Van R. Mayhall Jr.'s Blog, page 2

The Last Sicarius

Hello All…yes, The Last Sicarius, the sequel to Judas the Apostle, is out and published. It can now be found on Amazon, B&N and iUniverse web sites. It will be migrating to the bookstores. Call your local store and ask them to order. It really helps. If you like the new book, don’t forget to write a review on Amazon.

There are some amazing things in TLS. Just as in Judas, Cloe, J.E. and the Monsignor are back. They are better than ever and I hope you will like some new characters. There’s Father Sergio or Serge as he’s known by our friends. He’s a sort of roly-poly priest with a spirit of iron and a heart of gold. Very smart and good at biblical history. Also, there’s Miguel or Michael as he is known to his American friends. You might like some of the new places. First, old places: the Church of St. John in Lyon has new secrets to reveal. New places include Tunisia, the Atlas Mountains, El Guettar, and the Place of the Skull. Cloe is given a mission by the pope where nothing less than the fate of Christianity hangs in the balance. She must find Thib’s cave of jars.

And then there is the journal. Remember that from Judas the Apostle? If there one consistent question that readers ask me about JTA, it’s when will we find out what’s in the journal. Stay tuned faithful readers; there’s more on the journal in TLS. You might find this hard to believe but it is a mystery within an enigma. Enough said.

Here’s a little blurb from a nationally known writing and publishing consultant: “For fans of the award winning Judas the Apostle and newcomers to the Cloe Lejeune series, Mayhall once again delivers a smart, fast-paced thriller with exotic landscapes, a fascinating dose of Biblical history, an intrepid heroine, conniving evildoers, twists and turns and just the right touch of humor that will keep you turning the pages.”

Hope you enjoy!

AWOL

All…It has been too long since I have posted anything. Much has happened since my last writing. Judas the Apostle has been awarded the Star designation by its publisher iUniverse. This means much more exposure and new marketing among other things. I have been asked to film a commercial for the publisher to explain my experiences in getting published. The book is being marketed in Hollywood and else where for film opportunities. Kirkus has published a very good review.

The sequel, The Last Sicarius is finished and is entering the publishing pipeline. It should be available in a couple of months. So far the peer group reviews on this are very good.

One thing about Judas the Apostle in which you may be interested is the fact that in writing it, I put certain things with hidden meanings in it to entertain myself. I intend to tweet some of these out in the next few weeks to see if anyone gets them. Best.

A Fantastic New Review-Judas the Apostle

Here’s the latest from Louisiana life magazine. The full length review can be read on the electronic version of the magazine. Needless to say, I’m blown away by the writer’s understanding of my novel. Hope you enjoy. Best.
 
Around Louisiana
Regional Reports from across Louisiana
Jeanne Frois

(page 4 of 5)

BATON ROUGE/ PLANTATION COUNTRY

Worth Watching Judas the Apostle
It briefly begins at Masada in a blood-red sunset. While Romans batter the wall, about to gain entrance, Elazar ben Yair, the last man alive, falls upon his own sword amid the many bodies of those who chose to die free and untouched by Rome. In what proved to be a hard-to-put-down page-turner, Judas the Apostle,  written by Baton Rouge resident and attorney Van R. Mayhall Jr., neatly transitions the story to present-day Louisiana when Dr. Clotile Lejeune, an ancient language expert, returns home to Madisonville with her son because of the murder of her elderly father. It becomes apparent to everyone that Thibodeaux Lejeune was murdered because of an ancient oil jar inscribed with Judas Iscariot’s name  that he found in an underground cavern fighting the African campaign in World War II. For Clotile, estranged from her father and her Louisiana roots for years because of  an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, the return to Louisiana opens old wounds she tried to bury. As she begins to unravel the mystery of her father’s murder, she likewise begins to suspect with good reason the oil jar may be a religious relic important enough to shatter Christian beliefs. Unbeknownst to all, on the other side of the world, an evil billionaire who deals in arms is leaving a scorched earth pathway strewn with corpses as he searches for the oil jar bearing Judas Iscariot’s name, aided by his own empty-eyed goon squad.
Mayhall has spun a highly original, suspenseful and atmospheric thriller. It’s a savvy story of academia, archaeology and theology, but you can also taste the warm Louisiana thread that runs through it like a good flavor – the Tchefuncte River, the LSU campus, the elements of close family ties and the influence of religion. The story also takes place in present-day Jerusalem and France. Exploring the true motives of Judas Iscariot, it leaves you with a perhaps controversial but plausible impression of the betrayer of Christ – but not in the same almost sacrilegious sense of The Da Vinci Code. The story weaves a mystical spell in the timeless story of  good against evil that’s hard to resist; Judas the Apostle joins my personal rank of books that I call one-sitting reads.
Mayhall, a Louisiana native, has done extensive research on Judas Iscariot, exploring loose ends and inconsistencies.
“The book examines controversial claims involving Judas Iscariot,” Mayhall says. “But more than that, I wanted people to think about the Bible, its meaning and the battle between good and evil.” Mayhall claims he wrote the book as a thriller that also celebrated Louisiana’s culture.
“The book is about the main character’s rediscovery of family roots and the importance of her Louisiana upbringing and faith,” Mayhall says.
Published by iUniverse, Judas the Apostle has been featured in the Barnes & Noble Rising Star Special Collection.
Mayhall is a senior partner in a Baton Rouge law firm. A Baton Rouge native, he attended both LSU and Georgetown University.
If you’d like to know more about this highly readable  book, visit www.vanrmayhalljr.com.

