The Way Between is a story that reached deep inside and literally grabbed my heart because it speaks to our common humanity and validates the belief that there is a another way than the course we are on. Ari Ara had the courage to insist upon making something that everybody wanted a reality when they thought it couldn't be done. And that's what we need now in these times of crisis, to know that if this and that aren't working, it is within our power to choose another way. ~ Margaret Flowers, M.D., Co-Founder/Editor Popular Resistance

Generations of young adults will be helped to find the nonviolent way in the adventures of Ari Ara; and we will all be so greatly in debt to Rivera. ~ Michael Nagler, author of Search for a Nonviolent Future; founder of Metta Center for Nonviolence

A thought-provoking book with the pluckiest red-haired heroine this side of Little Orphan Annie. The Way Between turns the fantasy genre on its ear by not giving us what we've come to expect (set piece battles, ogres and dragons) but what we need to learn. ~ Burt Kempner, Children's Book Author

The Way Between is an inspired fantasy masterpiece...woven within the story of nonviolence is a beautiful coming of age tale that is heart-warming and inspiring. ~ Angela Parker, mother and Board Member of the Social Justice Center of Marin

The story is set in a far off mystical land but it is indeed a story of modern day struggles and the human condition. A most excellent book. ~ Larsen Prip, Veteran for Peace

Thank you so much for giving me, my family, and the world this wonderful story! ~ Adam Vogal. Fellowship of Reconciliation, National Council Member

A perfect book to inspire our future generations in understanding there is a way beyond war and conflict. ~ Robin Farrin

I just finished the delightful reading of The Way Between! I don't yet have the right words to express my admiration . . . thank you! Can't wait for the sequel! ~ Nancy Audette

I loved the book. I am an Aikido practitioner and I found it inspired me in my practice and other areas of my life. ~ John Mazzola

Stellar storytelling! Inspiration for young people and grownups alike. ~ Maja Bengtson, Nonviolence Coach

Rivera Sun is an amazing storyteller and The Way Between is an incredible elucidation of the possibilities when we look beyond the ways of war & conflict! ~ Pamela Twining

She writes like a young Ursula LeGuin! Many thanks for your work and your words! ~ Ken Kailing

We live in a time of fascinating contradictions. We need stories to help us discover, create, and be new ways. Rivera Sun's great new book offers just that for the young, the young at heart, the caring and the curious. The Way Between is a GREAT read and another important book for our times. ~ Cindy Reinhardt

I sat on the edge of my seat, laughed, cried and learned. This book is something special! ~ Beverly Campbell

This novel should be read aloud to everyone, by everyone, from childhood onward... Rivera Sun writes in a style as magical as Tolkien and as authentic as Twain. ~ Tom Hastings, Director of PeaceVoice, Professor of Conflict Studies at Portland State University

Rivera Sun has, once again, used her passion for nonviolence, and her talent for putting thoughts into powerful words on a page, to recreate life, to show us the possibilities that can be, if we dedicate ourselves to The Way Between. ~ Robin Wildman, Fifth Grade Teacher, Nonviolent Schools Movement, and Nonviolence Trainer

A wonderful book! It is so rare to find exciting fiction for young people and adults that shows creative solutions to conflict and challenges violence with active nonviolence and peace. Ari Ara is a delightful character and this story is a gem. ~ Heart Phoenix, River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding

A beautiful story that expands the imagination into the possibilities of peace and active nonviolence . . . this book will prepare our children and ourselves for the real-life world we so desperately need. ~ David Hartsough, Founder Nonviolent Peaceforce, author of Waging Peace

I love the book! It's a great adventure tale, with all the elements of a classic legend, and an even more important message. ~ Michael Colvin, Fellowship of Reconciliation, National Council Member

The Way Between is a compelling and wise articulation of the human sojourn . . . a dispatch from a mythic dimension of archaic longing and potential that calls us to our truest selves. ~ Ken Butigan, Pace e Bene/Campaign Nonviolence

Nonviolence is a treasure hidden right under our noses that can help solve—not just some-- all of the challenges the world is facing. Imagine the sheer wonder of making this great discovery. Rivera Sun skillfully shows us The Way. ~ Stephanie N. Van Hook, Director of the Metta Center for Nonviolence; author of Gandhi Searches for Truth: A Practical Biography for Children

Please enjoy your adventure with Ari Ara and The Way Between You will love this book! 

