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Paradigm Lost: Jamari and the Manhood Rites, The Founder's Sons: Part III of the Jamari and the Manhood Rites Trilogy Kindle Edition

4.1 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

A forest paradise surrounded by lands gutted from corporate greed. One tribe holds the hope of a new future for mankind. One young man becomes paramount in bringing human spirituality to a hostile world. But first, he must find himself.

In this culmination of an adventure that spans the life of a boy becoming a powerful man, a love story that spans more than a lifetime is revealed.

Follow Jamari as he recovers from a stunning loss and begins to rebuild a powerful self after almost losing himself to godhood. Does he relish or regret the effort his mentors put into bringing his wandering spirit back into the mortal realm?

Wait, back to the mortal realm? When did he leave? THAT's the story!

Built on a foundation of Shamanism, Druidry, Celtic lore and Gnostic Christianity, this is a journey of the soul.

In the world of 2115, nearly 100 years after the Pacific Rim erupted in a series of quakes, The Tribe remains the Pacific Northwest's best hope of survival. Promoting peace, harmony, and the sharing of resources, The Tribe yet maintains a ferocious ability to defend itself from outsiders and wildlings. The Elk Creek Tribe, located near the town of Yoncalla, in Southwest Oregon, is the strongest civilization remaining in the region that has been long-abandoned by the mega-corps who decided that the sparse lands weren't viable investments to rebuild roads and infrastructure to bring back into the fold.

The Tribe has defied all reason and logic, building a culture and a community that not just survives, but thrives, on the isolation, learning to live closer to the land, honoring the land and animals in return. Jamari has encountered spirit animals before, having earned two totems that have been recognized as his very own link to the Great Spirit. Over all, Eagle has visited him and marked him as His own.

He has to go on a frightening quest in order to satisfy a driving Vision. His friends, teachers and mentors guide him through this portion of his journey, building relationships that will span all time.

Jamari has been traveling Tribal Lands for two years in his quest to master the Manhood Rites and become a full citizen of the Elk Creek Tribe. It's now 2117 and he's getting his first views of the outer world. The outer world has been described as rapacious and vicious but, that information has not prepared him for what can happen when his world becomes the target of the Mega Corps who rule those other lands and governments. They've exhausted Oregon's resources and now they're setting eyes on the forest lands the Tribe has managed for over 100 years.

Along with threats and incursions from outside, Jamari is battling to understand why he disagrees with some major ethos of his own Tribe. His Shamanistic talents are growing and he's becoming a reluctant legend within the Tribe. Hints of a top spot in Tribal Management and control are battling with growing internal unrest as he realizes just how big the changes the Tribe must make really are.

Can he earn the position that seems so readily his? Can he use it to make changes to better the Tribe? Can he gather the courage to let God fully enter into his corporeal body? What will he become if he does?

The series, Paradigm Lost: Jamari and the Manhood Rites, in addition to developing the character Jamari, the character and culture of the Elk Creek Tribe, and human spirituality, also shares some new views and explorations into the most valuable and spiritual element of all: human sexuality. Though there are a few scenes which suggest such activity, none are explicit. One scene though, captures the spirit of the entire work and defines the future of his Tribe.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Paradigm Lost: The Founder's Sonsbook review by Michael Radon"He had remembered enough of his long spirit sojourn over the last year to recognize his visions were indeed calls for him to act."The Jamari and the Manhood Rites Trilogy concludes in this third and final installment which resumes after the action and heartache of Paradigm Lost: Jamari Shaman. After a skirmish between the Elk Creek Tribe and the Outsiders, Jamari performs a funeral service for his friend and lover. When the Eagle Spirit surprises all present and accepts Jamari's offering, it takes a piece of his spirit with him, leaving Jamari depressed, reckless, and detached from the world around him as he struggles to recover from the loss. The Elders notice and decide to intervene, accompanying him on a journey to the site where the separation occurred in order to rejoin Jamari with his missing soul. While in the spirit realm, Jamari begins to eavesdrop on the communications of the forests, listening to conversations of the trees, and relaying a prophecy of interconnectedness that haunts his thoughts.As Jamari re-acquaints himself with the Other World, other transitions are happening in the physical plane, as he is being considered by his peers as both the next Knight Shaman and the chief of the tribe. An encounter with mega-corporations that have survived the cataclysmic Fall leads Jamari and the Knight Shaman Terry to represent their tribe in court to protect their tribal lands from being mined and harvested of all their resources and life energy. The two sides head to battle both within the courts and directly in order to determine the future and the fate of the Elk Creek Tribe. Jamari's power continues to grow within himself and within the dynamic of the tribe, while he must answer questions from within about the history of his people and the reality of where they fall in the natural order of God's world.Readers familiar with the series already will be well familiar with its blend of several religious and spiritual backgrounds, from shamanism and Christianity as well as Native American and Celtic cultures. Much of the world-building of the previous books shows the wisdom of The Founder in taking a horrifying, world-changing event and using it as an opportunity to undo cultural norms and reshape a small piece of society in an image that he believes is a smarter way forward. Without retreading too much of what has already been said about Rowe's earlier books in the series, what makes this installment compelling to read is where it tasks Jamari with understanding the motivations of those who reflect our current real-world society and his questions with the culture that he as a character has grown in. This dichotomy of values allows the reader to actively contrast their own feelings not just about the subject matter of the book but about what principles drive them personally.There is a great deal of creativity in the narrative of this book, but also a very learned perspective from the author, which he reveals to the reader in a bibliography at the end--a rare occurrence in a work of fiction--which draws inspiration from sources as varied as Don Miguel Ruiz and Peter Wohlleben to Robert Heinlein and Orson Scott Card. That intersection of imagination and academics produces in both this book and the whole trilogy a simultaneously thought-provoking and entertaining narrative that covers a lot of storytelling ground. More than just the story of Jamari's coming-of-age, more than simply a post-apocalyptic tale of rebuilding society and living off the land, this story is both intensely spiritual and intensely human, acknowledging the necessity of keeping both in balance in order to live an ideal life. Readers of this book will find a wealth of surprises as it examines the potential of a planet rocked by natural disasters, a society embracing homonormativity, and a deeper connection with the flora, fauna, and deities that make up our world.- US Review of Books

