The Why: How it all started
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me an incredible story about his time in Africa in the 1960’s.
· He’d crashed his plane in the middle of the Liberian jungle and survived. Then he told me some more stories:
· His friend was almost run over by an elephant.
· Smuggling diamonds was easy!
· He’d seen ant hills that were taller than him.
· He saw people EATING the ants!
Over and over again, I said, “You have to write this stuff down! These are great stories, and people should hear them!”
Well, finally it occurred to me that with his permission and his stories that I could write the book. Over a period of a year and a half we would go to lunch and he would regale me with one incredible story after another; and I would take notes.
It was a fun book to write but it soon became apparent that in order to write a cohesive and thematic account of his adventures, I had to rearrange his story into a novel. Most of my hero’s adventures and the Liberian political scene at the time are true, the characters and dialogue are not.
While researching Liberia, both its history and what it was like in the 1960’s I became increasingly fascinated with this country who is our African sister. This is a story that I think everyone should hear. Most have heard it, but have forgotten.
In the posts that follow I shall be showing how my new book, THE DUNG BEETLES OF LIBERIA captures the start of Liberia's tragic path toward civil war and destruction.
· He’d crashed his plane in the middle of the Liberian jungle and survived. Then he told me some more stories:
· His friend was almost run over by an elephant.
· Smuggling diamonds was easy!
· He’d seen ant hills that were taller than him.
· He saw people EATING the ants!
Over and over again, I said, “You have to write this stuff down! These are great stories, and people should hear them!”
Well, finally it occurred to me that with his permission and his stories that I could write the book. Over a period of a year and a half we would go to lunch and he would regale me with one incredible story after another; and I would take notes.
It was a fun book to write but it soon became apparent that in order to write a cohesive and thematic account of his adventures, I had to rearrange his story into a novel. Most of my hero’s adventures and the Liberian political scene at the time are true, the characters and dialogue are not.
While researching Liberia, both its history and what it was like in the 1960’s I became increasingly fascinated with this country who is our African sister. This is a story that I think everyone should hear. Most have heard it, but have forgotten.
In the posts that follow I shall be showing how my new book, THE DUNG BEETLES OF LIBERIA captures the start of Liberia's tragic path toward civil war and destruction.
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