***

New Stories for a New Era, a Review of The Way Between

By: Tom H. Hastings, Ed.D., Director, PeaceVoice Program, Oregon Peace Institute

This novel should be read aloud to everyone, by everyone, from childhood onward. It is an auspicious beginning to a new mythology of peace, of justice, of inclusion, of conversion and transformation.

Rivera Sun's care for the unobtrusive embedding of the theories of change, of the principles of conflict transformation, and the way of the human heart all conspire to allow for a tale that will inspire. It is ancient and magical and legendary. It flips the glory of big men waging war into the valorization of powerless tween girls waging peace, the sacralization of bloody combat into the lionization of nonviolent heart and mind power. It does so credibly, which is the stumbling block to most fiction writers trying to achieve what Rivera Sun actually does manage to do here.

If the reader were told at the outset that an 11-year-old girl would defeat the mightiest warrior of the nation without inflicting any pain or harm this is in a medieval time of swords and teapots, warriors and monasteries you would not continue reading. But by the time it happens, you have been prepared by Sun's artful storytelling to accept even expect and demand just that outcome. Like any good plot master, Sun describes many setbacks, much potential, lots of inner conflicting emotions, but it's all undergirded by the unflinching idealism of youth.

The girl is mixed ethnicity and raised by a third people, thus bearing the strengths and some of the challenges of all three peoples, all of whom have been either in conflict or avoiding one another. What is so poignant is that the girl is not accepted too much by any group, the forest people raise her but she is not one of them and cannot follow them to their wintering place, the village boys torment her, the monastery warriors-in-training taunt her and even beat her in her early training phases but her idealism and her potential push her toward her own special destiny. The girl is the underdog at every turn but we learn to expect her to rise to meet all challenges.

Her flash of serendipitous and even accidental brilliance convinces a great warrior to take her as apprentice and he teaches her the ancient, all-but-forgotten, Way Between neither the violence of the warrior nor the avoidance of the coward. No, there is no didactic artifice to teach us the particulars of principled negotiation, CLARA de-escalation, peer mediation, Sharpian or Kingian strategic civil resistance or any other of the researched competencies in the field of Peace and Conflict Studies, even though Sun is in her professional life profoundly knowledgeable of all this. Rather, Rivera Sun writes in a style as magical as Tolkien and as authentic as Twain. The reader is not once bludgeoned with the zealot s pontificating but rather is drawn to love the characters and the conclusions. This book, along with her instant classic The Dandelion Insurrection will be on the reading list next time I teach Peace Novels, my favorite summer class. Sun's appendices carry all the theoretical, competency-based, and practical teachings that she wove invisibly in to her tale. She helps the reader achieve the education necessary to reify her yarn and it makes it an invitational, educational, volume. Required reading for those wishing to be the countervailing message and meaning as we head into the Age of the Avenging Autocrat.

Read it soon. We need you to pass it along. Tom Hastings, Director, PeaceVoice News Syndicate, Jan 19, 2017

Dancing The Way Between Falling Snow – an excerpt from the novel.

The days turned cold and the nights colder still. Frost drew its icy hand over the monastery, the forest, and the village. Ari Ara crept with trepidation around Shulen, haunted by what she had seen that night in the ravine. The Stone One stalked the monastery in a dark mood. Ari Ara rose at dawn for their training sessions cautiously and quietly. Shulen did not seem to notice. Perhaps he enjoyed a break from her regular impertinence. She responded to his suggestions attentively and found his explanations offered with patience. The urge to rail against his hard, stern ways subsided. Ari Ara didn’t have the heart for it; she had seen the Stone One cry.

