A novel by R.M. Dolin
The Book of Darwin – TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Marquez Mountain – Darwin reconfirms how fate will fix his demise; he doesn’t know details of when or how but he knows the end will be on Marquez Mountain. He recounts the legend of Marquez Mountain with its many heroes and villains but before this story can move forward, we have to go back to Berkeley, were it really all begins.
Chapter 2: Shadows About to Collide – Darwin joins a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs concerned about technology’s role in world and their responsibilities to society. His affiliation with these Shadow Dancers strains his relationship with Becky to the point she issues an ultimatum. Darwin hosts an investors forum at Berkeley where he gets a huge offer to sell his company. It’s not until after the deal’s done that he realizes the mysterious investor is a front for the Chinese military. Realizing what he’s done spirals Darwin into dystopian despair.
Chapter 3: Waldon Pond – Kismet is meeting the person you most need when you most need them. In shock after what happened at Berkeley, Darwin wanders Telegraph Avenue winding up in a used bookstore where a sage shopkeeper guides him to the segue of his self-sustaining life.
Chapter 4: Windy City – Darwin arrives in Chicago to stay with his younger brother, Vincent and Ilene until their baby’s born. Darwin wagers Vincent on who wins the home run batting title; if Vincent wins, Darwin must date Ilene’s sister, Gwen until she decides it’s over and if Darwin wins, he gets to name Vincent’s son. Darwin tries writing Becky a letter but doesn’t find a way to put into words what he feels in his heart.
Chapter 5: Murphy’s Northshore Bar – Darwin and Vincent catch up while watching a Cub’s game at Murphy’s Northshore Bar, Darwin talks about his broken relationship with Becky and about his uncertainty with what he should do with his life. He’s about to dive into what happened at Berkeley but Vincent has to leave. Darwin reconnects with Lenny, a high school buddy from back at Saint Stanislaw’s School for Wayward Boys.
Chapter 6: A Bettors Bond – On the day of Issac’s baptism, Darwin decides to tell Vincent about the Harley he won in a bet with Lenny and his intention to ride the bike to New Mexico to look at a remote property his realtor found; an entire wilderness mountain just below the Colorado border. Vincent is convinced Darwin has completely lost his mind.
Chapter 7: Segue To A Life – Darwin leaves Chicago in late October on his Harley riding to New Mexico. He arrives in a small Oklahoma town after a hard day on the road spent over-thinking his life and the decisions that have brought him to take this road-trip to potentially buy an entire mountain in a place he’s never been. While drinking bourbon in a dive bar, he questions the role of fate has in outcomes.
Chapter 8: Ace In The Hole – Darwin arrives in Taos ready to buy Marquez Mountain, but decides after inspecting the hacienda that he’ll pass. Victor, whose been assigned to show Darwin the property, takes him up to the high mountain meadow to seal the deal.
Chapter 9: Building Toward a Rebuilding – While waiting to close on the Marquez Mountain property, Darwin gets busy acquiring everything he needs to survive his first winter in the wilderness.
Chapter 10: Penance Before Reconciliation – Darwin returns to Chicago for Thanksgiving. Gwen is reluctantly drawn into an argument between Darwin and Vincent, and in the process, she hears Darwin’s confession about what happened at Berkeley and why he’s living in isolation in the New Mexico wilderness in winter. The raw intensity of his darkness terrifies Gwen.
Chapter 11: The Art of War – Darwin’s war on rats, while mostly over, still has rebellious flareups. Murphy, his two year old puppy, has become Darwin’s constant companion and while in Red River for ice cream, he has Darwin’s back as Darwin rescues a grocery story clerk from drunk Texans taking way too many liberties. Overall, his efforts to atone for what happened at Berkeley have slowed.
Chapter 12: Road to Redemption – Darwin spends an afternoon in his high-mountain meadow contemplating the causal string of events that brought him to this moment and how they’re tied to the rich history of Marquez Mountain. Somehow, his thought exercise morphs into a reveal of how Anna sees Darwin and the journey he’s on.
Chapter 13: Code Of The West – Darwin elevates himself to sainthood by transferring elk permits to locals. Mateo takes Darwin on practice elk hunt where raging rattlesnakes and an angry earth try to kill him.
Chapter 14: Meet Me In Tangier – Tien unexpectedly arrives at Darwin’s hacienda. She’s come in secret to share with her former mentor, what she’s done and how fate is providing them both an opportunity to balance their ledgers of life. She replays the painful family secret that’s become her burden to reconcile.
Chapter 15: The Coming Singularity – Before Tien even steps out of her rental car, Darwin knows why she’s here. What he doesn’t fully appreciate is just how big of a mess she made trying to fix his Berkeley mess and the extent of the challenges they would face if she can successfully coax him back into technology to deal with the coming singularity.
Chapter 16: Circle of Life – Darwin welcomes Vincent and Ilene for their week-long visit. Darwin proudly walks Vincent through his latest off-grid upgrades while Darwin talks about the challenges of living a self-sustaining life, Vincent reveals struggles he and Ilene is currently dealing with, including their different approaches to parenting Issac.
Chapter 17: When Time Stands Still – When Vincent and Darwin return from spending a wonderful afternoon in the mountains they find out Ilene’s gone back to Chicago. Vincent insists on flying his private plane back that night unaware of the fast moving storm rolling in over the Rockies. On learning Vincent’s plane has crashed, Darwin goes to Chicago to be with Ilene and Issac.
Chapter 18: Everyone Has A Death Story – Darwin invites Anna join him for his annual Remembrance Dinner. Sensing Darwin has something to tell her but doesn’t want to talk about, Anna works hard to get Darwin to reveal why he’s in crisis.
Chapter 19: In Chaos There Is Opportunity – Darwin shows Alfonso, his nearly completed solar panel farm and underground command center built to biblical proportions. Tien joins them to discuss their next steps and the challenges contained in both defining the problem they’re attempting to solve and coming up with viable solutions.
Chapter 20: Synchronicity – Gossip and Machiavellian innuendo weaves it’s way through Darwin’s world building toward a showdown between Anna and Tien that Darwin is at a loss to understand.
Chapter 21: The Subtle Seduction – The rise of Information Oligarchs and the decline of humanity.
Chapter 22: Outliers and Shadow Dancers – For the first time since Berkeley, Darwin’s old team gets back together. To Darwin’s surprise, Basia brings her daughter Camille to their rendezvous. Camille is not only a talented technologist, she’s part of a small French movement whose goal is to warn society about the dangers of technology. She seems to pass Darwin interview/interrogation.
Chapter 23: Cogito Ergo Sum (I Think Therefore, I Am) – The kickoff meeting of Darwin’s reconstituted team begins with Darwin apologizing for what happened at Berkeley before laying out the challenges before them. A week after the rendezvous ends, Darwin ventures up to his high mountain meadow one last time where his fall, as foretold in Marquez Mountain lore, balances the ledger of life.
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