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The Snake Charmer

Byron Chak is the last surviving member of an ancient lineage with the ability to control snakes. He has used his gift for selfish personal gain, and left a trail of disappointment and misery behind him. Now, he is being pursued by a powerful force as mysterious as the origin of his own talents. His abandoned sons have their own problems, but they seek to find and protect him before they are all destroyed.

Chapter 1:
1955
Piste, Mexico

“Padre, we found the body of the woman,” croaked the exhausted and sweating man, standing in the priest's doorway. He had hitched rides and run all the way from the coast. “She was floating in the shallow water near Tulum, not far from the ruins. We pulled her out, but it looked like she had already given birth.” Tulum is an ancient city on the southern tip of the Costa Maya, where Mexico reaches the Caribbean Sea, and the last place that the woman had been seen. It was a place of visions that was once part of the proud Mayan empire. Now the sacred and beautiful temples and pyramids had become crumbling ruins overgrown with weeds.
“Thank you, my son. Was there any word on the child?” Asked the priest, expressionless.
“No Padre, we did what you said and went north, but there was no word. The last I heard, Jose and Pedro were tracking the old women who were seen with the lady we found in the water, and they might have had the child with them. The child might have drowned, too,” he added hopefully. Juan knew how important it was for the priest to find the child. The child was important to the “witches,” and the witches had been corrupting the local people with their old religion since before the church had come. The priest had branded the practitioners of the old religion as heretics, and the priests and priestesses as witches, pagans, and devil-worshipers. He warned the people of their sin, and that it was a crime against God to support them. It was the duty of his flock, as Christian soldiers, to stop the spread of the old religion.
“No Juan, the child is being hidden. It is our duty to find him and save him from the pagans. Without our intervention, he will be corrupted by their evil.” He knew the old religion was appealing to the local people, and every year he would lose a parishioner or two to the excitement of the ancient rites. The people of the region were mostly descendants of the Mayans, and many of the people kept small tokens of their historical religion. The history of the people sometimes drew them back to the worship of their old gods. Fewer and fewer followed the old religion, which the priest called “witchcraft.” This child, though, could change everything. He knew what kind of power could reside in the child. It was the same power that had resided in the child's father, before the priest had killed him.
He stood up and turned around. His robes hung loosely on his thin frame. His pale skin was almost translucent in the midday sun. He shook slightly, contemplating his failure. He knew he had been only minutes too late to pluck the child from the womb, but by the time he had arrived with his followers the child had been born and was already spirited away.
“Juan, stay focused on the goal. We must find the child. It is the will of God that we protect him.”
Juan nodded. “I am sorry, Padre. I will keep looking.”
“Leave immediately to join Pablo and Jose at the border. Perhaps you can still find the child. You do the work of the lord. Thank you, my son.”
Juan smiled with pride, and the priest smiled back at him. The priest knew that they were too late, now, to complete the task. He had worked for years to eradicate the child's bloodline. These were the temple guardians, and viewed as gods themselves by the people. This was as close as he had ever been to success, and as the minutes ticked by he could feel himself drifting farther away from his goal.

Book 2 coming July 2012

Byron Chak is the last surviving member of an ancient lineage with the ability to control snakes. He has used his gift for selfish personal gain, and left a trail of disappointment and misery behind him. Now, he is being pursued by a powerful force as mysterious as the origin of his own talents. His abandoned sons have their own problems, but they seek to find and protect him before they are all destroyed.

Chapter 1:
1955
Piste, Mexico

“Padre, we found the body of the woman,” croaked the exhausted and sweating man, standing in the priest's doorway. He had hitched rides and run all the way from the coast. “She was floating in the shallow water near Tulum, not far from the ruins. We pulled her out, but it looked like she had already given birth.” Tulum is an ancient city on the southern tip of the Costa Maya, where Mexico reaches the Caribbean Sea, and the last place that the woman had been seen. It was a place of visions that was once part of the proud Mayan empire. Now the sacred and beautiful temples and pyramids had become crumbling ruins overgrown with weeds.
“Thank you, my son. Was there any word on the child?” Asked the priest, expressionless.
“No Padre, we did what you said and went north, but there was no word. The last I heard, Jose and Pedro were tracking the old women who were seen with the lady we found in the water, and they might have had the child with them. The child might have drowned, too,” he added hopefully. Juan knew how important it was for the priest to find the child. The child was important to the “witches,” and the witches had been corrupting the local people with their old religion since before the church had come. The priest had branded the practitioners of the old religion as heretics, and the priests and priestesses as witches, pagans, and devil-worshipers. He warned the people of their sin, and that it was a crime against God to support them. It was the duty of his flock, as Christian soldiers, to stop the spread of the old religion.
“No Juan, the child is being hidden. It is our duty to find him and save him from the pagans. Without our intervention, he will be corrupted by their evil.” He knew the old religion was appealing to the local people, and every year he would lose a parishioner or two to the excitement of the ancient rites. The people of the region were mostly descendants of the Mayans, and many of the people kept small tokens of their historical religion. The history of the people sometimes drew them back to the worship of their old gods. Fewer and fewer followed the old religion, which the priest called “witchcraft.” This child, though, could change everything. He knew what kind of power could reside in the child. It was the same power that had resided in the child's father, before the priest had killed him.
He stood up and turned around. His robes hung loosely on his thin frame. His pale skin was almost translucent in the midday sun. He shook slightly, contemplating his failure. He knew he had been only minutes too late to pluck the child from the womb, but by the time he had arrived with his followers the child had been born and was already spirited away.
“Juan, stay focused on the goal. We must find the child. It is the will of God that we protect him.”
Juan nodded. “I am sorry, Padre. I will keep looking.”
“Leave immediately to join Pablo and Jose at the border. Perhaps you can still find the child. You do the work of the lord. Thank you, my son.”
Juan smiled with pride, and the priest smiled back at him. The priest knew that they were too late, now, to complete the task. He had worked for years to eradicate the child's bloodline. These were the temple guardians, and viewed as gods themselves by the people. This was as close as he had ever been to success, and as the minutes ticked by he could feel himself drifting farther away from his goal.

Book 2 coming July 2012

The Anaheim Convention Center is going to have the PMA2010 (The worldwide community of imaging associations) expo starting tomorrow, so I went to pick up my badge today. This is an "overcooked" HDR on purpose--it looks very Hollywood from the outside... it is next to Disney... perhaps that's why. The HDR is composed of 3 pictures taken +/- 2 exposure stops apart. I used Photomatix to process the HDR and tonemapping.

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © StantonPhotoStudios. Contact: angela@stantonphotostudios.com. All rights reserved.

Anaheim police officers riding in the memorial cruise.

As one of the largest cities in one of the nation's most populous counties, Anaheim anchors a host of Orange County attractions, not the least of which are Disneyland, the 2002 World Champion Anaheim Angels, and the Anaheim Convention Center. But Anaheim's early history followed the hardscrabble route, with fitful years of early cityhood steered in part by hardy immigrant German vintners who, with a civic-mindedness, advanced the establishment of the churches, schools, banks, civic services, and a Carnegie Library that made Anaheim thrive. This collection of more than 200 vintage images reveals the foresight of such men as John Frohling, Charles Kohler, George Hansen, John Fischer, August Langenberger, and others who shaped the beginnings of one of California's great cities.