Killing the Whale (Tales of Human Madness)

By Giuseppe Cristiano

Are there any heroes left in the world? We ask ourselves this on a daily basis. In is book, we look at the stories of two men, born into entirely different generations, who are unfortunately more alike than our planet needs.

Two men who make calls no one else would make, who look at whales as a trophy. A prize that can be won, that can be used to give themselves a boost.

But what happens to the rest of the world as these men change the very course of history?

And more importantly, what happens to the whales themselves?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Seagull Editions
• Release date: May 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223029076

Book preview

To my family, who have always supported my dreams to bring stories like this one in to the world, and to all those who have tried to advocate for both the planet, the ocean, and the creatures that live in them. We have lost so much beauty in the world, but I hope that these stories will help prevent us from losing that last little bit of it.

Amada’s story may be fated to end a certain way, but there is still time to change ours. I hope that we are able to do exactly that.

Forward – Of The Whale Song’s Beauty

There is something about whales that has always captivated human kind. Perhaps it is their massive size. After all, the blue whale is the largest animal to ever inhabit the ocean, and one of the largest ones to have ever been on earth – period. And they move through the water with such a set amount of grace, despite their massive size and their bulky shape.

They are complex singers with long life spans; their beauty recognized in the fact that hundreds of whale watching cruises are launched out to the ocean each year. Their worth recognized in the way that the Inuit use them to sustain their people through the long winter months.

And yet, as humans are prone to doing with things that they love, things that they find beautiful... We have managed to cut back on the population of whales as a whole until it has reached dangerously low straights. Right now, there are only around four hundred North American Right Whales left in the ocean. Other species have already been completely pushed to the brink of extinction.

The expansion of our water ways, the on going pollution, and a swathe of over hunting have all contributed to these grand creatures certain doom. We have tried to advocate for them, but our efforts came too late for many, and there are now entire species of whale that we are unable to get back. Species that will be gone from this planet forever.

These numbers will continue to decrease as the years pass by. The once sought out song of the whale will become harder and harder to hear. Eventually, if things do not change, there will be no songs left.

One day, the ships will venture out in search of it, and they will simply find nothing.

And in this book, I show you not only the first hunt of the whales, majestic as they are, but also... the last.

The First Whale Hunt

The First Whale Hunt – Chapter One

A Whale Spotted At Dawn

Early morning light casts over the bay, catching on the waters that slowly lap against the frosted shore. Aki stands on a rocky outcropping just above the bay, watching a strange shape drift through the water. It’s larger than any other animal that the hunter has ever seen before, and through its sheer size alone, he knows that it must be a whale.

The elders in his village speak of them often; the creatures that have been gifted to the ocean to guard it, who nourish the waters and those who inhabit it. Sacred, he’s been told, countless times over.

And yet...

Aki is hungry.

His entire village is hungry.

There is a famine. The heavy gales of winter came two months too soon, and their stores of food were not ready for it. Just three days prior, he watched a young woman collapse as she did the laundry, for she was simply that over come with the exhaustion, the hunger, and the grief that has settled over their village.

The whale is large. This one, it’s clearly just a babe. Yet Aki is certain that it would still feed the entire village twice over. And the thick stores of fat that cling to the whale’s body, that could be used to help light their lanterns, to burn fires whose warmth can save them as the weather grows that much harsher.

The wind kicks up, catching on Aki’s long, tangled hair. It sweeps it around his face and the length of his neck. He crouches down, bracing one knee against the stone. The sun has heated it. He curls his fingers around the edge of the cliff to help steady him.

The whale breaches the water. There’s a spout of it shot in to the air, and then a haunting tune that cuts through the otherwise silent morning. It drifts up, carried by the wind – and to most, this song would melt the heart. It would prove that there was a reason to believe that these creatures might have really been gifted to them as guardians of the sea, a creature straight from the gods.

But Aki does not see it the same way.

What he sees is an animal, same as any other. Same as the deer,