Adak is one of the Aleutian Islands, a thin chain of islands that stretch from Alaska to Russia. As sparsely populated as one might imagine, the Aleutian Islands were the site of a fierce battle during World War II. The islands were bombed, shelled, invaded and re-invaded. The local wildlife was shaken to its core, including a species of tiny, intelligent primates called Nantok.
Throughout history, humans and Nantok have rarely come in contact with each other so there is little more than legend and rumor as evidence on the human side. On the Nantok side, however, their genetic ancestral memory reminds them every day of how humans are their mortal enemy and must be avoided at all costs.
The ability to share memories and knowledge with each other telepathically and to pass it to the next generation has given the Nantok miraculous skills, especially with natural medicines. They use these drugs to control and domesticate wild animals and to keep larger animals, such as caribou, in a state of suspended animation. Called blood beasts, these large animals are anesthetized and kept perfectly healthy deep underground in the Nantok's complicated network of tunnels and chambers. The Nantok harvest all manner of resources from the blood beast, even heat and moisture from their breath. The main resource, however, is protein ? in the form of blood.
Buried alive, twenty feet deep, the human "giant" is their main source of protein. More like telepathic mole rats than humans, the Nantok have a new blood beast. Not what they wanted, but desperate times require desperate measures. Unfortunately, they are running out of the drug that is keeping it alive and unconscious.
Jasen Karnes is the son of a naval officer whose family is stationed on an isolated US naval air station on Adak, Alaska, an Aleutian Island. On a hunting trip he encounters a race of tiny, intelligent primates who very much do not want to be discovered. When he is caught in a trap not intended for him Jasen's life is put at the mercy of these small but very dangerous creatures.
The Nantok of Adak Island is a young adult fantasy novel of 90,000 words (approx 360 printed pages) about survival and communication between species.
