Authors: Laurie Fitzgerald

Nuworld: Claiming Tara

This book is self-published by Laurie Fitzgerald. It’s being published this
way in order to grant the author the liberty of including certain material in
the book that some publishers won’t allow.

This book contains sensitive subject matter.

Nuworld: Claiming Tara
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and
incidents are products of the author’s imagination. She doesn’t really know
what will happen in our future. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,
or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

FOREWARD
THERE ARE SO MANY WORDS…
WHILE WRITING
Nuworld: Claiming Tara
, which takes
place on our planet roughly 900 years in the future,
something that crossed my mind was language. Words
change over
time.
900 years ago people
spoke a lot
differently than we do now. Even in our lifetime we have
seen changes in our language. I know I’m always trying to
keep up with new expressions and slang that my boys use.
It only makes sense that in the future people will speak
differently than we do now.
I decided—and you’re very welcome for this—not to
create a new language for my characters to speak. It was
continually on my mind, however, that living so far into
our future; the characters in
Nuworld: Claiming Tara
would
very likely be impossible for us to understand. I wanted
this to be on your mind when you read this story, as it was
on mine.
My son, Jonathan, helped me research. We also used
our imagination, which means we made words up. For the
sake of making this a good read, or at least I hope you will
think it is, many words in this book are the same as those
we use today. However, to help give the feel of a different
society, others are not.
Don’t worry. I’ve included
a
glossary
for
exact
definition of these words, in case you need it.
THERE IS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO KNOW…
I ORIGINALLY
wrote this
book
twenty
years ago.
Coming up on that anniversary inspired me to enter this
world once again. When I started writing Darius and
Tara’s story I was going through a rough time in my life. I
escaped
into this
world,
into the future with these
characters, and wrote the entire series—the original six
books—in a couple of years.
Today there are nine books, however only six have seen
the light of day. This book, along with the five that follow
it, were previously published. However, all of them are no
longer in print. If you’re curious, or wish to compare the
old with the new,
Nuworld: Claiming Tara
was previously
published as
Nuworld: The Saga Begins
. You might be able
to find some copies on eBay, or I’m sure someone is selling
downloads of it on Amazon. It seemed appropriate to
change the title when I began making so many changes in
to the story.
Along
with returning
Nuworld:
Claiming
Tara
to its
original, raw and gritty state before editors got their hands
on it, there was another change I knew I needed to make.
Laurie Fitzgerald is taking credit for writing these books
since Lorie O’Clare didn’t exist when they were originally
written.
AND
FINALLY,
FROM
THE
FUTURE
IN
THE
FUTURE…
THERE ARE so many side notes involved with this
series: notes going into further details in certain scenes,
autobiographies of many of the characters (leaders did
that sort of thing),
and writings from
a few of the
characters. If these books reach any level of success, or if
you simply ask nicely, I might publish some of them on
my website for you to read.
I am going to share a short piece of Lord Andru’s
writing, even though by the end of this book he is only
three. I think it makes for the perfect
INTRODUCTION
into
this book. He wrote it approximately forty winters after
Nuworld: Claiming Tara.
I
invite
you
to
visit
my
website
at
www.lauriefitzgerald.net
. Join my newsletter, befriend me
on facebook, or simply send an e-mail and let me know
what you think of this book. I’d love to hear your
thoughts.
Laurie
GLOSSARY:
Activate
– Sign on/log on to a computer.
Age Of Searching
– this is a Runner tradition. Young
Runners between 18 and usually no older than 23 leave
their clan and travel (almost always alone) to learn more
about Nuworld and experience different cultures. They
return to their clan afterward and are considered an adult.
Bangstick
– Looks very similar to our rifles or a large
pistol. They vary in size and use bullets.
Beam
– Flashlight.
Caller
– a telephone. It’s a Gothman term. A caller is
attached to the wall and has a receiver (mouth and ear
piece) that lifts off the box so a person can speak to
someone else at a different location. Visualize a wall house
phone from the 1970’s. It buzzes to announce a call.
Claim/Claimed
– a Gothman term. A claim is a spouse,
either man or woman. Claimed means a person is married.
Clicker
– same thing as a computer mouse, although
embedded into a landlink the way a mouse would be on a
laptop.
Cold box
– refrigerator.
Comm
– a Runner communication device. It is a thin
wire that wraps around the ear and comes down to the
mouth. The person using it taps the mouth piece and
speaks at the receiving end hears a beep letting them
know someone wishes to speak with them.
Crator
–
An
entity that Neurians believe
created
Nuworld and everything that lives on it. He is their God
and becomes the Runner and Gothman God as well.
Cycle
– one month. (Half-cycle is two weeks and a
quarter-cycle is one week.)
Day-afters
– a hangover.
Eating Knife
– similar to a metal skewer but thicker.
Not quite as wide as a knife. Runners and Gothman only
use this one eating utensil.
Eliminator
– Runner weapon. It is best to hold it from
the shoulder. It can take out the side of a large building or
quite a few people at once.
Evening Of Settling
– A Runner tradition. When a