The Old Monk Mountain’s bald head turned white with high altitude snows. One morning, Shulen slid back the door to her closet room and told her to get up quickly.

“Today you learn to dodge snowflakes.”

As the sky greyed over the mountains, he took her to the small field to the east of the monastery. Ari Ara’s breath hung on the air. The clouds thickened. A few flakes tumbled from the sky.

“Watch,” Shulen said gently.

He spread his arms and waited. A tiny snowflake wafted downward. Shulen turned delicately around it as it spiraled to the ground.

Ari Ara couldn’t help but smile. The Great Warrior . . . dodging snowflakes! A peal of delighted laughter rang out across the field as Shulen spun in a slow, languorous circle around the next flake. He grinned back at her and swiveled to move out of the path of another tiny white speck.

“Come, join me,” he invited. “My father taught me this, long ago.”

Ari Ara blinked. She could not imagine Shulen as a boy with a father who would teach him Azar among the swirling snow. The grey-haired Stone One wore a bittersweet expression as he reached out his hand to guide a flake to the frozen earth. He rolled over his left shoulder to avoid the next one.

Ari Ara joined him and soon discovered that it was far more difficult than Shulen made it appear. She could hardly see the tiny flakes – though they glared white against the black wool of her Fanten shepherdess cloak when they landed. The delicate lace of the snow was so lightweight that the back draft of her motions pulled the flakes toward her. They flipped and swooped in the slightest breath of air, catching her off guard. Ari Ara would have given it up for impossible if Shulen hadn’t been demonstrating it beside her.

They spun slowly in the almost silent hush of snow. Shulen spoke only once.

“You must be lighter than air and twice as sensitive. Move slow, even when they fall fast.”

It was strange and exhilarating. It was like the day among the leaves, but softer, subtler. She had to sense the presence of the nearly invisible flakes. At one moment, she felt the lift of the breeze and let it carry her along with the snow.

Then she saw it. The pattern snapped into alignment in her mind. Instead of moving away from the flakes, she tumbled with them, as part of them, maintaining her space within their dance, falling between them.

In the quiet, Shulen began to speak of the legends and myths of the old masters of Azar. There was a time when they spun through the world lighter and thicker than falling snowflakes. There were men and women, both, who could follow the Way Between with such grace and skill that they could fly on the wind and walk through walls. The followers of Azar danced on water and traveled through dreams. They could see into the future, turn invisible, and heal the dying with a single touch.

A true follower of Azar, Shulen murmured as he spun in the snow, could find the Way Between solid rock. In the driest peaks of the desert mountains, he or she could entice water to come singing out of stone.

He glanced at the child, whirling in the beauty of myths and snow, cheeks as red as her hair, blue-grey gaze seeing the masters of Azar in every swirl of wind. Her eyes shone with the stories of ancient times. Ari Ara’s grin curled across her face. A crack split in the Stone One, hair-thin, but irreparable. Without knowing it, she had found the Way Between the hard armor of Shulen’s heart.

The snow thickened. The wind kicked up. In seconds, both she and Shulen were covered with flakes. The temple bell rang out.

“Good work, kitten,” Shulen commented as they walked back down to the monastery. He let his hand fall on her head, giving her a pat of approval. “Even Emir Miresh never mastered the art of dancing the Way Between the Snow.”

Read the rest of the story by getting a copy of The Way Between!

The Way Between

Author's Note and Q & A with Author Rivera Sun

 Everybody loves a good story. Action, adventure, mystery, magic, great characters, moments of courage, heroics, heart . . . human beings delight in stories. Since time immemorial, we've been spinning legends, myths, epics, sagas to inspire and educate our populaces.

