About
My published work includes a short story collection, TALES FROM THE TINKER'S DAM, a soon-to-be-released novel, TWICE A FALSE MESSIAH, and over 200 stories and articles appearing in 8 countries. I am statewide Director of Arts Programming for COMPAS, and a lifelong vagabond traveler who has taken camelback, tramp freighter and third class train through 100 different countries (often with my wife, Judith, and my sons, Alex and Evan).
Description
<p>(Book 1)<br />Betrayed by the woman he loved and on the verge of destitution, artist Jonathan Martinez channels his anguish and rage into what will become his greatest masterpiece—Passion and Betrayal. The painting, critically acclaimed, ushers him into the world of fine art and allows him to realize his dreams. Stepping out of the shadows, he transforms into Phillipe, a wealthy artist and sought-after bachelor who enjoys an extravagant lifestyle—including his pick of any woman he desires.<br /><br />But when Phillipe least expects, the woman who almost destroyed him returns on the arm of his agent. Despite his anger, she awakens the part of his soul he entombed long ago. The part of him that can never forget her, no matter how deeply he buries himself in his art.<br /><br />With everything he's accomplished at stake, can Phillipe overpower the demons that haunt him and learn to love again? Or will his heart remain a shattered work of art that can never be restored?</p>
Story Behind The Book
In the fall of 1978, my wife and travel partner, Jude, and I were in the midst of a nearly 2 year-long trip. We set off up the Nile in tandem with an historian friend of ours, naively interested in exploring Egyptian history. Two months later we were outside the Mahdi's tomb watching rogue dervishes whirl against the fading sun. The genesis for False Messiah, and its setting, were in my back pocket, though it took many years to tease out the tendrils of theology that were needed to undergird it.
