THE NINE LORDS OF THE NIGHT
By: E.C. Gibson
Embella, Inc.
2002 (e-book)
E.C. Gibson’s The Nine Lords of the Night is a lengthy (500+
pages) archaeology thriller that follows the adventures of several young
Harvard doctoral students through a thicket of intrigue that takes one or
more of them from the ivy-covered environs of Harvard to Florida to
Belize, Guatemala and Chiapas State in Mexico. Against a background of the
Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas in 1993 and 1994, the young archaeologists
face a brutal band of antiquities smugglers whose tentacles stretch back
to the hallowed ground of Harvard Yard. He artfully weaves throughout the
story the brooding presence of the ancient gods of the Mayan peoples,
particularly the Nine Lords of the Night, who rule Xibalba, the Mayan
underworld.
Gibson is a Ph.D. anthropologist from Harvard with excavation
experience in Central America, France, Polynesia and North America. His
technical expertise in archaeology is evident throughout the story, albeit
in prose that is sometimes rather wooden. His descriptions of various
locales are vivid and true to life, whether it be Cambridge,
Massachusetts, or its working class and student affordable sister city,
Somerville, or more exotic environs like Belize or archaeological sites
like Yaxchilan in Chiapas State or Tikal in Guatemala.
As indicated above, this is an "e-book," and the first that I’ve
purchased or read. The book is published, if that’s the correct term, by
Embella, Inc., a "broadband content publishing company delivering
private label rich-media content, applications and simulations through a
sophisticated Web services platform." I’m not certain what all (or
any) of that means, but I was able to purchase the e-book for $9.99
(charged to my credit card) and I then received instructions on how to
access it. One can apparently download the book to a palm pilot, or
similar electronic device, but one cannot print it out to hardcopy. I have
only a desktop computer so this meant I would not be reading Nine Lords
in bed just before going to sleep! Because the story is a good one,
reasonably well written and fast-paced, I could keep at it despite the
inconvenience (for me) of reading it off a computer screen. From my neo-Luddite
perspective, I do not think the printed book (hardcover or paperback) is
yet in danger of extinction because of the existence of e-books!
Interested individuals may get more information on purchasing their own
copy of Nine Lords by going to the website: http://www.ninelords.com.
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