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This article appears in the  March-April 2013  issue of  Louisiana Life

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Chapter 22

After the distressing and, perhaps, calamitous examination of the jar, and given the lateness of the hour and the dejected attitude of the group, they elected to call it a day. Cloe and her team retired to the hotel, but all agreed to meet for drinks at the bar of a nearby eatery at seven o’clock. If anybody needed a break and some downtime, it was she and her colleagues. Dr. Harrell said he had one more thing to do to wrap up, but he would meet them later.

J.E. had showered and changed and then joined Cloe in the small living area of her suite. They had a few minutes to kill before taking a cab to the restaurant. As always, the discussed the events of the day.

Cloe had ground her teeth so often during the ill-fated afternoon that her jaw ached. But her faith that she would somehow keep her promise to Thib and find the answers to the jar was unabated.

“You know, Mom, I think we need to reassess our situation,” suggested J.E. “We have an ancient jar… we don’t yet know exactly how old. It’s the center of everything- Thib’s death and the attack on us. Someone wants to kill us and take the jar.”

“Agreed, J.E.”

“Yes, but why? Also, we don’t really know whether the objective is to stop us or to get the jar. There is a difference, but it’s hard to see why the goal would be just to stop us. Maybe an ultra-religious sect would want to stop us. They may be afraid of what we might find.”

“True. As the monsignor has said, the contents of the jar may prove or disprove some doctrine of various religions or even factions within some religions,” said Cloe thoughtfully. “On the other hand, it may be nothing. But such people may not want to take the risk of what we might discover, opting to move preemptively to destroy our work.”

“What if the jar hold information that would totally throw Catholicism out the window?” speculated J.E.

Cloe shivered at the though. “Are you saying we might be in jeopardy from the Church itself? That would put the monsignor on the other side from us. I certainly doubted him at first, but now I’m not so sure. But there could be individuals or groups, inside and outside the Church, which might be threatened by even the idea of such information. These people might act irrationally.”

“Maybe that’s what we’re seeing. But I think a group like that would want to try for getting the jar. Wouldn’t they want to know what’s in it? I mean, it may help them,” said J.E. “So, probably, such an enemy would be okay with destroying the jar and our work in case it might be against them, but if they can do it, they’ll want possession of the jar. That’s the only explanation that makes sense to me.”

J.E. paused for a moment, deep in thought, and then continued. “I have to tell you, I still don’t completely trust the monsignor. I think he knows more than he’s saying. We need a ‘come to Jesus meeting’ with him. He’s just a little too strange and a little too quick with answers to his weird behavior.

“There’s something more than meets the eye happening her. We know there’s a bad actor at work, but there’s something else too,” concluded J.E. “Could it have anything to do with what you said you might have seen on the bottom of the jar?”

“I don’t know, J.E. I’m pretty sure there was something there. Mike also noticed something, but hasn’t yet been able to identify it. It was there for just a flash. Maybe I was wrong. It was very faint, almost a shadow. Still, I thought it was something.”

“You know, Mom, I would trust your instincts,” said J.E. “We know we are players on this board game. Is the Vatican? Who else… and why?”

The Sequel

Writing the sequel to my debut novel, Judas the Apostle, has been an extremely interesting process. When I finished JTA, I had no notion of writing a follow on book. Writing one book, getting it published and selling the book are all extremely time-consuming especially for someone like myself with a fulltime day job. Still, by the time I had finished the twenty edits/rewrites of JTA, I began to hear from the few people who had agreed to read the unpublished versions that they loved the characters and when could they see more. During this process, a funny thing happened. I began to think about foreshadowing the sequel in JTA.  The other thing that happened was that I sat down and started writing the sequel. Those of you who have read my blogs probably remember that I write for one hour every night at nine o’clock. Guess what time it is right now?

