| |
| |
|
Book Reviews Information |
|
|
|
Why Malta? A Mystery-Thriller Author Tells Why
"Why Malta?" my new Maltese friends kept asking me when they find out that my mystery-thriller The Cellini Masterpiece is set on Malta. Mind you, only the Maltese ask that question. (Some kind of national inferiority complex?) Americans ask "Malta Who?" or "Where the heck is Malta?" or "Is it about the Maltese Falcon?" (They must always think that they're the first ones to think that up.) The difference in questions is obvious. The Maltese are puzzled. Americans are plain ignorant. Someone once wrote that the way Americans learn geography is by war. Why Malta is the question that is harder to answer. My usual comeback is why not? That usually brings a laugh, but it's difficult to explain how a tiny bit of limestone southwest of Sicily should hold such an interest for an American for so many years. I will be 65 by the time this article is in print, but I fell in love with Malta sight unseen as a 10-year-old in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was a stamp collector and bought one of those cheap worldwide stamp packets, with one stamp showing Verdala Palace in Malta. Somehow it grabbed my interest, and a few years later I started reading about Malta until I had exhausted the local library collection. The chance discovery of a stamp led me to one of the most geographically and historically significant places in the world. Literally the crossroads of the Mediterranean, it has Neolithic temples pre-dating the pyramids and has been occupied by every world power since the ancient Greeks. I'm a historian, for heaven's sake. Who wouldn't be interested? I was hooked. My stamp collection turned into a business, which I named Maltalately (for Malta philately). Even so, all my life I wanted to write a novel set in Malta. At age 14 I read Cellini's Autobiography. The rogue artist absolutely intrigued me. I also know he lived in the mid-16th Century and that the Knights of St. John defeated Suleiman the Magnificent's Turks in the so-called Great Siege. It was the greatest holy war of all time and may have saved Europe from occupation by the Turks. Voila. Somehow my novel would involve Cellini and the Great Siege. I even had a punch-line. Now all I had to do was write it. It took more than twenty years but I finally had a finished draft in 1985. The Jonathan Lazear Agency decided to represent it. Unfortunately, they weren't able to find a publisher and the manuscript went back on the shelf to languish for nearly ten years before I finally went to Malta for the first time at age 54. I stayed at a bargain accommodation, the Soleado Guest House in Sliema. What a great location to set the novel! I dusted off the manuscript and started again. My first change was to give Rick, my hero's, sidekick a sex change. My male cab driver was now a sexy young woman. The manager of the Soleado, Joey Bugeja, got a gender change, too. He was now Josefina. How could I miss? The events of September 11, 2001, although tragic, provided another powerful plotline, since Malta is near North Africa and has close economic ties with Libya. I should be able to polish the book off in a couple of months, I thought. Not. Things still didn't fit together quite right. In September of 2003 I enlisted the help of a musician I had met while I was selling postcards. He liked thrillers and had a keen ear for the music of language and a discerning eye for the continuity of my story. Taking him on board was one of the best decisions I have ever made, and by the beginning of 2004 I could envision the final draft. Then I heard about the North African boat people who were landing in Malta. Wow. Now all I had to do was tie Benvenuto Cellini to Suleiman the Magnificent and add in a plot from World War II with another involving modern-day terrorists and refugees. What could be simpler? Even Snoopy could do it. Somehow I did do it. And according to my readers, successfully. Why Malta? Because there is no other place in this whole wide world where the story would make sense. The other answer to "Why Malta" is found, for me, in a quote from Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence. It could have been written for me. "I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them among certain surroundings, but they have always nostalgia for a home they know not?. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home he sought, and he will settle amid scenes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were familiar to him from his birth. At last he finds rest." SAHHA u hbibierija. To read a chapter of The Cellini Masterpiece, or to ask John a question or comment, log on to http://www.cmasterpiece.