The '60s and '70s were epic times: the Apollo Moon Flights and our own Trojan War, followed by a personal and national search for homecoming.
Epimetheus, whose name means Afterthought, lived in his car because he wished to be a singer. His car, a '68 Ford Falcon, is a trifling detail until Apollo 15 launched lunar lander Falcon and its extraterrestrial Rover. Anon, a Chrissian prophet detailed the expected landing. And oracles: "A little later, Falcon will give birth to the Rover." O, Epi thrilled to hear Apollo's call! No, he is not Homer, but he is a rovering rhapsode e'er stitching his tale, and he is meant to sing of Apollo.
Apollo, who calls us to know ourselves, and act on that knowledge.
Greek and Roman myths shape Epi's story. The gods are ready if called. Characters from Spenser's "Faerie Queene" return as vital and devitalizing. It is hoped that readers not familiar with these gods and villains will welcome an introduction, characters who evolve and devolve, giving names to our hopes and fears. By whatever names, they cheer or sabotage Epi's Quest. His great venture started as a material quest, to fly to his own Moon, but failures and rage led him, slowly, to cry for guidance. If his mind can make his life a hell, it can also, by divine grace, help transform the Furies to the Eumenides, or Workers of Grace.
True homecoming is more than a personal dream. Epi is inspired by countless people who have found their homecoming by daring to live their most demanding dreams (dreams that include a nightmare or two). Their stories are sometimes hinted in headlines, hence expanding the book beyond common bounds: 746 pages that include three brief Epi Logs (with 39 pages of notes available online).
Epi's Quest is modeled on the Odyssean search for homecoming, its structure built on the foundation of Dante's "Commedia": 100 canticles in three books: books one and two have 33 canticles each, the third book 34.
Who knows: You may find even your story within.
(Commedia Edition; earlier editions not available. This edition is also a Reader's Edition. Nothing here is in stone. An epic seeks to capture the voice and experience of a people. As oral rhapsodes were forever altering their song, so your comments and critiques can lift "Falcon Birth" into higher harmony.)