The Atlatl Connection

By Dennis Lantz
 
To all of my friends in the atlatl community:

I am so glad that I am communicating with you again, even if it is only via Face Book. It is hard to believe that it’s been a dozen years since I have seen some of you. That is my loss, for certain. I initially got on social media because of my soon-to-be published novels, but they have become almost secondary. Communicating with old friends is far more satisfying. I hope to do so in person soon.

I wanted to let you know that the atlatl plays a significant role in The Spiders of Eden, the second novel I finished. It’s a futuristic tale about an outcast trying to survive in a dystopian world. Jonah Pepper has a hard time getting jobs because his father was the leader of an anti-technology, anti-government, cult-like group back when Jonah was just a child. His father has been dead fifteen years, but Jonah’s life is still hell because society does not forget.

Jonah is about to get conscripted into the government’s Domestic Corp because unemployment is not allowed. But after helping a severely beaten man, he is offered a job as an assistant at a hunting resort. It has to be better than the DC, doesn’t it? He’s realistic. No matter where he goes there are those who hate and harass him. Here it is no different. The hunters and most of his fellow assistants abhor him because of his heritage.

Each year, Dragon Hearth Resort hosts a progressive hunting competition inside a massive mountainous arena. Ten hunters, chosen from society’s prominent members, slaughter stocked animals… regular species and some genetically altered mutations. The hunters start out using a spear and every few days they gain a more advanced weapon. The general progression is supposed to be from spear, then atlatl and all the way up to stop gun. Primitive and advanced archery equipment, muzzle loading and regular rifles are in the mix. Jonah doesn’t get a weapon. He is tasked with chasing the animals to them.

It is a short term job. He just wants to make it through until the end of the month.

I was a part of the atlatl community for nearly a decade. Health issues ended my throwing career, but the history, the sport and the people continue to have a special place in my soul. They always will.

I fondly remember giving demonstrations. My friends and I showed thousands of people how to safely throw darts with an atlatl. Most of you have done the same. One of the very first things I told the audience was that an atlatl and dart is a weapon. It’s not a toy. It was used to kill mammoth, bison and likely other mega-fauna. Of course, most of the demonstration darts had blunt tips, but would still pack a wallop.

In the story, Jonah has an argument with one of the hunters, a High Court judge. The next day the judge is assassinated and Jonah is blamed. Even before he gets a chance to explain what happened, another hunter attacks him. He kills the man in self-defense. 

Because the hunting competition is in its early days, the only weapon available is the atlatl. Jonah steals one, along with a handful of darts, and goes on the run. Hunters, assistants and spider-like robots chase him. To figure out a way to escape, he needs to survive.

It is not my intention to portray the atlatl in a negative manner. My fondness for the weapon is still great. I tried to make the story realistic. Jonah used atlatls as a child so he knows the basics of throwing. But an atlatl will not stop a robot. And when the hunters start to get more advanced weapons, he is at a decided disadvantage.

For more information about the World Atlatl Association click here..  

If you want to see just how formidable a weapon an atlatl can be in the hands of an expert hunter, click here. 

If you want to know more about The Spiders of Eden and my other novels, follow me on Face Book here.
 
Until next time,

Read, Learn, Live 

This was before the gray hair!

A display of atlatls made by Richard Lyons

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