'Play the Devil' now available on KINDLE

My novel, 'Play the Devil,' is now available for immediate download on Kindle.

Wilfred Lever, son of ambitious missionaries, is wrenched from his life in an Indian village by a prophecy: he shall be Elijah in his own country. Sent to Adelaide to stay with an embittered and perverted aunt, he is well into adolescence when his family joins him there. In the first manifestation of a burgeoning power complex, he forces himself upon his half-sister Mary, now a deeply desirable young woman.

What follows is the beginning of a lifetime of burying secrets beneath the surface of church life. The prophecy seals Wilfred’s moral doom as he is given carte blanche to a lifetime of abuses within the auspices of the church. The institutional nature of his life protects him from retribution. A character with no moral compass, he feels himself to be untouchable. He gets away with cheating at Bible College, an affair with his secretary, deeply suspect financial dealings, and eventually an act more disturbing than all of these combined. His wife Lorna, the guiding hand behind the scenes, tolerates Wilfred’s corruption and hypocrisy, always with one eye to her social position. The church leadership is willing to prop him up too; church members have any number of skeletons in the closet that can be used to manipulate and silence them when necessary.

Everyone, it seems, is onto a good thing, and they all know how to cover their backs. But when Wilfred rapes Mary’s daughter, it seems his number is up. Despite his best efforts to hush things up, rumours are circulating about the girl’s convenient suicide and his involvement in a financial scandal. Mary plans to kill him. The board forces Wilfred’s resignation, but at his lowest point, it seems the prophecy really is true. The church is priming him for politics: all his travails have led him to this moment, where at last he is on the brink of true power.

Find it here:  http://tinyurl.com/mtrccjj

"Play the Devil"

My novel, Play the Devil, is now available at Amazon.com. I started writing it back in the late 1990s and it seems like it has taken forever for things to reach this stage. 

The story is about a kid named Wilfred Lever, whose parents are missionaries in India. A visiting preacher prophesies over him that he shall one day be like Elijah in Australia. Which, if you're not familiar with Elijah, means he will become irresistibly powerful and a force for good.

He is sent to Australia to complete his education, and it is there that the fun and games begin...
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The title of the book comes from Shakespeare's Richard III:

But then I sigh; and with a piece of scripture,
Tell them that God bids us do good for evil:
And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ;
And seem a saint, when most I play the Devil.

Wilfred Lever: he seems like a saint, but...
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My original intention in writing this book was so anyone who had escaped from any of the Pentecostal cults could give the book to their family and friends, and say, "Read that, and you'll know what it was like."

I can't tell if I even got close to the target. You be the judge.
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Here's the long version of the book cover blurb:

Wilfred Lever, son of ambitious missionaries, is wrenched from his life in an Indian village by a prophecy: he shall be Elijah in his own country. Sent to Adelaide to stay with an embittered and perverted aunt, he is well into adolescence when his family joins him there. In the first manifestation of a burgeoning power complex, he forces himself upon his half-sister Mary, now a deeply desirable young woman. What follows is the beginning of a lifetime of burying secrets beneath the surface of church life. The prophecy seals Wilfred’s moral doom as he is given carte blanche to a lifetime of abuses within the auspices of the church.

The institutional nature of his life protects him from retribution. A character with no moral compass, he feels himself to be untouchable. He gets away with cheating at Bible College, an affair with his secretary, deeply suspect financial dealings, and eventually an act more disturbing than all of these combined. His wife, Lorna, the guiding hand behind the scenes, tolerates Wilfred’s corruption and hypocrisy, always with one eye to her social position. The church leadership is willing to prop him up too; church members have any number of skeletons in the closet that can be used to manipulate and silence them when necessary. Everyone, it seems, is onto a good thing, and they all know how to cover their backs.

But when Wilfred rapes Mary’s daughter, it seems his number is up. Despite his best efforts to hush things up, rumours are circulating about the girl’s convenient suicide and his involvement in a financial scandal. Mary plots to kill him. The board forces Wilfred’s resignation, but at his lowest point, it seems the prophecy really is true. The church hierarchy are priming him for politics: all his travails have led to this moment, where at last he is on the brink of true power.

Do me a favor and, whatever you think, write a brief review on Amazon.com.
Thank you.

And... we're back!

Well, it's been a while. Nice to be back. I was just reviewing some of the things that happened during my absence.

Deanna Durbin

Deanna Durbin (1921-2013) died. Another childhood crush. She starred in 24 movies and shared the Academy Award's 1939 Juvenile Award with Mickey Rooney "for their significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth, and as juvenile players, setting high standards of ability and achievement".

Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013) died. Although he only worked on 17 movies, he was the greatest special effects man of his era.

Joyce Brothers (1927-2013) died. She was on the radio when I was in high school, dispensing psychobabble in convincing doses. Then—much to my amazement—she turned up in The Naked Gun, Loaded Weapon I, and Spy Hard.

Joyce Brothers - Loaded Weapon I (1993)

Esther Williams (1921-2013) died. Never liked her movies much. All that synchronized swimming: it never seemed real to me.

James Gandolfini (1961-2013) died. Bummer.

The Last Boyscout (1991)

True Romance (1993)

Get Shorty (1995)

The Sopranos (1999-2007)

Romance and Cigarettes (2005)

In The Loop (2009)

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3  (2009)

Cinema Verite (2011)

Dennis Farina (1944-2013) died. He was in 75 movies and TV shows after retiring from the Chicago Police Force.  I first noticed him in Midnight Run (1988), but my favorite role was in That Old Feeling (1997) with Bette Midler.

Midnight Run (1988)

Romeo is Bleeding (1993)

Get Shorty (1995)

That Old Feeling (1997)

Out of Sight (1998)

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The book?

Yeah, the book. The title is Play the Devil, a line borrowed from the Bard.

But then I sigh; and with a piece of scripture,
Tell them that God bids us do good for evil:
And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ;
And seem a saint, when most I play the Devil.
        ~William Shakespeare, King Richard III

The book is ready to go. I have a few things to work through with the publisher, then I'll post the details on the blog. In case you're interested.