By: Devan Mighton, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeshore News Reporter
Back in 2017, working in a machine shop as a technical writer, local author Matt St. Amand’s mind was on a journey. “One day, I wondered how far back into history the job of chronicler went, and a story about a petroglyph artist named Mamalujo started to form in my mind,” he recalls.
The author praised works of The Kilominator and Gas of Tank: A Canadian Law Enforcement Odyssey 1979-2019 states that it’s easy to romanticize the ancient, prehistoric North America thousands of years ago.
“There was no pollution, we imagine everyone working together to keep the tribe alive,” says St. Amand. “But people are people, and human foibles are probably similar through history. So, I imagined Mamalujo having a bad boss, that his tribe had a lousy chieftain, and one day this leader demands that Mamalujo create a tribute to him on the Teaching Rock. This violates Mamalujo’s conscience, but he cannot refuse. His compromise is to create a work of mocking satire. Angered and embarrassed by this, the chieftain fires Mamalujo as Chronicler, banishing him from the tribe – a veritable death sentence.”
LaSalle resident Matt St. Amand has penned a new book entitled The Chronicles of Mamalujo
Nine thousand years ago, Mamalujo had been the Chronicler at Kinoomaagewaapkong, or “the rocks that teach”. Known to his clan as mayagenim, or weirdo, he is a poor hunter, afraid of the dark, and was born with 12 toes.
Cast out by his chieftain, missed by his friend, the medicine man, and his love interest, Gracealujo, Mamalujo is miles from home, out of his element, on a journey of survival, discovery, and resurrection. Mamalujo must learn to find his inner strength and skills that will not just aid in his survival, but help him to grow and, in the end, help those who once ridiculed him.
St. Amand explores a variety of themes in his new novel, such as creativity, growth, and perseverance. “Desperation pulls ideas out of us that we never knew were there: Mamalujo learning how to hunt, perfecting his shelters, his ability to fish, to survive.
At one point in the story, his friend, the medicine man, appears to him and tells Mamalujo where he needs to go, that he shouldn’t be aimlessly wandering in his banishment. Mamalujo says he doesn’t understand why he needs to go to the location the medicine man specifies (present-day Essex County). The medicine man tells him, “It is more meaningful to the gods when you do something because you believe rather than because
you understand.”
St. Amand reports that the reception to the book has been positive. “Readers have said they are intrigued by the premise,” he says. “Although the title has a strange name in it, I think readers will be surprised how real-world the tale is. The story is also an ode to technical writers. In the first chapter, I write: “Explaining how things work is among the world’s oldest professions, though nobody makes movies about it.”
“The story is so unique I had to go back nine thousand years into the past in order to tell it!”
The Chronicles of Mamalujo is available at Juniper Books on Ottawa St. in Windsor, River Bookshop in Amherstburg, and online at Amazon.ca. More information about the book can be found at www.mattst.ca.
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