Runner clan quits travelling and settles in for a period of
time they have a celebration. It’s held the first night and
there is a lot of food and alcohol.
Funerals
– Gothman bury their dead. Runners burn
their dead because clans are nomadic and they don’t own
land.
Guardian
– Began as a Neurian belief that people who
turned into animals travelled around Nuworld and kept
an eye out to make sure Crator’s people were always safe.
The Dog Woman is a guardian. Most can’t see Guardians.
Tara can see the Dog Woman, who appears to Tara and
advises her.
Groundmobile
– a car. (Looks like an old Jeep.) Runner
women drive them when they are pregnant and can no
longer ride their motorcycles, or when hauling babies or
children. They are also used to haul supplies. Claimed
Gothman women seldom drive and most don’t know
how. A widowed
claim or older unclaimed Gothman
woman might learn to drive one if she doesn’t have
anyone to do it for her.
Groundmobile covered with artillery
– a tank.
Headscarf
– Runners wear these over their heads to
protect their head in battle. Pulls over head with openings
for eyes, nose and mouth. They are made of the same
black material that Runner clothing is made—bullet proof
material that would appear to us as something between
silk and leather.
Image
– a picture, whether hanging on a wall or seen on
a landlink screen.
Landlink
–
Runner
computers
that
Gothman
incorporate into their society.
Merchant’s Lane
– Gothman term. An alley, usually
between two buildings.
Network
–
Web/Internet
Oldworld
–
Nuworld. (This would be our civilization.) An Oldworlder
is a derogatory term, which would be the same as us
calling someone a barbarian.
Open room
– a porch attached to either the front, back
or side of a house.
same
thing
as
our
World
Wide
the
civilization
that
existed
before
Sound Transmitters
– speakers/microphone
Test Of Wills
– A Runner tradition. Instigated when a
Runner leader dies and has no heir. Runners enter a
competition. They must pass a written test of their history.
The second stage is simple elimination fighting in a ring.
All clans may participate and watch the fights.
Transmission
– e-mail.
Viewers
– binoculars.
Walkntalk
– very much like a walkie talkie. Gothman
used them in their military prior to Runners introducing
the comm into Gothman society.
Watermobile
– a boat, barge or anything that moves
over the water. It is a generic term. There are different
types of watermobiles.
Warrior’s death
–
an honor given to a Runner or
Gothman who died in battle. In Gothman, the claim of a
warrior given this honor has higher rank.
Winter
– one year.
INTRODUCTION:
AS GUIDED by Crator, and with aid from the Dog
Woman, in spite of her riddles, I will share the history of
Nuworld as I have come to understand it. I am the tenth
Lord of Gothman and share this information, not because I
wish to document my heritage, but because it is important
that we see that what has happened before is proclaimed
to happen again. But as I understand Crator, He has given
me the power to change it, and to break the cycle.
Oldworld ended with Greene Day, right before the
new winter of 2082. I quote from the Books of Crator.
“And Greene, not a color, nor a time before winter, but a
man, brought the world to an end.”
Books of Crator, Story 15.
The sixteenth
through twenty-fifth Stories
in the
Books of Crator tell us how war broke out among nations
in
Oldworld
and
destroyed
their
planet.
Although
misguided by greed and power, there were intelligent
leaders during those days. They saw the insanity festering
among other leaders and prepared for it. The Books of
Crator say the warriors of Oldworld were very powerful,
but they weren’t able to stop a bomb so great that it
destroyed the entire planet. During Oldworld time the
planet was called earth. Since Oldworlders destroyed that
planet it is fitting that today the planet is called Nuworld.
Crator makes it clear in the thirtieth Story,
“And before
two thousand one hundred winters shall pass, men, women,
children and all that they own, shall move to live in the levels of
cities beneath the ground.”
We know from our documented history that this did
happen. All that Crator says in His great stories came true.
I’m aware that our teachers again argue as to whether
these stories were written before, or after Greene Day. I
know of the argument that the Books of Crator wouldn’t
have survived the devastation of our planet so long ago.
But I stress, that does not matter.
The point is that the Books of Crator exist today. They
are with us for a reason and that is the only point that
matters for us as we learn from Crator.
Our descendents rose up from where they’d lived for
hundreds of winters beneath Nuworld and reestablished
our
nations as we know them
today. Now it
is
this
particular Story that I stress to you now.
“It was then that man rose from the ground. As he did
before so shall he do again.”
Books of Crator, Story 43.
Since there is no advice offered by the Dog Woman, I
can only conclude that if we are not careful, once again
insanity will erupt on Nuworld. I take credit for making
Nuworld greater than it ever was during the winters of
Oldworld.
I know,
however,
that I am
not perfect.
Gothman is more powerful than it ever was in the winters
that my papa was Lord, or his papa before him. We stand
strong with the Runners ready to fight by our side. Crator
has blessed
us.
We
are very
powerful warriors.
It is
therefore my wish, and what I hope to pass on to my son
when he becomes Lord, that we never allow this insanity
to return, fester and destroy us.
No matter the knowledge that we gain, no man or
woman will ever be permitted to develop a weapon so
powerful that it would destroy all that Nuworld is today.

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