by Ray Reed (Author)
No, this is not a how-to manual for growing one of the country's most lucrative crops. It's a novel. The story opens with the characters contemplating an adventure of cultivation and finishes off with a surprise ending guaranteed to make you laugh or cry, as the piper of Karmic debt collects payment. In between, there's a shipwreck, NASA in Texas, the frozen tundra of Alaska, love, betrayal and several types of greed. And, there is revenge, as well as a cast of colorful local characters from the iconic artist's village of Mendocino, California. Already famous as the backdrop for a score of movies including Summer of '42, East of Eden, The Russians are Coming, Cujo and the TV show Murder She Wrote, it is the perfect setting. It's a skip back in time with relevance now. It is even more relevant now that this 5th edition is published within a month of Cannabis being legalized in California. This new edition will only contribute to the novel's growing status, after 27 years as an under-ground classic. It embodies a youthful edge, energy and excitement and vivid descriptions of the old California coast and its fascinating history. This debut novel, woven as an indie love story chronicling the tale of a troubled journey of self-discovery, where greed and revenge warps the heart as well as the mind, is a fast-paced easy-read. It is an entertaining romp through northern California's 'Emerald Triangle' that will leave you longing for the 'elephant graveyard of hippies.'
Author Biography
The author is a long time resident of northern California and he finds inspiration part of the year on a remote Kona coffee plantation. His constant companions shadow the author day and night; two spoiled rotten many-nicknamed black Labradors, brother and sister raised from pups. Always lurking behind, with distain, are 3 cats, 2 prize winning silkie chickens and 2 top-knotted polish hens, that view the world with a cocked head and beady dinosaur-like eyes. His significant other can usually be found in a sewing room making quilts or teaching English at a nearby school. He is a University educated world traveler, computer mechanic, inventor and past owner of several businesses that he has sold. His writer's lair is stacked floor to nose-high, overflowing with surplus volumes and tomes. When asked how he crafts his ideas into stories, he replies, "Writing is such an unfair business. Even dreams are compromised. Calliope, the muse of writing, curls around those dreams and snuggles with a passion as she pours out the characters' lives and longings and most importantly, their dialog. The muse demands and declares it my responsibility to listen and then craft spectral images and thoughts into words. This malady is even more pronounced when awake as the technical aspects of the language and plot come into play. And, the characters are such awful storytellers, always too involved and too close to the action. They never get the story right. They're one-sided and expect me, whether asleep or awake, to sort it all out for them. Each sees one slice of the truth and are limited by their failure to account for other truths. While it might sound implausible for those without a muse perched on their shoulder like some pirate's parrot, this is how a story is born."