DEATH of the PHOENIX. Volume 1

The Author intends to donate his royalty, equal to $2.00
of each hardcover book sold, to benefit
abused and neglected children.

" Death of the Phoenix"

"The Death of the Phoenix" is a story of a small boy’s struggle to survive several Japanese concentrations camps only to face a new world as alien as a foreign planet engulfed in turmoil and terrorist warfare.
Japanese forces have overrun the East Indies and Kees, a four-year old boy, is forced into a new existence of physical abuse and terror. He is required to watch the mutilation and murder of his friends. At his young age he quickly forgets the life before his captivity and adjusts to the present, the only reality he now knows.
During the first days after surrender, the children having lost their father and friends, witness their mother destroy what was most sacred to them, not understanding that she prevented it from falling in Japanese hands.
Their mother, Beth, refuses to submit to the advances of a Japanese Kenpeitai officer and nearly kills him. This forces them to flee for their lives. Walking at night through mountain canyons and snake ridden swamps, they reach a place worse than the one they left behind.
During his imprisonment, the promise of a wonderful life after war’s end keeps him focused on survival. After liberation he discovers that this imagined utopia does not exist, and he only exchanged physical for psychological abuse.
Disillusioned, he no longer wants to live in a society where he does not fit. He longs to travel to the far horizon and disappear into the realm of the great tiger shark.
An old native woman introduces him to the ancient world of the spirits, unseen entities that rule everything between heaven and earth. The natives believe that the boy is under the protection of the Spirit of the Sea as he takes his fragile canoe beyond the sight of land into the realm of the tiger shark.

The Death of the Phoenix tells the story of the boy’s attempt to overcome his suicidal fear of his peers, as he tries to find acceptance in the realm of the Sea Spirit, at the far horizon. His elusive search to find and meet the spirits teaches him that, although he can’t see them, they still influence his live. His first encounter with the fearsome tiger shark was nothing he expected and brought him face to face with these unexplained forces.
This story is filled with sadness as well as joy. Although the children find themselves in sad situations, the story is also filled with humor as they in their lack of understanding of their new life, encounter those illogical things adults often do.

The hardcover edition of the "Death of the Phoenix" will be
published on March 30th, 2009. ISBN-13 978-0-9823463-0-3
For information please click "Upcoming Events"

The "Spirit of the Shark" volumes can be ordered at your
local bookstore as well as the following online web sites.

For personalized and signed copies contact the author at Book Signing