Jacket Design by Michael N. Candland
Cover illustration and interior art by Sharon McCall

Pleiades Rising
a novel by Christine Candland

When seventeen-year-old Maggie Marland and nineteen-year-old Will Brighton explore a Chumash Indian cave in Malibu, California, they find a mysterious gold coin and the centuries-old bones of Yacate, an Aztec shaman.

Yacate appears to Maggie in a dream. She is convinced he wants her to return his bones to Mexico. While her parents are away on a cruise, Maggie, Will, and Sammy, her fourteen-year-old brother, travel south of the border in search of what is to be Yacate’s final resting place. Uncertain of where the bones are to be buried, the three pursue clues that ultimately lead them to Teotihuacan, the “home of the gods.”

They arrive on the eve of the Summer Solstice when the Pleiades star cluster is set to appear before dawn. Maggie and Will investigate a mysterious cave located under the two-thousand-year-old Pyramid of the Sun. There, they discover the ruins of an ancient civilization and the mysterious object that awaits Yacate’s return. Maggie’s determination to find the secret of the Aztec’s bones, brings this spellbinding adventure to its exciting conclusion.

London Book Festival Winner, Eric Hoffer Finalist, and iUniverse Editor's Choice Award

"Genuine suspense alternates with near-frantic action, but Candland's surprising plot twist will stun even jaded readers." Susan J. Illis, U.S. Review of Books

"This engaging novel is a page-turning mystery, an enlightening history, a real-life romance, a scientific exploration, and an astrological delight." Nora Nehostetler