Product Description

PORTALS IN A NORTHERN SKY: A NOVEL THAT TRANSCENDS CATEGORIES

Is it historical fiction, thriller, adventure, or science fiction? Unforgettable characters:

Bob Thornton, Wall Street whiz who throws it all away Sara Spencer Peek, 19th century pioneer who faces unimaginable grief, Vince Terrell, inner-city cop who steals both the money and the dope in a mega-drug deal Adam Whitehead, scientist who disappears off the surface of the earth just as the President needs him

Get caught up in the intricate plot. Discover important new insights about philosophy and education. Why do so many people finish PORTALS and reach for Moby-Dick?

Acclaimed as a masterpiece, a work of genius, a mystery, a meditation on fate, a love letter to Alaska, and a thinking person’s novel.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2139009 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 378 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Charles Douglas Hayes, self-taught philosopher and self-help book author (Beyond the American Dream), combines several genres-thriller, historical, SF-in his ambitious first novel, Portals in a Northern Sky, in which the U.S. president is set to reveal a new technology capable of showing the past in real time. Literary allusions to everyone from Herman Melville to Ayn Rand abound.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

What a waste
Readers can approach this book in two ways: as a work of fiction or as a forum for Hayes to discuss his educational philosophy. As fiction, this is one of the worst books I have ever read. The dialogue is contrived (if I ever read the word "amigo" again I'll puke), there are so many characters who add nothing to the plot, and speaking of plot Hayes destroys what could have been an interesting one. The only reason I gave this book a star at all was because of Hayes' expanation of his thoughts on self-education. He has some insights on classical fiction which spurs further thought. The problem is that he has embedded this in the form of lectures which he tries to pass off as character dialogue. If you like to get preached to, this is the book for you. It's ironic that Hayes endorses self-education yet comes off as a college professor, and a boring one at that.

Great Story Telling
Portals In A Northern Sky is a fresh and new concept on time travel that rivals Michael Creitons wonderful "Timeline" at it presents a mystery adventure of a family migration across the continent from the east to the west where several of its characters find common threads in their genealogy just like many of us might do if we had the ability to see all of the events of the past. The book begins in Alaska and after many twist and turns has its surprising and complex climatic end in Alaska. It is like reading three novels in one with lots of philosophy, history, intrigue, a journey back and forth in time.

For Science Fiction lovers it has an examination of the ramifications for governments to no longer have secrets, for Mystery lovers it has crime and murder, for Adventure lovers it has searching for gold in Alaska, for Classic lovers it has several summaries of some American classic literature with various philosophical ideas in interpretations and for History lovers it has many of the great events in American history mentioned.

The novel is a puzzle where in the end all of the pieces fit together to form a very large picture of past and present letting know that know one can foresee the future. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in creative three-dimensional plots and interesting characters.

Thought stimulus
Portals is one of those books that stimulates the mind in an enjoyable way. Hayes has managed to once again present mind expanding ideas that forces one to question, or at least examine, traditional thought patterns.