High Andes
by Rolf
Margenau
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Wylie
Cypher, suffering from a mid-life crisis, decides to challenge fading youth by
taking a trekking vacation across the Cordillera Blanca (White Mountains) of
the High Andes in Peru with his daughter, Mercy, just graduated from college.
It is 1981.
While
working with legal clients in Lima, he inadvertently acquires documents that
contain explosive and damning evidence about the Peruvian government’s extreme
interrogation techniques. He learns that something is amiss when police detain
and torture him. He loses his little toe. A series of misunderstandings
precipitate a heart-pounding chase across the high mountains as two sets of
villains - government thugs and members of the communist guerrilla Sendero
Luminoso – seek out the Cypher group with murderous intent. Combat in the thin
air of the mountains, deceptions of numerous sorts, hairbreadth escapes,
torture, action in underground caves populated with mummies, and unexpected
plot twists fill the pages of this book.
It
is in the United States’ national interest to observe the growing communist
threat in its hemisphere, so C.I.A. agents are involved. While Wylie and his
cohorts are running for their lives, the author also reports on international
smuggling of historical artifacts, the fate of a 600-year-old child mummy, and
the ancient spirit of the mountains, Pachamama.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
The special child seemed almost weightless in his arms as he
approached the niche in the rocks where he intended to place her. Ayar
continued to gauge his ascent carefully, constantly scanning the path below and
the horizon. Special concern was necessary, as the Chimu had not yet settled
the war between their nations. They still sent out raiding parties even as far
south as Huaraz.
The body of the four-year-old girl he carried was the
daughter of Cuca, wife of Maita Capac. Cuca herself was now sick with the
plague that lay like a dark hand on the people of the White Mountains. That
disease had quickly taken the life of her firstborn, the lively and adored
Cocohuay, named for the turtledoves kept in a dovecote outside her window.
The sickness spread almost faster than the noble runners
could report. There was news about strange white people at Tumbes in the north.
They wore silver jackets and sat on four-legged beasts three times the size of
the largest llama. They had huge wooden houses that went on the sea, and sticks
that carried thunder.
The plague began at Tumbes, and the wooden houses left two
of the strange men there and sailed away. Huayna Capac sent to have them
brought to him, but they were lost along the way. Now the ruler’s people in
Chavín de Huántar were dying. The embalmer’s services were in high demand.
Cuca called Ayar when her little daughter died. As wife of
the regional administrator, Cuca was highly placed and her demands took
priority. Not that the embalmer would have denied her. Once he saw the frail
little child carefully arranged on the low table among sweet-smelling grasses
and flowers, and noted the florid flush of her face and body, his heart went
out to the grieving mother. He would do all he could to prepare the little
girl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
The author of
Public Information has had a varied career.
He has been a scrub nurse in an operating room, a professional
photographer, a soldier during the Korean War, a correspondent for the Pacific
Stars and Stripes, an attorney specializing in international corporate law, a
volunteer executive running a not-for-profit dedicated to housing the homeless,
a manager of large and small businesses and, lately, an author and Master
Gardener.
He first
published short stories as an English Major from Yale. Finding the double-digit pay for that work
insufficient to support a wife and one and a half children, he went to law
school in hopes of finding better paying work. Fortunately, that proved to be
the case.
When the
author discovered that his wife kept all the 300 plus letters he wrote her from
Korea, he decided to use that material as the basis for a novel about the
Korean War. It was a story he had wanted to tell for many years.
Public
Information is based on his experiences as NCO in charge of a combat Infantry
Division Public Information (hence the title) Office in Korea. It tells the story of Wylie Cypher, a hapless
young soldier who arrives in Korea in the midst of bloody combat. Wylie manages to survive his sixteen-month
tour of duty as Margenau recounts in gory, ribald, poignant and accurate
detail. His adventures are recounted in
military jargon and his sometimes abrasive involvement with the “Army way”
describes the good, bad and incredible of life in the military. Along the way,
Wylie manages to find and lose love.
Other
veterans have found the story authentic and highly illustrative of the
background and details of the Korean War.
Publisher’s Weekly commented on the author’s ability to create a sense
of time and place. During the summer of
2012, Public Information became an Amazon.com Kindle best seller.
Pistils and
Poetry is the author’s second book. It
is a compilation of Margenau’s favorite Elizabethan poems (Shakespeare,
Marlowe, Donne, and numerous others) juxtaposed with the author’s photographs
of flowers. It is a rich and engaging
poetry book, enhanced and complimented by luscious photos of flowers. The book is considered as an elegant way to
tease reluctant poetry readers into an appreciation of the beautiful sentiments
and language of long ago masters of the English language.
Encouraged by
the reception for his first novel, Margenau published Master Gardener, his
second novel, in March 2013. It is a story that explores conflicts between the
benefits of engineered crops and their potential for ecological disaster. Wylie Cypher, the hero of Public Information,
is now seventy-five years old. He uses
his life and legal experience to defend one of the women in his life, Anne
Proctor, against the machinations of malevolent BIG AG. Senior citizens band together as eco-terrorists
to save the monarch butterfly, and Dick Geier, the ruthless and profane CEO of
BIG AG, engages in corporate shenanigans that reflect current headlines. The story is set in Middletown, New Anglia,
not too far from Philadelphia, and episodes along the Amazon River in Peru
bracketed by episodes along the Amazon River in Peru..
His third
novel, published in August 2014, is High Andes. The central narrative follows
Wylie Cypher, in his mid-forties and suffering from a serious mid-life crisis,
and his daughter, Mercy, as they try to elude various villains chasing them
across the White Mountains of Peru. The story deals with armed insurrection by
Maoist guerillas, smuggling ancient artifacts, “disappearances” of
troublemakers, a five hundred year old child mummy, and the CIA.
Rolf Margenau
lives in rural New Jersey with his wife, three dogs, a 1932 Chrysler
convertible, and a flower garden favored by monarch butterflies. He is now
working on his fourth novel. Tentatively titled National Parks, the story
recounts what happens, in the near future, when Congress decides to nationalize
America’s National Parks.
Rolf will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Very interesting bio.
ReplyDeletethx u for hosting :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the excerpt :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting High Andes.
ReplyDeleteGreat book excerpt and giveaway. ;)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, I know my husband would love this title
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the author bio.
ReplyDeleteJennifer Rote
What a touching excerpt.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great excerpt, the books seems like it is full of adventure. I can't wait to read it.
ReplyDelete