The Great Turtle and the White Bird is an uplifting short story for readers of all ages.A vast flood covers all the land, leaving behind no place for turtles or birds to lay their eggs or build a nest. An old turtle and one bird discover that of all the creatures who survived, they alone share a concern about the future of their offspring. As a selfless gift for the generations to come, the two unlikely heroes from different worlds work together to create a new land. This short creation fable was written while researching and drafting my historical novel Storykeeper.

"A stunning novel and a joy to read" Helen Hollick, Managing Editor - Historical Novel Society (Editor's Choice)"Smith writes fluidly, and the society he depicts is intriguingly complex." - Kirkus ReviewsThe first recorded Europeans to cross the Mississippi River reached the western shore on June 18, 1541. Hernando De Soto and his army of three hundred and fifty conquistadors spent the next year and a half conquering the nations in the fertile flood plains of eastern Arkansas.Three surviving sixteenth-century journals written during the expedition detailed a complex array of twelve different nations. Each had separate beliefs, languages, and interconnected villages with capital towns comparable in size to European cities of the time. Through these densely populated sites, the Spanish carried a host of deadly old-world diseases, a powerful new religion, and war.No other Europeans ventured into this land until French explorers arrived one hundred and thirty years later. They found...