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James Hardesty

The World

The World of the Book

Who Walks Through Elquetumba

A man of integrity in a world that has none to spare, the people who love him, and the ones who want him broken.

Tristan Wolfe

The protagonist

A lone wolf with a reputation, about to find out what his integrity is worth.

Isolt

His old love

Twenty-seven years, and she never stopped trembling.

Gene

His best friend

The one who stays.

Carli

His mother

Circe

His aunt

Named for the enchantress of the Odyssey, and every bit as dangerous.

Paco

His cousin

Targeted alongside Tristan, and caught in the same web.

Clementina

The housekeeper

Don Gato

The cat

First to sense when something is wrong.

Themes

What the Story Asks

Who are you when no one is watching? What does integrity look like when everything goes wrong? What does faith cost when nothing proves it right? The Epic of Elquetumba follows those questions through temptation and regret, through corruption that reaches from city offices to the highest levels of power, and through a battle between supernatural forces for the destiny of one soul and one world. Underneath all of it runs the oldest question of all: whether a man can be redeemed.

Scripture and myth

The Old Stories Beneath It

The novel draws on the stories of Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Elijah, Job and Joseph, and on two of the oldest tales in the West: the Odyssey, and the doomed love of Tristan and Isolt. Readers who know them will hear the echoes in the chapter titles, from Poseidon Stirs to Ithaca.
Readers who know them will hear the echoes in the chapter titles, from Poseidon Stirs to Ithaca, and in the narrative.
PassageWhat it carries into the story
1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalm 105:15“Touch not mine anointed.” God’s warning to the world not to harm His servants.
Matthew 19:16–24; Mark 10:17–27The high cost of following God.
Exodus 12:27The Passover, when God struck down the wicked to save His people.
Luke 4:5–8Satan offers the wealth and power of the world in exchange for worship.
Exodus 5:1“Let my people go.” God’s demand to Pharaoh, and to every power of this world.
Matthew 10:5–6Christ sends His apostles to the lost sheep.