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Seminole Smoke: An odyssey of power, love and blood in the Seminole Wars tells the tale of Paul Turtle ("Yok-che"), a bicultural, bilingual 19th Century Seminole who rises from translator to guerrilla strategist to diplomat. Paul Turtle has special gifts: stealth, inhumanly quick hands and an ability to create toxic smoke for any occasion.
The story spans 54 years, taking the reader to the swamps of Florida, arid hills of Mexico and corridors of Congress.
Through Paul's eyes, the reader witnesses such pivotal events as the Negro Fort bombing, Andrew Jackson's invasion, Dade Massacre, Osceola's capture and the Black Seminoles' trek to Mexico.
The Seminole Wars mirrored the turmoil of a young United States struggling with identity, expansion and slavery; Paul wrestles with such issues as slavery, use of force and land ownership.
Paul creates fantastic weapons and tactics to stymie the Americans, such as the Sugar Cane Tornado, Lightning Spears, Purple Haze and Sweet Orange Eye-poppers.
A war novel, love story and easy-to-swallow history, Seminole Smoke: An odyssey of power, love and blood in the Seminole Wars is the first novel which spans the entire 50-year sweep of the Seminole Wars.
About the Author
Author Claude Walker has long been fascinated by the Seminole Wars thanks to a history teacher uncle, Distant Drums and getting lost off I-75.
In 2001, Walker twice made literary history with his epic, Currents of Power: A Modern Political Novel, the first political novel with a Latina protagonist and the first novel about state politics to be e-published. The book also features a character inspired in-part by then-State Senator Barack Obama. A revised edition was issued in 2009. Walker's next project is The New Madrid Quake Chronicles, due in December, 2011.
In 2003, Walker was inducted into the Society of Midland Authors. Other published works include essays on Japanese baseball and Mexican travel, a subway haiku and countless press releases.
Walker has spent a lifetime in the rough-and-tumble of Illinois politics as a strategist, organizer and spin-doctor. He's been an advisor to a U.S. Senator, State Treasurer and Chicago Alderman, and spokesperson for Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn (now Governor). Walker was twice-elected State Chairman of Common Cause-Illinois and spent years as a lobbyist and organizer for the Illinois Citizens Utility Board (CUB).
A graduate of Loyola University of Chicago, Walker is an active kayaker and snorkeler, artist, musician, former Chicago cabbie and diehard Cubs fan.
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