A tale of treachery, lust and conflict, it spans almost 500 years and covers the respective discoveries of New Zealand by Pacific Islanders and Europeans.
New Zealand: A Novel
By Lance Morcan
Genre: Historical Romantic Adventure
New Zealand: A Novel spans almost 500 years and covers the respective discoveries of New Zealand by Pacific Islanders and Europeans.
From the outset the two stories are interposed. It starts in the 1300’s with the departure of Islanders from Hawaiki in search of land far to the south.
The hardy, brown-skinned people who arrive here first call themselves Maori and they call their new home Aotearoa – land of the long, white cloud.
The fascinating, eventful and sometimes violent lives of descendants of those first arrivals are traced through the centuries until the arrival of Europeans aboard Captain James Cook’s bark the Endeavour. Cook names the new land New Zealand.
Maoris call the white intruders pakeha. Their arrival heralds a clash of two vastly different ideologies as European civilization collides head on with indigenous culture.
The misunderstandings, tension and bloodshed that follow are relayed as seen through the eyes of one of the Endeavour’s youngest and most engaging crewmembers, Surgeon’s Assistant Nicholas Young, as the vessel embarks on its historic circumnavigation of the country.
Amidst the life-threatening challenges Nicholas faces at sea and on land, the young man finds true love when he meets Anika, a beautiful Maori princess who steals his heart.
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Book Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/New-Zealand-Novel-Lance-Morcan-ebook/dp/B0DPTJTDCQ
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/new-zealand-a-novel-by-lance-morcan
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/221413728.New_Zealand
Excerpt
Alongside the same headland Captain Cook had named Young Nick’s Head aboard the Endeavour moments earlier, a young Maori sat looking out to sea, basking in the sun.
The headland was on his right. Close by, on his left, was the outlet to a river that flowed past his iwi’s inland pa, which was located just half a mile upriver.
Moki was the oldest son of the chief of the Ngati Porou, the region’s predominant iwi, or tribe.
He was also a direct descendant of Mahanga, the rangatira who had saved his people from being overrun by Te Arawa invaders more than two centuries earlier.
His lineage could be traced back to the Hawaikan rangatira Hotu, who, with his son Kafoa, landed on this very beach aboard the Ronui waka some four hundred years earlier.
Barely eighteen, Moki was a blooded warrior, having claimed his first kill in a clash with warriors of another iwi more than a year earlier.
Since then, he’d proven himself several times over, as a warrior and as a hunter, and despite his youth was considered a worthy successor-in-waiting to his father.
As the young warrior continued to daydream, something caught his eye on the horizon.
At first, he thought it was a cloud. Then he wondered if he was hallucinating. Coming around the headland was what looked like a giant bird. Sunlight reflected off its huge white wings, which appeared to be flapping in the light breeze.
Alarmed, he jumped to his feet. He waved frantically at the fishermen out in the bay, but they were too busy fishing to notice him.
Moki, his heart pounding, fled into the bush that bordered the beach. He didn’t stop running until he reached the safety of his pa.
The fortified village, located on a rise above the same river he’d been sitting alongside a short time earlier, was home to almost a thousand Ngati Porou villagers. Fifty wakas of all sizes rested along the riverbank – either in the water or high and dry on the bank itself.
The river provided ready access to the freshwater that the unoccupied pa on the nearby headland lacked. In terms of its construction and fortifications, it was reminiscent of the coastal pa.
Smoke from cooking fires spiralled up through openings in the rooves of at least half the pa’s whares, which numbered in the hundreds. The rangatira’s whare, the largest of the dwellings, occupied a commanding position on the marae alongside an even more impressive meeting house.
Constructed primarily of timbers from the native totara tree, the meeting house displayed intricate carvings relating the history of the iwi going all the way back to Kafoa and Hotu. The carvings were replicated throughout the pa and on the bowsprits of the wakas as well.
“Papa!” Moki shouted as soon as he was within earshot of his father’s whare. “A great bird comes to attack us from over the sea!” Breathing hard, he repeated his warning twice over as his father and other villagers emerged from their dwellings.
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About The Author
New Zealand novelist and screenwriter Lance Morcan is a prolific author with more than 35 published fiction and non-fiction books to his credit as well as several screenplay adaptations of his work.
A former journalist and newspaper editor, he regularly writes in collaboration with his son James Morcan, and their books are published by Sterling Gate Books.
The father-and-son team’s published books include the new release horror Silent Fear (A novel inspired by true crimes) and the bestselling historical adventures White Spirit, Fiji: A Novel and Into the Americas.
They also have several series including The Orphan Trilogy, an international thriller series, the globetrotting action-romance series The World Duology, and the controversial non-fiction franchise The Underground Knowledge Series, which includes Genius Intelligence and The Catcher in the Rye Enigma.
Several of their books have been regular visitors to Amazon’s bestseller lists over the years.
An additional non-fiction title they’re especially proud of is Debunking Holocaust Denial Theories, which was written in collaboration with Holocaust survivors to document the genocide.
Lance’s first solo-authored novel, a historical adventure-romance titled New Zealand: A Novel, was published late 2024.
Spanning almost 500 years, this novel covers the respective discoveries of New Zealand by Pacific Islanders and Europeans.
From the outset the two stories are interposed. It starts in the 1300’s with the departure of Islanders from Hawaiki in search of land far to the south.
Researching and writing this epic was literally half a century in the making for Lance who described the task as “A labour of love that spanned 50 years.”
The Morcans’ production entity Morcan Motion Pictures has a number of feature films in early development, including adaptations of Silent Fear, Into the Americas and White Spirit.
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Author Links
Website: https://morcanbooksandfilms.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lance-morcan-4b87ba43/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lance-morcan
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lance-Morcan/author/B005ET3ZUO
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5099267.Lance_Morcan
