The night and day work of the past three months finally came to fruition yesterday. My seventh book was officially published. My earlier books were on Native American architecture and culture ~ They were kind of like National Geographic. This is the first one for entertainment purposes - well PG-17 entertainment. Truth can be stranger than fiction, and that is what the Lord of Cumberland is . . . an account of my experiences as a college student during the Viet Nam War - Hippie Era. For unknown reasons, God allowed me to be on several occasions to sit on the front row watching history being made. Like . . . I was playing Allman Brothers Music with Jimmy Carter and family, when a young Senator Joe Biden stopped by the apartment unexpectedly and asked Jimmy to run for President.
The saga begins on Valentine's Day weekend of 1968. I am going on a wild fraternity ski holiday with the daughter of Army Intelligence general, just as the Tet Offensive in Viet Nam is in its most dangerous and violent phase. Another interesting experience occured two years later while I was collecting donations for Toys For Tots in Atlanta's Hippie district. A chance encounter with a brilliant Cuban-American artist, who looked just like Penelope Cruz. It turns into 12 hours of non-stop passion, followed by a incredibly beautiful Christmas service at Atlanta's Peachtree Christian Church, in which the choir is led by Robert Shaw (Robert Shaw Chorale). Five days later she is almost beaten to death after a protest against the My Lai Massacre at Fort Benning. I will not see her again until August 4, 2008 - when she appears in a chauffeur-driven SUV, at a remote mountain location where I am hiking.
In Fall of 1971 a fraternity brother jumps off a hotel near Georgia Tech after seeing photos of the 380+ civilians murdered by American troops at My Lai. He had served in Viet Nam, and evidently was involved with My Lai or something similar.
The core plot of the book is the ten days, two friends and I spent stranded on Cumberland Island after losing our boat, food and water in a violent storm.In order to survive we had to live off fish caught with a spear, wild plants and rain water. We were going there to survey the island as a potential national park. That was Governor Carter's dream. It later came true. However, I was so embaressed about having to spend all of my time living like a stone age hunter, rather that doing a thorough survey, I never turned in my report in to Governor Carter.
Well, anyway - the first copy of the book goes to Brother Jimmy Carter . . . it is dedicated to him - because the book describes the many wonderful things he did to save our nation's natural resources and bring reconciliation to a polarized America that had gone insane because of the Viet Nam War. Most people never knew about that.
Y'all have a blessed day! 
Bubba from Talking Rock
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| "The Lord of Cumberland" is published! |
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