 And, after four thousand or so years of war, violence, and conquest, it's time for some new stories. Our literature needs a 21st century update. If we look around the world today, the most exciting adventures of our times are unfolding in nonviolent movements for change. Gandhi liberating India from British Rule; the American Civil Rights Movement; Leymah Gbowee and the Liberian Mass Action for Peace ending the Second Liberian Civil War; Estonia's Singing Revolution and the 50 nonviolent revolutions that have happened in the last 30 years.

 New research shows that nonviolent action is on the rise . . . and violence is on the decline. And, nonviolence is proving to be twice as effective as violence in achieving the very socio-political goals so often depicted in our epic literature: stopping invasions, overthrowing tyrants, and liberating populaces. So, it's time to stop making our children read King Arthur and Robin Hood, Hercules and Odysseus, and to start writing new stories that reflect the reality of our world today.

 The Way Between is a story for our times. It offers the younger generations (and ourselves) the values of peace and nonviolence, anti-bullying, compassion, inclusion and belonging. It challenges war, violence, discrimination, and prejudice. The story has all the beauty of the great stories of old: adventure, action, challenges, courage, the mythic, secrets and mysteries, surprises, friendships, connection; but without the outdated glorification of swords and warriors.

 In our modern world, we need stories, heroes and heroines, myths and legends, that offer the viable, amazing skills of peacebuilding, unarmed peacekeeping, restorative justice, conflict resolution, nonviolence and nonviolent action. Around the world, there are hundreds and thousands of stories of real people making change and confronting injustice through these skills. Our literature must rise to the times. Every school child should be dreaming about civil disobedience instead of sword fighting; boycotts instead of bombs.

 As an author, my pen is bent to this task, flying across the page to rewrite the cultural mythologies in our literature. If our children and our populace is to be trained for the world that is emerging, then we must put the tools of peace and active nonviolence in their hands, hearts, minds, dreams, and stories, today.

 Rivera Sun

Q & A with Author Rivera Sun

What inspired Azar, the Way Between?

The Way Between is inspired by a common phrase in the field of conflict studies. "Between fight and flight, there's a third option." That third option is nonviolent action, which is neither passivity nor violence. It confronts injustice and oppression without adding more violence, injustice, or oppression to the world. It's a powerful force, and people are increasingly using it to resolve socio-political problems around the globe. It is being used more often than violence, and is proving to be twice as effective as violence in achieving some major goals, such as overthrowing dictators, ending occupations, and expelling foreign invasions. The Way Between is a 21st century update to our love of fantasy stories. We've got better options than violence that still include all the courage, action, adventure, cleverness, and danger that humanity still seems to love in its stories.

 Going further, there are really two aspects of your question: inner and outer Azar. Inner Azar is a blend of meditation, peace training, nonviolent conflict resolution, de-escalation skills, restorative justice, nonviolent struggle, truth and reconciliation, peacebuilding, and more.

 Outer Azar, the physical form, is a blend from many sources. Aikido, of course, but also Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art form. Capoeira was driven underground during the colonial period of Brazil's history and turned into a dance. In it, the two dancers whip around each other swiftly with flying arms and legs! However, the point is to come close to striking without actually hitting one another. It's incredible. Another influence on Azar is modern dance, which I studied for many years.  

 Were you like Ari Ara as a child?

Great question! I've got red hair and a temper. I'm well-versed in nonviolent action. I even had a couple of sheep when I was younger. I love to move, mostly in dance. But, I also love to read and write and learned to do so at a young age (unlike Ari Ara). I was also (believe it or not) incredibly shy when I was eleven. I also had two loving parents who taught me a lot about peace, justice, and nonviolence. My mother taught me not to use violence. (That temper of mine was leading me into some not very nice behaviors toward my younger brothers.) My father was a peace activist and a conscientious objector. They were parent of a generation of parents who debunked the myth of "spare the rod, spoil the child" and refused to spank any of their children. They found other options for resolving our household conflicts over chores or disputes. It was a formative upbringing, and one for which I am very grateful.

 What's the backstory on the Fanten?

