{"id":152214,"date":"2021-11-24T12:13:35","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T22:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=152214"},"modified":"2021-11-24T12:13:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T22:13:35","slug":"hawaii-cc-lecturer-novel-the-blood-of-bones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/11\/24\/hawaii-cc-lecturer-novel-the-blood-of-bones\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawai\u02bbi CC<\/abbr> lecturer publishes new novel The Blood of Bones"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Blood
Nathan McQueen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community College<\/a> English lecturer Nathan McQueen has a new novel out that is described as a “mythic, coming-of-age tale that speaks to the struggles of humanity across cultural boundaries.”<\/p>\n

Titled The Blood of Bones<\/em>, the novel\u2019s main character is Tesfahun, a boy who is a member of an ancient tribe in Ethiopia, “untouched by modern civilization.” Tesfahun\u2019s people live an isolated life where revenge killings are required and ruled by superstition and “cursed babies” are thrown into a river for the sake of the tribe. As friends are forced to avenge the tribe and children disappear in the night, Tesfahun begins to question his people and his beliefs, and grows apart from his grief stricken mother and hardened father. After his initiation into manhood, Tesfahun discovers a terrible secret about his family and himself.<\/p>\n

McQueen, 37, acknowledges the book is not an easy read because of the concepts. However, he said part of the reason he is a writer is to tackle tough subjects and help better understand the world.<\/p>\n

“For me as a writer to engage in these types of stories where it\u2019s not necessarily just fluff, but it\u2019s impactful, more serious subject matter, it helps me come to terms with that sort of thing,” said McQueen. “Like with this book there\u2019s a heavy emphasis on violence, and if you read Lord of the Flies<\/em> or Cormac McCarthy\u2019s Blood Meridian<\/em>, there\u2019s that aspect of violence that it\u2019s trying to address. Is it instinctual? Is it a natural thing that happens within us? Or is it more environmental? So it helps me to try to tackle those issues. It doesn\u2019t give me answers all the time, but at least it helps me to bring it out and address it in some way.”<\/p>\n

The book is McQueen\u2019s second published novel, and can be found at the Adelaide Books<\/a> website and on Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—By Thatcher J.P. Moats<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is Nathan McQueen\u2019s second novel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[61,158],"class_list":["post-152214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-publication","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t