FINAL BOOK OF THE GITCH GUMEE TRILOGY AVAILABLE NOW
"The Gitche Gumee Diaries: The Secrets of Velvet LeBlanc" is now available in softcover for purchase both on this website (available in about a week from the order) and on preorder on Amazon (available on November 1). The ebook is available on Kindle on September 13.
in the arms of gitche gumee
A Novel by James Hill
Evangeline LeBlanc is a First American woman who lived her entire life in a tiny Michigan town perched on the southern shore of Lake Superior. However, her destiny was not to live a sheltered and uncomplicated life in northern Michigan. The waves of Gitche Gumee (Lake Superior) had other plans for her. Her spiritually inspired journey was both painful and turbulent, but one which would eventually lead her to the nation's capital and prepare her for the pivotal role she would play in the 2024 Presidential election.
SAVING GITCHE GUMEE: THE UNRAVELING OF A GREAT LAKES MYSTERY
Sequel to “In the Arms of Gitche Gumee”
THE GITCHE GUMEE DIARIES: SECRETS OF VELVET LeBLANC
This novel concludes the political and spiritual journey of First American Congresswoman Velvet LeBlanc and her quest to protect Gitche Gumee (Lake Superior) from an environmental calamity amidst the 2024 U.S. Presidential election.
“SAVING GITCHE GUMEE: THE UNRAVELING OF THE GREAT LAKES MYSTERY” AVAILABLE NOW!
fun facts about gitche gumee
4.13.23. As we approach Earth Day (which is also my birthday), there are some factual environmental issues in both my current novel “In the Arms of Gitche Gumee” and the sequel due out this summer “Saving Gitche Gumee” that deserve highlighting.
My post today addresses one of those issues.
Lake Superior has been the dumping ground for private and governmental entities for decades.
One prominent example is the U.S. government’s dumping of “munitions waste” into Lake Superior around the Duluth, Minnesota area. This dumping began in the late 195O’s and has been the subject of numerous investigations by the media and many environmental and tribal groups.
My novels use the actual historical dumping by the U.S. Corps of Engineers as the foundation for spinning a dark, conspiracy-laden tale that Velvet uncovers when she enters the Washington political scene in order to save her beloved Gitche Gumee.
4.9.23. Between now and the publication of my sequel novel, Saving Gitche Gumee, I periodically want to post some fun facts about the origins of the Gitche Gumee novels. I began with the premise that the legal and the environmental issues are real, such as the steps following a failed Electoral College election and the many environmental issues facing the upper peninsula of Michigan. But to avoid partisan bias, I placed the bulk of the novel timeframe in the future and did not use politicians’ names, except the fictional ones.
April 9: So the first question that several readers posed was could an Electoral College failure really lead to the absurdity described in the Arms of Gitche Gumee. The answer is yes, and after the 2020 Presidential election that should not surprise you. The origins of the novel predated the 2020 election but validated my premise and concern that we have an Electoral College that is no longer relevant in the highly partisan environment we now face.
My next post will address some of the environmental issues I raise in the novel. Stay tuned.
About JAMES
James Hill was born and spent his early adult life in Michigan’s rural Upper Peninsula. Growing up in a small town within a one-hour drive of three of the Great Lakes, he developed a love of northern Michigan that stayed with him, even after he left for college and then to Washington D.C. to pursue his other passion: politics.
Working first in the U.S. Senate and then the U.S. House of Representatives, he developed a keen instinct for politics and political processes, which he drew upon when he returned to Michigan as a university professor and a political consultant for several state and federal campaigns.
Hill worked as a political science professor for over three decades, researching and publishing academic articles on environmental politics. Upon his retirement, he and his wife Kathy moved to the Chicago area where he composed this political novel, a unique exploration of the frailty of selecting a President through the Electoral College.
