale mixing of people gave birth to Cajun culture and provides an exotic location for a few sci-fi action adventure chapters…
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Legends and Lost Treasure
The legend of the Seven Lost Cities of Gold, AKA the Seven Cities of Cíbola (a fabled city made of gold) is the inspiration for one of the stories told by a character in my novel.
The legend is based on an 8th-century Iberian tale which claimed that seven Christian bishops escaped the conquest of Hispania in 712 AD and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to establish seven golden cities on a mythical island.
Over centuries of retelling, the legendary golden cities found themselves lost (ha ha) somewhere in continental North America.
During the 1500s, the myth was revived by surviving sailors from the failed Narváez expedition.
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Álvar Núńez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer, conquistador and storyteller extraordinaire.
He survived the failed Naváez expedition then returned to Spain telling stories of great wealth among indigenous towns, providing new life to the old legend of the Seven Lost Cities of Gold…
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The Ancient Mesopotamian Epic Poem
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamian poem I stumbled across while researching my novel, Pay Back What You Owe.
The story of Gilgamesh is thought by some scholars, to be the world's oldest example (approximately 4,000 years old) of narrative literature.
No single document (clay tablets) containing the entire poem/narrative have been discovered but thousands of broken clay tablets containing partial records have been recovered then studied, resulting in renewed interest within scholastic circles which quietly filtered its way (back) into middle eastern culture and beyond.
The story of Gilgamesh is both simple and deceptively complex evolving around two men,
Gilgamesh, King of Uruk (an ancient Sumerian city-state) and Enkidu, a wild man with a mission from the gods to stop Gilgamesh from oppressing his people. I’ll not dive (any further) into the storyline but if you’re interested, search – Epic of Gilgamesh, it’s a worthwhile rabbit hole.
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Some scholars and others with no particular claim to fame, consider The Epic of Gilgamesh to be influential in literature through the ages including the Hebrew Bible (i.e. - the Great Flood), Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey, Dead Sea Scrolls and several prominent modern day novels (i.e. - The Great American Novel by Phillip K Roth - 1973).
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, this ancient story has, quietly, impacted your formative years and continues to influence today, through classic and modern media.
Montauban and Castres
You must pay close attention to the backstories for Faustine and Koda to get the connection to these towns, but it’s there and if you miss it, I recommend you book yourself on a flight to France and check them out for yourself.
Montauban and Castres are small cities located in southwest France, about 90 kilometers apart. They’ve both been designated as Cities of Art and History in recognition of their famous architecture and picturesque riverfronts.
These two remarkable cities provide back stories for two characters in my book.
Two real families from centuries ago, lived and died in these cities and now, their stories are blended with fiction, adding a new (fictional) chapter to their remarkable lives.
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