The Fanten were inspired by some research I did on Celtic sagas and legends. There were references to earlier races of people, some of which became demi-gods or the Faer Folk as time went on. I imagine, however, that at the time of the sagas, they were much less vague and far more human. The Fanten are a culture hovering at the edge of another dominant culture (the Marianans), maintaining their identity, but with some difficulties. As we look around our world today, I think we see this story playing out in many different cultures in thousands of different ways. I think it's an important subject to explore.

 Have you ever trained in martial arts?

I have not. I trained in modern dance in college, and spent seven years running a professional dance theater company in central California. Just down the street from my house was an aikido studio. On warm days, they used to open the wide, shuttered doors and I could watch the practices from the end of my driveway. There was a fierce beauty to the movement that I admired, but I was busy training in dance at the time.

 Is there a real life inspiration for the character of Minli?

When I was in college, I had a friend with a prosthetic leg. He was - and still is - an amazing musician. Every time we went to campus, we had to go up and over a huge hill to get there. I could never make it up all the way on my bike. My friend used to laugh at me because he - with his one leg! - could. I've never forgotten that, nor the lessons I've learned from people with different abilities than my own.

 Why did you choose to make Ari Ara unable to read?

My mother learned to read in fourth grade. One of my friends in high school taught herself to read as a teenager by starting with "The Lord of the Rings". I have another friend who just learned to read recently and she's in her forties! So, I think it's important to uplift the idea that people learn different skills at different times in their lives.

 Also, our culture puts a lot of emphasis on the importance of reading and writing and mathematics and science. There are many other kinds of knowledge and learning, however. In the book, Ari Ara has a "genius for movement". I've known dancers like that, or martial artists. Some people are incredible musicians or painters or cooks or carpenters. Others have incredible skills at healing or deep listening or mentoring. I think we can do better at celebrating the different kinds of intelligence and the different skills that humanity carries. We will be a richer and more balanced society if we do.

 The other reason Ari Ara struggles to learn to read and write is because we often see highly talented people and assume that they are perfect and never have any challenges. However, more often than note, when people excel at one skill set, they struggle at another. Understanding this helps us see ourselves in a similar light, and gives us the ability to both celebrate our strengths and acknowledge our weaknesses.

 What about Shulen? Where did he come from?

I am honored to have many friends who are members of Veterans for Peace, an organization of men and women who have served in the US military who organize for and advocate peace. One thing they have taught me is the vast differences between the popular culture's mythologies about soldiers or warriors, and the realities they experienced. I have two friends, in particular, who have meant a lot to me, and I wanted to honor them with a character that follows a similar journey to what I have heard them discuss.

 Are the Desert People a reference to our current conflicts in the Middle East?

Not directly, though there are many insights to be drawn from the parallels that do occur. The Desert People in this book are mainly understood through the lens of the Marianans . . . which isn't always accurate and is often very prejudiced. Many times in the book, Shulen challenges Ari Ara and others to look beyond their preconceptions or to withhold judgment until they are better informed. I feel that this is very true for our real world, wherever there is conflict. We often dehumanize our "enemies" as our nation prepares to launch wars. Conversely, the process of building peace often includes increasing understanding on both sides of a conflict. In another book in this series, we'll hear the Desert People's side of the story. Stay tuned.

 Are the Stories of the Third Brother written down anywhere?

They should be! All of the stories mentioned in the novel are adaptations from real life stories. The tale of Alaren and the bandits is loosely based on Vinoba Bhave and JK Narayan and the Dacoits of India. The truth-telling is inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation processes that have been used in South Africa and other places. The story of the blacksmiths, of course, is straight out of the famous Biblical line in Isaiah: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and study war no more. There are hundreds more. Adapting these real-life examples into Stories of the Third Brother would be a wonderful writing project at some point. (Note: Many of the stories are now available as The Adventures of Alaren, the perfect companion volume to the Ari Ara Series.)

 In the book, followers of the Way Between were persecuted for promoting peace. Where did that idea come from?

