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Nickers, The Fish From Far, Far Away

by David J. Nowel

66 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-1121; ISBN 1-55395-406-8; US$11.95, C$15.52, EUR10.09, £6.99

Alex, a young boy living in late 1930 meets an alien in the form of a Fish - Nickers. Nickers tries to help and teach Alex what's in store for the future of Earth.

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about the book      about the author      excerpt      catalogue info

About the Book This is a fable that takes place in Connecticut in the late 1930's. This story of Alex, is a story about learning about the world and learning about one*s family. It is also a story about a young boy who is able to see the magic around him. He finds a friend, Nickers, who is a visitor from another planet, who has taken the form of a fish. Nickers discovers the pleasure of having a voice and with Alex's support learns how to sing opera. He teaches Alex what is in store for Earth's future. This story fits into the adult version, The SpaceStation, Ark series. The book should probably be read by children five years and older. The author has the following titles also available from Trafford: For Males Only, and Spacestation Ark.

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About the Author David Nowel was born in 1935 in New Britain, Connecticut. He received his liberal arts education, Pre-Med, and B.A. in Chemistry and Psychology from Hobart College in Geneva, New York. In 1955, he worked for two years in Hartford, Connecticut at the Institute of Living with some of the best experimental research neurophysiologist, who were from Harvard, M.I.T and Yale. Karl Pribram directed the research projects. He later spent over forty years in the business arena working for well-known biotech, environmental, insurance and financial companies where he draws his inspiration for his writings. Nickers, The Fish, From Far, Far, Away, is his third book and he is in the final editing stages of finishing three more, Before Spacestation, Ark, Kieko, After Spacestation, Ark, Atlantis and Poppy, The Hang Out Girl. David Nowel resides in the Palm Springs area and lives in La Quinta, California.

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Sample Excerpts or Table of Contents

Singing in the Moonlight One evening, at the end of the summer, Alex decided to visit the woods. It was a beautiful warm Indian-summer night. The stars were so bright and glistening that he had the feeling those billions of stars could have lighted everything that was normally hidden by the dark of the night. The big, beautiful moon hung directly over the center of the lake.

Before Alex slipped out, he made sure his door was closed. Things were somewhat disorganized since his grandfather*s death. He was sure that no one would miss him. He wouldn*t be missed because everyone in his household was an early riser. They naturally went to bed early. It didn't matter that it was a beautiful night. In fact, they were sound asleep as soon as the sun set. When he arrived, he saw all of his animal friends.They were assembled at the edge of the lake. He sat right in the middle of them. He chose a place that was soft and sandy. Pie crawled up and wound himself around his body till he could perch his head on Alex's shoulder so he could look straight out. Sammy, the owl, flew over and perched himself on his other shoulder. Fumbus, his favorite little fox, crawled up on his lap.
The moon popped out from behind a cloud. It acted like a spotlight on the high rock in the middle of the lake. At exactly that moment, Nickers popped out of the water, right onto the rock. He glistened magnificently in the moonlight. His scales always sparkled, but tonight in the glow of the powerful moonlight, it seemed as if the sparkling light was coming from inside his body and not from outside. Yes, it looked like he was lit from the inside out. There was applause from the audience because they knew a performance was coming.
Nickers started to bow. The audience erupted in louder cheers. All Alex could hear was Pie hissing loudly near his ear and Sammy hooting. Nickers slowly bowed first from the left and then to the right. All the noise from the different animals was a symphony that sounded as if it came from a different world. It was not a world that Alex was familiar with. He could only guess the effect this was having on Nickers. For him, he felt as if he would explode. It was a very unusual feeling; it was like crying, without crying. Finally, for some unknown reason, everything was silent just after Nickers finished making many bows to his fans. The crickets and all the other sounds were quiet. One could hear a pin drop now. Everything got so quiet you could hear the gentle shoop of water hitting the shore. It was a wonderfully clear Indian-summer night. Not a touch of a chill in the air. There was something wonderful about being outdoors on such clear night. The air was like a very soft blanket that seemed to protect you. It also carried the wonderful smells of many plants.

Alex knew this might be Nickers' last performance. It was the end of the warm season and even though there was no bite in the air, which is a telltale sign, that winter would soon be here.

As always, the end of October seemed to be the best.The perfect balance of the longer day and the very beautiful clear nights.One could read all of it in the stars.

He had become familiar with Nickers singing techniques because he sang to him every time he could. He just loved to sing. All that practicing paid off. He had developed quite a range. In the last months, he brought him sheet music to practice with. He found all kinds of sheet music at home. He also would borrow it from other people.There were many Italians that lived in their town and they were very fond of music.They seemed anxious to share their culture with other people. It was known that he even attempted to sing a few operas. He had developed a very beautiful clear sound. His phrasing of most of the sounds was as beautiful as anything he would ever hear. Alex would listen for hours and Nickers felt honored to have such an absorbed fan, including the audience of all the animals in the forest.

Nickers began his first song. It was an Italian song, "O Sole Mio." Alex's mother was an admirer of music, so he knew he had a very unusual ability to sing tenor, baritone, base and soprano. He sang something from "Madame Butterfly," again, another one of his mother's favorites. He had perfected something new for this performance. This would be a new treat for Alex. Just like a ventriloquist had mastered the art of throwing his voice, he had taken that ability to another level. He could not only sing tenor, soprano, baritone and base, the unbelievable part was that he could sing with five to six different voices at the same time. It seemed as if there were five to six different people singing and they all came from his tiny little body. This trick was particularly effective when he sang an opera.

By now, Alex had become very familiar with operas. His Italian friends and families seemed to listen to them all of the time, especially pieces by a composer whom they called Verdi. He was familiar with how Verdi had several voices singing together. He was not quite sure what they were singing about, but he appreciated the sound and the way the voices seemed to blend with one another. This Operatic kind of music seemed to have a strange effect on his feelings.

He wished his mother could have been there with him because he knew she would have enjoyed this performance. Somehow he knew this performance could never be equaled. For a little boy, this was a marvelous introduction to music, it would last him a lifetime. Somewhere in the middle of the performance, other animals added their own musical sounds.

The crickets' volume was the loudest. They were extremely high pitched that could hardly be heard by the human ear but their effect was wonderful. They created certain feelings, the lightening bugs created a beautiful dance of flashing lights that fit in with the music.

What a night. What a beautiful Indian summer.

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Catalogue Information

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