The Rudder of Nome delivers insulin to diabetics by way of dog sled
The Rudder of Nome: Fur Journey
by Sage Sweetwater (novel now in progress)
The Rudder of Nome, like all mushers that live in communities along the Yukon, uses her sled dogs for transportation. The nineteen-year-old musher is hurt hard by the collapse of the salmon run. She relies heavily upon her sled dogs to deliver insulin to diabetics who depend on her and the dogs.
The Iditarod, the dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome, a 1,150-mile grueling journey, had its beginning in 1925 when dogsled teams were involved in a life-saving effort when a deadly diphtheria epidemic raged in Nome and there was no way to get serum from Anchorage to Nome. The mushers carried the serum to Nome in a remarkable six days. Nowadays, it's the epidemic of diabetes.
What's going on elsewhere in the world with the oracle bones is the divining of when or if the salmon will come at all. The fall run of the dog salmon did not arrive. The sled dogs are being euthanized because the chum salmon dubbed dog salmon are needed for their diet, their primary food source.
The Rudder of Nome grew up with sled dogs. She takes that knowledge on the trail with her when riding her one-of-a-kind dog sled with an awesome rudder, an airfoil, savvy enough to straddle two worlds, that of nurse and that of musher. She's a young woman who's found her place in the world, now if the salmon will just cooperate.
The matriarch soothsayer of Norton Sound has called upon the oracle bones. She possesses an amazing body of knowledge of reading the future through the charred scapulas, shoulder bones of the caribou. "As one who speaks of a living thing, nothing sure can be known about it. The salmon belong to everyone in equal measure, animals and humans. It's feast and famine, life and death."
"Will the dog salmon be coming?" the Rudder of Nome asks.
"Science and hydroelectric dams say what's taken them off the hook, and the oracle bones say what's going to put them back on the hook," the matriarch soothsayer of Norton Sound says.
If the salmon do not arrive, scores of sled dogs will have to be euthanized and scores of diabetics may die.
Authors note: This novel is now in progress. I work on it in between answering all of my fan email, marketing, connecting with my audience, and reviewing my galleys of my next novel out sent to me by my editor.
Impressive, Sage. But you never are tentative. So this is good as always. Love and peace.
Regis
Reviewed by Tracey L. O' Very
10/13/2005
This sounds like a very exciting and heart touching story. can't wait to read it. The picture is so awesome Really beautiful.
Thanks! and hurry up! Being an animal lover though I hope the dogs survive and not sacrificed.
Tracey xoox(c :)
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