Author Description

Set in the greater Middle East, young Asaf gets wheedled into helping a foreign soldier build a sub-rosa bar. Big trouble ensues. The military and the religious compete for control of the area, creating a maelstrom of double-dealing, vice and pain. Asaf becomes deeply conflicted between the foreign soldiers and his own people and culture. The four main characters each descend into their own form of depravity. The self-righteous PROPHET turns perverse, the SOLDIER becomes suicidal, the GENERAL crawls into the bottle, while Asaf ferments with vengeance. The lone female, the DAUGHTER, a war-widow, escapes the repressive culture, and journeys to a place of hope and equality where she can raise her young girl as a first class citizen, free from the hyper-patristic, hypocritical village of her past.Full of deep emotions, this is a story of how so much can go so wrong when cultures clash due to ignorance, bigotry, prejudice and self-righteousness. It is also a literary work with only the protagonist named. It contains humor, literary easter-eggs and poetry. There are timelss archetypes throughout like the spy, the bureaucrat, the banker and the tax-man. The self serving thug only answers to his brothers of the code and the grouchy cafe proprietor only serves Coca-Cola and Marlboro Reds.Enjoy this unique tale unveiling the highs and lows of human nature as a young man comes of age in a war-torn world and discovers life is not a simple as selling water at a roadside stand.