With her infant in her arms, Henrietta Owens shakes the nation awake with some tough-loving truth about coal, climate change, and the future of humanity. The coal company wants her stopped at any cost. Coal company lawyer Jack Dalton’s morality and career collide as Henrietta rallies people to her cause. The stakes are high: life, death, the extinction of humanity. Jack’s wife crosses the line of loyalty, his daughter lectures him on heroism, the Appalachians foment a revolution, and the ghost of legendary John Henry shows up to haunt him. The climate change countdown is ticking. Political pressures heat up. The sleeping giant of the common man awakens with a roar. One question hammers in Jack’s ears: what are you going to do?
Find Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars here.
Author/Actress Rivera Sun sings the anthem of our times. Steam Drills celebrates the everyday heroes hidden in activists and soccer moms, alike. Rich metaphor and exquisite writing thrust this novel into the realms of literary greatness, while the story grabs the social issues of our times by the collar and shakes them hard. A soaring tribute to the beauty of the human spirit and also a scathing indictment of contemporary American culture, this unforgettable book seizes you at the first page and sends you flying out the other side, refreshed, rejuvenated and empowered to change. Have a good read.
Reviews and Comments from Readers:
“This story draws you in and doesn’t let you go. The language and poetry of the writing is beautiful, descriptive, and pure pleasure to soak in. Each character pops off the page and leaps forward – you root for them and feel inspired by them and their challenges. I had a hard time putting the book down as the suspense grew and hope for each character mounted. The author weaves a tapestry of love and challenge with poetry, sound, and color. The words seem to have this tangible quality – almost like I could put my hands on the loom and feel them. Remarkable and memorable. I highly recommend this inspiring book for the magic it creates and the change it inspires!” – Dawn Hayes
“Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars tells us quite simply how our love for ourselves and others can transform the suffering in this world. No less great than the teachings of all spiritual teachers. A modern story of compassion and possibility for humanity from the heart and soul of Rivera Sun.” – Kathleen Dudley
“I can’t praise Stream Drills highly enough Rivera and it was very generous of you to offer it as a gift for the week around World Earth Day in April. It is a delicious read, beautifully written and tells the story in a novel of the essential adventure of our time, the shift from the industrial growth society to a life sustaining society – The Great Turning, through the eyes of a corporate executive and an environmental activist. I loved every word.” – Cindy Barnes, Futurecurve
“This book is not only poetic social protest in style, it is a template for taking right action in our times. If we did what Henrietta Owens and the other characters in this book ultimately do, we would arrive at a critical juncture of healing our world on so many levels; in fact, we would likely achieve healing of our world and ourSelves on multiple levels. Rivera writes with words that flow over you like gentle waves with their attending potential for incredible power to create huge shifts and change – change to our lives, change to our ways of being, change to our ways of thinking. Her words melt in my heart like good chocolate melts in my mouth. Go ahead. Have some good chocolate. Taste this book. Taste the questions and some possible answers for the serious issues that face us now. You won’t regret it. I promise you.” -Marirose NightSong, Transformational Holistic Care Entrepreneur
Healing Wise Center, Concord NH
“In her debut novel, Rivera uses evocative imagery to draw the reader in to a story of social and environmental justice. With the ethical leanings and human compassion of a Barbara Kingsolver novel, and the imagery a Paul Simon solo album, Rivera’s created a modern tall tale based in the realities of systemic socioeconomic inequities . . .” -Leah Cook
“… the fresh and cliche-free writing deals with how Jack Dalton and Henrietta Owens work their problems out to the benefit of everyone, and in so doing provide a general road map as to how a single person like Gandhi, or Nelson Mandela or a small group of people like the Sierra Club or Greenpeace can have a huge impact on society and the world.” -Guadmour, reviewer at Dandelion Salad (read full review)