As the sequel, tentatively entitled “Sicarii”, began to roll out I had to go back and adjust elements of Judas the Apostle. I found the sequel can affect the original book (if it has not been published) as much as the original book affects the sequel. This can make both books better and more continuous. Still, Sicarii has a totally different story with mostly the three main characters, Cloe, J.E. and the monsignor continuing. There are one or two minor characters from JTA who come along and we have a whole suite of interesting new characters. Actually, somewhat more time is spent in Sicarii developing the new characters because we got to know the main characters very well in JTA.

As with JTA, there are biblical mysteries explored in Sicarii that give it a bit of intellectual heft. Some of this stuff I had never heard of until I started my research. An alternate Calvary…could it be? Hopefully, it will be as thrilling, fast-paced and as interesting as my readers tell me JTA is.

One thing I did not know. Writing one book is something. But I did wonder if it was a fluke. In other words, I didn’t know if I had a second book in me. Well, I finished Sicarii on New Year’s Eve. It’s being edited now and should be available in about six months. Another funny thing happened. On New Year’s Day, I started the 3quel, tentatively entitled “Suppose…” It’s very creepy. Best.

Death-Judas the Apostle

As writers of fiction, we have all had occasion to kill off various characters. Some are missed and some are not. This is part of the magic of fiction. We can create a character who is sorely mourned when we must dispatch him/her and we can create one our readers will yearn for early departure. Goodbye and good luck, so to speak.

I don’t know about you but my noble characters all die well while my villains perish with ignominy. Is this merely a reflection of our human mindset? The good die well and the bad not so much? Do we even think much about it?

Certainly, we all want to live well, don’t we? Regardless of the strength of our faith, and my characters have strong faith, most of us have some trepidation about stepping off this mortal plain. The fear of this transition must be natural even if you believe it is only a transition. My characters, Cloe, J.E. and the monsignor believe this but they still fight tooth and nail to stay here. In spite of the fact that many believe at death we will go to heaven and be in a paradise with God, most of us battle against it to our last breath. The obits are full of people who have fought the good fight but still the result is the same. In that fight death is the only victor. In my writings, I use the phrase “as relentless as death itself…” to refer to circumstances that are inexorable and unavoidable.

Living well is its own reward but I put the case to you that there is value in dying well. I think this means accepting one’s mortality but holding true to one’s spirit in life. If your ship goes down in winter in freezing waters and you are with a hundred others, you know all will die because no one can survive more than a few minutes under such conditions. So your turn in the barrel with come, as Uncle Sonny says in Judas the Apostle, and will come soon. How to handle? Panic? Fear? Or with grim resignation? Live Well! Die well without regret!

This can be illustrated with reference to the many people who protect our lives and freedom. We here often of the poor unfortunate who lost his/her live in a tragic accident. Still everyday cops, soldiers, firemen and others perish to protect and serve us. I think each would say he/she did not lose his life but rather gave his life for his duty. Our fictional characters can only be a pale imitation of such heroes.

Reading

Judas the Apostle. I was recently chairing a committee tasked with developing ways and means to make Baton Rouge into  a literary city. Laugh not; the arts are well represented here with world-class facilities and programs for the visual and performing arts. Our downtown revitalization is winning awards across the country. Young people are moving in and our arts and entertainment district is vibrant. It’s only that literature is underrepresented with programs and infrastructure in spite of some amazing home-grown authors. Baton Rouge will fill that gap and become a literary city.

But that’s not the point of this tale. As I was listening to the debate on the literary city project, I drifted back to my own first confrontation with literature. Maybe I was seven or eight. I was definitely not a reader and I hated school. In that day, families lived close and I had been sent to my grandmother’s house for the day. Believe me when I tell you there was nothing for a kid to do. There was only a very small yard and in the summer afternoons we  were required to take a nap. There was no TV but there was a big radio always tuned to NBC. I was in the “boys” room where my dad and his brother had grown up. I rolled around on the bed but could not sleep.

There was a small bookshelf on the wall and out of desperation I stood on the bed and studied the titles. I picked one out, opened it and I began to read. My spirit soared and I fell into books. In that minute, I became a life long reader. I’m convinced that this is one of the events  where I can pin point that my life changed. Had I not become a reader, I don’t know where I would be today. I think you readers will know what I mean.

Oh? What was the book? Why it was Tarzan of the Apes, the first in the series. I read every one of the Tarzan books and then the John Jones Martian series. If ERB had written a thousand books, I would have read every one of them that summer. When I went back to school that fall, suddenly, my reading, comprehension and english scores were off the charts. This is what reading can do. It changed my life. Now… writing for others is changing it again. Best.