Orb Stones and Geoglyphs: A Writer's Journey

By Daniel A. Smith

"Highly recommended for a wide audience." Donovan's Literary Services - Midwest Book Review

"More an adventure tale than a chronicle of schooling." Big Al - Books and Pals

From the author of the award winning historical novel, Storykeeper, comes an uplifting mix of writing, geology, and rock and roll. A thought-provoking search for mystical orbs, mysterious earthworks, and lost history intended to inspire the storyteller in all of us to begin the journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daniel Smith
• Release date: Mar 8, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386420163

Daniel A. Smith

Daniel A. Smith is currently working on the second novel of his “Nine-Rivers Valley” series set in the 16th and 17th centuries a little-known but pivotal period of America’s earliest history. As a sound engineer Daniel traveled across all 48 continental states and five provinces of Canada, working behind the scenes to entertain, inform, and observe all manner of audiences, but he prefers to live, roam, and write in Arkansas with his life-long friend and wife.

Book preview

~~~

There is no agony like having an untold story inside you.

Zora Neale Hurston

~~~

Dedicated to my dear friend; my guiding light, my wife.

Chapter 1

A Boast

"If I had a view like this, I could write a book," I bragged to my wife and a friend as we stood in a high-rise loft he was housesitting. A panoramic view spread from the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains, rolling off to the west then around to the east and the humble skyline of Little Rock.

I remember it well, because she shrugged and reminded me, You have said that before.

She was right. I had made that idle claim several times without any further actions. Writing was an abstract urge without a concept, rooted deeper than just a fleeting thought spoken aloud. I realized the idea to write was a subconscious need that had been with me for years, a desire to do something that I believed I could not do.

I was not sure what it meant, I could write a book. I never asked myself, a book about what? Literary pursuit was not on my list of life’s priorities. There was no reason to think I could write a book. Reading, spelling, and composition were always a challenge from the first grade on. Throughout high school, I did well by focusing on math and the sciences, graduating from college with a major in physics. The laws of math and physics are predictable and logical; the rules of English and writing are not.

Acoustics fascinated me from a young age. I naturally gravitated toward a creative new industry, rock and roll sound. I began my professional career as a soundman early in 1973, mixing my first concert for Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose. The concert sound industry was and still is a fast-paced, cutting-edge business. Founded on innovation, it is an unorthodox collaboration of technology, circus, physics, artistry, mathematics, logistics, and above all, music. An underlying mindset common across the industry as it moves from town to town with military precision is the simple mantra — The show must go on.

Hundreds of young individuals and companies across the United States and Europe designed, built, and operated the prototypes of today’s mass-produced sound systems. What once were custom concepts and equipment built exclusively for rock and roll are now mainstream and necessary for almost every event.

When I was young, it was preached from the pulpit that loud rock music was the work of the devil. Now, every church has at least one sound system, most larger than what the rock band down the street is playing through. During those early years, I traveled the country providing audio engineering services and equipment for all types of concerts, celebrations, conferences, rallies, speeches, and festivals.

The Wizard of Oz once said, Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. At a concert, when the house lights turn off and the music starts, no one pays much attention to the small group of people in dim pools of little lights in the middle of the arena. Surrounded by an eager crowd, they skillfully manipulate a wide array of knobs, faders, switches, meters, flashing lights, and now touch screens, striving to produce a seamless musical balance between performers and audiences. Each day there is a different venue and a new audience. Once the show starts, it is live in the moment. Creating a great-sounding, larger-than-life connection to their favorite artist or celebrity does not always work, but when it does, it is a powerful, personally satisfying but short-lived high. When the music stops and the bright house lights come back on, what was a memorable one-of-a-kind musical experience, moments before is now a confusing array of road cases of hardware, miles of cables, racks of electronics, and dangling speaker boxes and trusses.

I found a great deal of creative outlet through live concerts being a modern day man behind the curtain. I did not realize how much until I left the road and started a business designing and installing professional sound systems. Designing systems became my creative outlet and kept my urges fulfilled. I approached each design as a new and unique creation based on the latest technology, the needs of the customer and the physics of the venue.

I left the life of traveling to be at home with my family. That did not work out as well as I had hoped. Making a success of a small business means long days, late nights, and missed weekends. Still, I always tried to keep family time at the top of the importance list. Of all my work experiences, my favorite job was dad. Working together to create a loving family is the most fulfilling of endeavors.

That vague urge to write stirred occasionally, but I had no direction, no plot and no plan. One summer weekend, my wife and I were enjoying one of our favorite pastimes, exploring the back roads of Arkansas. The state has such a diversity of landscapes and inspiring scenery, a day-drive is always an adventure. My wife, an architectural historian, enjoys discovering all-but-lost historical pearls on a country road.

We were on an outing, exploring north-central Arkansas, when we happened on Sunny Slope Road. The county road winds across an Ozark Mountain plateau bordered by farm fields, woods, and occasional open stretches of exposed, unbroken bedrock.

A large farmstead came up on the right, the house set off the road at the end of a long driveway. What impressed me as I drove by were two stones, one flanking either side of the driveway. These stones were large, boulder-size, and round.

We have all stumbled upon rocks, stones, or boulders that attract our attention for one odd reason or another. If it is small enough, we pick it up, put it in a pocket, on a shelf, or in a drawer. Even if it is too big for a pocket, we might lift it, drag it, or get a machine to haul it to a special place. Boulders too large to move, we climb on, sit on, and photograph. Rocks are the most basic and enduring building material at the very foundation of nature and civilizations. More than most, I am attracted to rocks, but I had never noticed a boulder that round and that large.

Sunny Slope Road turned east. On the high point in the open grassy field off to the left sat another round boulder, as large as the first two but smoother, less weathered. At the intersection