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Book-Reviews - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Inspired Heart: A Book Review Spiritual food for the soul: Allow Jerry to take you on his magical and enlightening soul pilgrimage. As he invites you to accompany him along his life adventures, he introduces you to selfless acts of deep, human spirit and his fascinating relationships. Book Summary: Good To Great Explore what goes into a company's transformation from mediocre to excellent. Based on hard evidence and volumes of data, the book author (Jim Collins) and his team uncover timeless principles on how the good-to-great companies like Abbott, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberly-Clark, Kroger, Nucor, Philip Morris, Pitney Bowes, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo produced sustained great results and achieved enduring greatness, evolving into companies that were indeed 'Built to Last'. Jesus and the Gnostic Cathars These are some of the highlights of a connected story of Milesian/Phocaean/ Phoenician architects who allow 'his'-story to confuse the masses. It is still going on and we must try to change it. Health Is Internal Beauty Excerpted from the book "Your Right to Be Beautiful: How to Halt the Train of Aging and Meet the Most Beautiful You" by Tonya Zavasta. The book is available at: http://www. Putting it on Paper - Book Review "Dawn Josephson, author of 14 books, has written a fantastic author resource with her latest book Putting it on Paper - The ground rules for creating promotional pieces that sell books. This book discusses the development and use of contents within a media kit, and other marketing materials. Workshop-In-A-Book® for Dating Again, A Must-Read EBOOK The Joy Of Dating Again is designed to be a do-it- yourself workshop. This book features 21 self-empowering keys. On the Brink of Risk - A Book You Wont Put Down On the Brink of Risk is a fiction novel inspired in true events; it has a love story turned evil, hate and vengeance, intents to kill, negligence and malpractice at more than one hospital that almost lead to death, harassment and persecution by the political organizations and government officials as well as comments on everything the average citizen has to go through to endure everyday life in that Caribbean country.It was written under the pseudonym of Nancy Cruz and writing was at first an intent to make a catharsis and finally put to rest everything that had been a load in the author's mind and life for too many years, she thought that was the only way to really start anew. My Dad Wears Polka-dotted Socks! - Review "Bright colored sheets just inside the sturdy book cover certainly set the mood for this excellent book geared for children between the ages of 4 and 8.The main character is a young boy who is desperately fretting over the class reaction to his strange family. Second Eden Book Review "Carlton Austin has crafted a wonderful piece of work in Second Eden - an action-packed suspense thriller with a little romance and some elements of science fiction. Its beautifully designed cover incorporates gorgeous images depicting scenes within the plot and the book is available in both hard and soft cover. Amazing Holy Grail Discovery In a profound and provocative work of scholarly detection, best-selling UK author Philip Gardiner shakes the foundations of modern belief by at last revealing the true origins of The Holy Grail, Elixir of Life and Philosopher's Stone. Shrouded in mystery, these highly enigmatic symbols have long been revered and The Serpent Grail proves, without doubt, that all three are inextricably linked, originating from the same ancient source. Unspoken Dreams - Book Review "Carol Bennett writes a stunning mystery-thriller. Her chilling entrance is one I have encountered only rarely in a book. Execution - A Book Summary You've got the bright ideas and the smart people, and the market is just ready for you. But why hasn't your business taken off as you predicted? Maybe the problem is in your execution. Practice What You Preach - AchieveMax® Top Ten Book Review Practice What You Preach: What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture by David H. MaisterI can't believe this book title hasn't surfaced until now. Selling Goodness-Introduction To The Book Unfortunately, I have seen too many of even the most noble and vitally needed charitable nonprofits fade into obscurity, never having accomplished the laudable goals they set out to achieve. In most cases, the reason for their demise is that they did not promote themselves with vigor and assertiveness. Straight from the Gut - A Different Take on Business Jack Welsh, the recently retired CEO of General Electric, presents a rare glimpse into how to build a successful organization in his book, "Straight from the Gut." His honesty and openness is refreshing and reaffirms that success is sometimes built from failure, but more often from calculated planning and the willingness to take risks. Political Frugality - Review It is hard to specify exactly what genre Larry Roth's new book can fall into. Political, frugal living, gay rights, taking care of the body and more are covered in Political Frugality - Guerrilla Economics for the Demonized, Devalued and Disenfranchised. Book Review: Christmas in Dairyland Author/Publisher Christmas in Dairyland by LeAnn R. Ralph Published by LeAnn R. Kmarts Ten Deadly Sins - AchieveMax® Top Ten Book Review Kmart's Ten Deadly Sins: How Incompetence Tainted an American Icon was begging to be written. It probably would have surfaced much earlier if not for the fear of many authors that publishing too soon would result in the omission of who knows how many future bewildering tactics by the forever transforming retail giant, K-mart. Sound Bodies through Sound Therapy - Book Review "Dorinne Davis has written many books that concentrate on the subjects of hearing and sound. In the well-researched textbook, Sound Bodies through Sound Therapy, she looks at the concept of sound being a nutrient for our bodies. Cancer Can be Defeated: Hope, Courage, and a Strong Willpower Tony F. Powell is the author of a new book based on his 30 years as Bush Pilot, guide and prospector in Labrador, Canada.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