During the Vietnam War, the Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh and his fellow practitioners of Engaged Buddhism, attempted to stop the war and provide humanitarian relief to all sides. They were killed by both sides, repressed, imprisoned, and exiled. However, their efforts played a very important role in building the peace movement's opposition to the war. There are many other examples of peace activists being persecuted for advocating peace and the end of wars. Henry David Thoreau, for example, was jailed for refusing to pay a war tax for a war he viewed as unjust; it is from this experience that the word "civil disobedience" came into being.

 So, will there be a sequel?

Absolutely! It's a series. As readers can tell by the first book, the story is far from over!

Discussion Questions for Classrooms and Book Groups

 Bullying

During her time at Monk's Hand Monastery, Ari Ara is bullied by an older student named Brol.

 What are some of the ways she tries to handle the conflict?

 What works and doesn't work?

 What are her reflections on how she could have best resolved the situation?

 What are some other ways Ari Ara could have addressed the bullying that she doesn't think to use in the book?

 Reflection: When have you been bullied in your own life? How did you handle it?

 Conflict Resolution and Peace

In the book, there are three ways to handle conflict: Attar, Anar, and Azar. They represent approaches of fight, flight, or a third option. In our real world, we call this active nonviolence.

 What are the three ways of handling conflict? Describe them in your own words.

 Where have you seen examples of the third option? How was it used in the novel?

 In the book, Ari Ara believes that Azar can be used from the smallest personal conflicts to the largest political disputes between nations. How might this work in her world? How might it work in ours?

 There is a saying, "Conflict is inevitable; violence is optional". Do you agree or disagree? Why?

 Reflection: Where have you used any of the three ways to handle conflict in your own life?

War & Violence

Throughout the book, the characters are very concerned with the looming War of Reclamation. What is leading to the war?

 Mariana is a war culture society. It glorifies war, violence, and fighting. What are some of the ways that they glorify the warriors and fighting?

 In Mariana, war, Attar, and warriors are very important. This, however, causes them to neglect other aspects of their culture. What are some of the things that are neglected while the Marianans are emphasizing war?

 Shulen is a veteran of many wars. What are some of his reflections on war and violence throughout the book? How has his perspective on war changed over time?

 There are many reasons Marianans and the Desert People are fighting with one another. What are some of these reasons?

 Reflection: In our world, what are some causes of war? Do we live in a war culture? Do we glorify war and violence, and in what ways?

Nonviolence

In the novel, peace studies and nonviolence are described by Azar, the Way Between. What is the Way Between? What are some of the ways that it is used throughout the book?

 Reflection: What are some examples of nonviolence in our world?

 Peace Activists

In the history of Mariana, Alaren's descendants were persecuted for working for peace. Why do you think this was?

 Reflection: When have peace activists been persecuted in our history?

Discrimination and Prejudice

The Fanten face numerous examples of prejudice and discrimination. What are some of these examples?

 Minli is a one-legged orphan growing up in a world that prizes physical strength. How does he face discrimination because of his leg?

 What are some of the prejudices the Marianans hold about the Desert People? How do these beliefs affect their willingness to go to war?

 What are some other examples of discrimination and prejudice in the book?

 Reflection: What are some ways that people in our real world face discrimination and prejudice? What are some ways that you personally have either discriminated against someone else or faced discrimination?

Belonging and Exclusion

Ari Ara's name means, not this, not that. She often feels excluded from the different groups in the valley. What are some examples of this? How does she deal with them?

 What are some of the ways Ari Ara overcomes her feeling of exclusion and finds a sense of belonging?

 Reflection: When have you felt a sense of either belonging or exclusion?

 Ability and Diversity

Ari Ara and Minli strike a deal: he will teach her how to read and she will teach him outer Azar. Look at the description of the different strengths of each character. What are these strengths and weaknesses? How do the two friends support each other with their unique strengths, and help each other deal with their weaknesses?

 Reflection: What are your strengths? What are you really good at? What challenges you?