About
Rick Zalon first developed an interest in telling this particular story while teaching (as a part-time adjunct) in a progressive “green” MBA program at the now-defunct New College of California in Sonoma County, where he encountered many of the controversies, contradictions, passions and unique personality types/disorders portrayed in “Coyote Point Casino.” Trained as a journalist in the US Air Force during the Vietnam era (he served as a public affairs representative and TV network liaison during the last two Apollo missions), Zalon worked as a financial executive in Silicon Valley, wrote the original business plan for Office Depot, consulted for a number of joint-venture companies in China, and survived stage IV non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He currently maintains a small tax and consulting practice, coaches CPA exam candidates and teaches part time at Dominican University of California’s more conventional School of Business and Leadership.
Divided against Yourselves (Spell Weaver)
Description
<h2>Taliesin Weaver thought that he had saved himself and his friends when he defeated the witch Ceridwen. He was wrong.</h2><h3><i>He always thought of evil as embodied in external threats that he could overcome in combat. Soon he will discover that the worst evil has been inside of him all along....</i></h3><p>Tal’s girlfriend is in a coma for which he holds himself responsible. A close friend, suffering from a past-life memory trauma similar to Tal's, is getting worse, not better. Morgan Le Fay is still lurking around and has an agenda Tal can’t figure out. Supernatural interruptions in his life are becoming more frequent, not less so, despite his expectations. In fact, Tal learns that something about his unique nature amplifies otherworldly forces in ways he never imagined were possible, ways that place at risk everyone close to him.</p><p>Tal and his allies must face everything from dead armies to dragons. As soon as they overcome one menace, another one is waiting for them. More people are depending on Tal than ever; he carries burdens few adults could face, let alone a sixteen-year-old like himself. Yet somehow Tal at first manages to handle everything the universe throws at him.</p><p>What Tal can’t handle is the discovery that a best friend, almost a brother, betrayed him, damaging Tal’s life beyond repair. For the first time, Tal feels a darkness within him, a darkness which he can only barely control...assuming he wants to. He’s no longer sure. Maybe there is something to be said for revenge, and even more to be said for taking what he wants. After all, he has the power...</p><p> </p><h2><u>Can Tal stop himself before he destroys everyone he has sworn he will protect? Scroll up to buy a copy and find out!</u></h2>
Story Behind The Book
Based loosely on the real-life circumstances surrounding the restoration of the Miwok tribal group in Northern California-and subsequent efforts to launch a gaming establishment-Coyote Point Casino is the story of Jim McBride, a feckless adjunct professor who, faced with the elimination of his job, conveniently rediscovers his tribal ancestry and secures an endowed chair in his university's Native American Studies program. With the encouragement of the program's director Billy Littlefeather, a Brooklyn-born imposter and former TV western bit player, McBride becomes entangled in efforts to restore federal recognition for his tribe so that it can act as a front for shady casino developers. In the process, Jim gets involved with local and academic politics, a faded child star who latches onto trendy causes to resurrect her career, seriously conflicted environmental activists on both sides of the issue, and a significant archeological find that threatens to derail the entire enterprise.
NOTE: All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The recent release of this book and the grand opening of the GRATON RESORT & CASINO in Rohnert Park, California was ENTIRELY COINCIDENTAL (but quite serendipitous. . .)
Reviews
If reality is 10, then Rick Zalon's Coyote Point Casino merely nudges the dial up to 11 to satirize contemporary academics and the moral squalor of interest-group politics. In need of a job, adjunct teacher Jim McBride stumbles into a Native American Studies department that's a wonderland of opportunity. Before you can say "Ward Churchill," Jim is the head man of a once-defunct tribe and an item for Hollywood gossip columnists. It's all too absurd, yet, Zalon's precise narrative at times reads like a how-to manual for getting tribal recognition from Congress. McBride's character has echoes of Candide, and also Lucky Jim. It's wry satire--never over the top--and, I have to say it: Rick Zalon is not chopped liver!