From the Author

I've debated with 'self' about what I could or should say here as the final installment of the Manhood Rites Trilogy comes to a close. There are other places where I describe the books and convey the basics of the story that's being played out. So, I'm going to go out on a limb with this area. I'm going to tell you what this series has come to mean to me. What it has taught me about myself and my spirit and my personal spirituality: my relationship with God.I had my first inkling of the series years ago. It started with a very vivid dream. I woke up remembering nearly every detail and somehow seemed to know the basics of the entire trilogy after that one night's dream. I put off writing it down. I was busy. I was distracted. I was not the author of any novel. All the things I was not, had me put it off. Then I dreamed the dream again. And again. And again. The characters seemed to come to life in my sleeping thoughts and I eventually began to think of them while awake. 'What if this one were to do that?' I would ask myself. 'What if ..." a lot of things. And still I put it off. This dream was with me for four years before I wrote a single word of it out.The first two books were written almost entirely to set up this final volume. And yet, folks who have read only the final volume tell me that it stands alone very nicely. There is great personal growth of the title character from the very first word of the first novel. The growth began to accelerate in Jamari Shaman and is more readily described of as 'exponential' in the final volume. Jamari is the focus of a world-changing view and sequence of events. As those final words were forming in the first draft I realized that I was missing something. I knew the characters, the series of actions and events, yet I didn't have any names for some important concepts. I surmised that I wouldn't be the first person to have ever written about this topic. So I began to research (a little late in the game, but what can I say?). I started with "The Celestine Prophecy" by James Redfield. I promise I had already written this novel before I read that work! I moved on to "The Winter Solstice" by John Matthews. That began to give me names for some of the seasonal celebrations of the Elk Creek Tribe. I was still missing some key names though, so I went searching on Google. Is it common that Google is a last-resort reference? What I found there literally frightened me. I was raised up Christian. I remember my first ever Vacation Bible School was when I was 5. That was a Seventh Day Adventist. The next time I was sent of to another Vacation Bible School, I was seven. This one was Assembly of God. The next most important childhood imprinting was at a two week church camp that the Assembly of God sponsored me for, at age 11. Fire and Brimstone are very real things to me! I bring this up because of what I found in my research. The 'spirits' I was looking to name had real names from a very long time ago. Cernunnos was one. The horned god. Pan was one. Another horned god. And there was also Hermes the Hunter. And there was a Faun as well. I had been very briefly introduced to the concept of these occult legends and had dismissed them as superstition and the products of an evil time left long in the past. It's important to note that I'm not writing fiction as I write this note. These entities populated the dreams of my main character because they populated my dreams for so many years! I had someone who I respected a great deal who I shared my fears with as I was learning what the 'names' were for the phantasms of my dreams. I shared my fear as I learned. I shared my concern that this was something trying very hard to express itself through me. I nearly rejected the entire story line, the fear was so strong. Before I did that, I decided to research a bit more. I looked into the Gnostic texts. I can't say that they justified the expression that was surging through me, but I began to feel much more calm and accepting of this visionprocess.When you reach those climactic moments in the final chapter of The Founder's Sons, I hope you'll read them with hope for the human spirit, with faith in our all-encompassing God, with open heart and mind to see if there might be some important thing to learn there as there was for Jamari, and for me! Take into consideration a lesson Terry, The Knight Shaman conveyed to Jamari early in his training as a shaman. "God speaks to all of us in the language, in the symbols, which we can best hear. You see yourself as a Christian. Most of the tribal Members are also Christian. Even so, we will never dictate to God what language or signs He can use to communicate to us."As I close these comments, the most revealing of all my personal discoveries gained from writing this series comes to mind. It's something I've said to others before: "The further I pull away from today's Christianity, the closer I find myself to my God." It's certainly partially due to what today's Christianity represents. Even more important, though, is that this new strength, this insight to 'self,' this 'centered' entity I've become, is due to developing my spirituality and leaving blind religion behind. In this work of fiction, I've tried to retrace a personal path to spiritual resurrection. I hope that readers will be able to see that path in addition to a pretty good story.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07GD43WKP
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ RWCollins Publishing
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 1, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 751 KB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 326 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1987568264
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Book 3 of 3 ‏ : ‎ Jamari and the Manhood Rites
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 16 - 18 years
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

