The Matriarch Matrix

Book excerpt: The Matriarch is an epic bridging the saga of a pre-neolithic family with their descendants in modern day. The novel is composed of a number of interwoven stories across different time periods.Set in 2021, the two principal characters have genetic and behavior links to a pre-neolithic matriarchal family who find an object which brings to them a guiding monotheistic voice. Their saga spans a millennia tracing from the Crimea to the 12,000 year old temple of Gobekli Tepe at the border of modern day Turkey and Syria, the middle of the next world war in 2021. A yin-yang relationship builds in modern day between a strong determined Kurdish woman of deep faith, Zara, and an atheistic alien believing naive editor from California, Peter, whose clashes are moderated by a former Catholic priest.A series of oral traditions and family artifacts brings these three culturally and religiously diverse people together to solve the 12,000 year old mystery of an object which spawned a faith which could bring peace or destruction to their times. The principal female characters of 9600 BCE, Nanshe, and 2021, Zara, are both survivors of capture and sexual slavery by brutal patriarchal forces of their times. Nanshe¿s story follows how through faith and determination she rebuilt herself and her family from her captivity, which ultimately provides Zara a vision of her way of rebuilding herself fully in the midst of impending chaos in her world.