At the heart of Dreamer Books is Tris, a young Neanderthal man living in a world where survival is never guaranteed and comfort is often brief. The Ice Age offers little mercy. Winter lingers, food is uncertain, danger is constant, and even the landscape itself can turn hostile without warning. Yet Tris is not a hero in the grand or dramatic sense. He is something quieter, and perhaps more familiar: a man who rises each day determined to do the best he can for the people who depend on him.
From the beginning, I wanted readers to meet him not as a distant prehistoric figure, but as a person. Because Neanderthals are so often imagined as “other,” I chose a first-person viewpoint, allowing Tris to tell his own story in his own way. Through his eyes, readers experience not only the hardships of his world, but also his dry humor, private doubts, loyalty, patience, and occasional frustration—qualities that make him far more recognizable than many might expect from someone living tens of thousands of years ago.
Although he belongs to another age, Tris faces concerns that remain timeless: how to protect family, how to provide in uncertain seasons, how to make difficult choices when there is no perfect answer, and how to keep moving forward when events seem determined to unravel even the best of intentions. He is thoughtful rather than flashy, steady rather than fearless, and often burdened by responsibilities he never asked for but accepts because someone must.
The series itself began in early 2015, when I drafted what would eventually become an eight-book saga. Since then, ongoing discoveries in paleoanthropology and genetics have continued to reshape our understanding of Neanderthals, and I have tried wherever possible to let that evolving science inform the world of the books. Early popular science often suggested Neanderthals were predominantly red-haired, freckled, and green-eyed—a possibility that seemed unusual but not impossible at the time, so Tris and his family were first imagined with that striking coloring. Later research suggested a wider range of appearance, likely closer to the diversity seen in modern European populations, and newer characters introduced beyond his immediate clan reflect that broader understanding.
That same commitment to realism shapes every part of the series: the environment, the animals, the daily tasks of survival, the materials people used, the limits they faced, and the knowledge they possessed. These are prehistoric novels, but they are built as closely as possible around what archaeology, paleoclimate research, and anthropology suggest life may truly have been like during the Ice Age.
And then there are the dreams, which gave the series its name. Each book opens with a dream that quietly sets the stage for events to come and closes with another that offers a glimpse of what may lie ahead. Within the story world, Dreamers appear only once every few generations and are regarded with special attention by those around them. Tris, however, remains unconvinced. He is practical by nature, skeptical of anything that cannot be tested against daily reality. To him, dreams may be no more than a restless mind at work—though he cannot entirely ignore how often they seem to linger.
Over the years, one of the most rewarding parts of writing Tris has been hearing from readers who recognize something deeply human in him. Men often tell me they understand his instinct to shoulder burdens quietly and keep going because others rely on him. Women frequently write to say they admire his steadiness, his strength, and his inherent kindness.
At his core, Tris is not meant to be extraordinary because he is larger than life, but because he endures life as it comes: thoughtfully and with stubborn determination. In a harsh prehistoric world shaped by ice, hunger, uncertainty, and change, he remains what many of the best heroes are—someone who simply refuses to stop trying.
Discover Dreamer Books: An Ice Age Saga on Patreon! Enjoy twice-weekly podcasts packed with exclusive extras like author insights, original book art, and fascinating deep dives into the science and history behind the story. Tune in every Saturday for Tris's engaging chapter-by-chapter narrations, and join us on Tuesdays for "Author Musings," where the author reflects on the previous chapter. Don't miss this immersive journey into the world of Dreamer Books!