About the author

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R. Roderick Rowe
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Rowe recently left the coastal town of Winchester Bay, Oregon where he owned a 51 foot commercial fishing boat called the Ceres. He worked at a big box home store in Portland, Oregon before finally taking on the mantle of full-time author.

He was a nuclear power plant operator serving aboard the USS Norfolk, SSN 714, in the U. S. Navy. He went on to become a power plant operator and then Plant Operations Supervisor in the civilian world, and now has downsized from the mainstream in order to partake in his life-long dream of writing.

Rowe says of himself:

I’m writing all of the time. I may not be sitting at the computer with a document open, but I’m thinking about my characters and their issues, and how to resolve their problems all of the time. I started ‘thinking’ about "Paradigm Lost, Jamari and the Manhood Rites, Part I" FIVE years before I ever wrote down a single word. I talked about it with friends and partners. In my life, I relate things that happen to me as a gay man to what those events would feel like to the characters in my novel. When I finally sat down to put it all ‘on paper’, I had the bulk of it completed in three months and then spent the next 4 months polishing, cutting, pasting, etc.

As I have completed several novels, the next one is growing in importance with each passing day that I spend on promotions and the ‘business’ side of this endeavor. The characters are beginning to haunt my dreams at night. “Where are you?” they want to know. “When are we coming out again? When do we get to start the next adventure?” A couple seem to sense that things aren’t going to go well for them. They seem to be offering other options . . .

I have had a difficult time in applying my work to any specific genre. It contains elements of Post Apocalypse (Dystopian), Science Fiction, Survivalist, Fantasy, Spiritual, LGBTQ and even a bit of Naturalist. What I really set out to do was to allow readers to see culture in a new way; to see sex in a new way, perhaps even to develop their own understanding of the beauty of that very human endeavor. The secondary goal was to make homosexuality normal. In order to accomplish these two goals I had to build a society that had discarded our current taboos and strictures. I had to destroy the culture I was raised up in and then create an entirely new culture from scratch.

How long have I known I was going to write? I thought I would want to write as far back as 7th grade. I enjoyed reading so much that I actually got reprimanded for reading in class at times. I suspect if I had been reading the text assigned it would have been okay, but, I was addicted to fiction early and upgraded to Science Fiction early in High School. I wrote many short stories and poems in H.S. I won several writing contests and was given a scholarship to college based on my writing. The most important thing I ever heard about writing though was that I needed to live a little bit before I would have anything interesting to say. In retrospect, I always could say something accurately and with flair, but, I did need to live a little in order to develop my story-line and know how to present it so it gets the attention it deserves.

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2023
    Whew, this one had a lot going on and an Epilogue that I found chilling and perfect. Jamari is going to need every skill he possesses, as the greed that caused the original devastation, causes eyes to turn once again to his lands and forests. He fully comes into his power here, finds allies both human, spiritual and in nature. Here the Manhood test and rituals reach their culmination and it is a must-read to see where Jamari, the people and the land end up. Knowing the ending now, this is one that will bear rereading at a slower pace to savor the world building and the spiritual aspects more fully.

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