About the novel The Original Instructions

Imagine that Siddhartha meets The Last of the Mohicans, and you have a hint of what’s coming in the adventure of The Original Instructions.

The California gold rush is in full swing. For two centuries a powerful alien race has terrorized the native people of North America. A final invasion is underway, led by ruthless fortune seekers sweeping across the last remaining tribal lands of California and Nevada.

A young warrior named Skylake is desperate to save his people from total annihilation. Seeking answers, he’s sent to the Valley of the Great Spirit. At this refuge high in the Sierra, he hears the ancient legend of the Original Instructions, and a sacred pathway to the Great Spirit. The legend claims that anyone who finds these mythical instructions will possess the key to ending the People’s sufferings, and the secret to attaining a peace and freedom that the mightiest of white armies cannot prevail against.

Believing the Original Instructions hold the last hope for his tribe, Skylake rides east across America on a dangerous quest to find someone who might reveal this fabled power. You’re invited to embark on a unique Western epic as Skylake searches for his tribe’s salvation, and the answers to life’s deepest questions.

Behind the Legend of the Original Instructions

There is an ancient creation story that was told by many indigenous tribes scattered across our Mother Earth. While there are subtle variations to the legend, the fundamental story is remarkably consistent:

When the Great Spirit first created The People, It gave them the Original Instructions. At the core of these Instructions lies the key to discovering and maintaining a direct relationship with our Creator. Also within this ancient knowledge lies the secret to living in harmony with all things, including with ourselves, our families, our villages, our nations, and Mother Earth.

This creation story claims that people somehow lost track of the Original Instructions a very long time ago and, as a result, nearly all of our sufferings are due to the disappearance of this priceless teaching.

Yet recent events in history indicate that all might not have been lost, that the time is at hand for a most amazing rediscovery. I invite you to take a journey with the characters in this book as they embark upon a quest to seek out and rediscover the Original Instructions. I believe those with an open heart will not return empty-handed.

The Original Instructions is a fictional story inspired by and woven through real events in American history. Allow yourself to be summoned by the call, and decide for yourself what is fiction and what is truth.  (due for release in 2023)


–Mark G. Adams

Image by Phil Hawkins Photography