Review by Marian Powell   —   January 4, 2002

A farmer and his son are working on their farm in North Dakota when they notice something odd sticking up out of the soil. Curiosity drives them to dig it up with the help of friends and neighbors. When they've dug it up, they find themselves in possession of a new-looking, brightly painted, full-sized (No, not a flying saucer) -- a yacht.

What is the yacht doing in North Dakota, two thousand miles from the nearest ocean? It is in such excellent condition that it had to have been recently buried. The farmer knows no one has buried anything in his field in his lifetime.

The opening chapters do a wonderful job of building up the questions and the suspense. It's a pleasure to read because this is the rare novel where everyone involved behaves intelligently. The farmer contacts a friend, Max, who restores antique airplanes and who starts sending samples of the sail and the hull out for analysis. This brings Max into contact with April, a chemist. Together they begin to piece together the unbelievable truth about the yacht.

Unfortunately, the publicity blurb on the back cover of the paperback gives away the secret. The farmer's field is on the shore of what was once a great inland sea. This inland sea, Lake Agassiz, has been dry for 10,000 years. The yacht is indisputable, physical evidence of some form of visitation to the earth 10,000 years ago. Public and governmental reaction varies from disbelief to acceptance to hysteria to violence. Meanwhile, because we live in a highly technological society, it is soon realized that it's only a matter of time until scientists learn to duplicate the incredibly durable materials the boat is made of. That causes a financial panic since that would undoubtedly destroy some current businesses that depend on planned obsolescence.

While there are those able to appreciate what new inventions can mean, there are those terrified by the thought of change. Momentum grows to destroy the artifact. Meanwhile, Max and April have teamed up to search for more artifacts. When they find another one, it is on land belonging to the Sioux Nation. Now the Souix have to meet and decide what to do about the new situation.

The deliberations of the Souix Council are vividly rendered.

Meanwhile Max and April are making new, even more extraordinary discoveries and facing impossible choices.

I am reviewing and recommending Ancient Shores because, although relatively recent, it does not appear to be wellknown and therefore is in danger of becoming lost. It is a rare pleasure where the plot turns on people behaving with thought and intelligence. It is so common in novels for the plot to depend on someone being incredibly stupid. There are no stereotypes here except with some minor characters.

The story really is about facing the unknown, the ambiguous, the future that is suddenly changing faster than anyone could have believed possible. It is a story about today's world with all its quirks, frustrations, possibilities and ambiguities.

According to the author's web page (http://sfwa.org/members/McDevitt), Ancient Shores is based on a real place though he gives it a fictional name and that there really was an unidentifiable boat dug up in a farmer's field a few years ago....