Cover Reveal: Brooklyn Masala, A Hilarious Tale of Guns, Gurus, and Gangsters

I know it's been a long time since I've written a blog post. The reason for that is secrecy. I've been working feverishly on a new novel, one I'm very proud of, something totally different from my other novels. A project that's close to my heart, new, contemporary, funny, and highly original.

For that reason, I haven't shared much about the characters and the premise of BROOKLYN MASALA, which is about a Brooklyn housewife who goes to see an Indian guru to fix her marriage problems and ends up an unwitting diamond smuggler and murder suspect. 

Many parts will have you laughing out loud. And if you're wondering how this new novel came about, grab yourself a cup of coffee and sit back because it's a fascinating tale.

Back in 2021 when I was holed up in a motel working on a writing project, I had a sudden epiphany. I had noticed a local Trader Joe's and wanted to learn more. Curious, I went inside and was intrigued to see so many boxes of frozen Indian food in the freezer section. Food that seemed to draw quite a bit of attention. Everything from Chicken Tikka Masala to Palak Paneer to Vegetable Biryani. There were even frozen parathas! It seemed that people couldn’t get enough of this exotic, tasty food and they were constantly selling out.

I was sure there was a novel in there somewhere, so I decided that when I got back to Brooklyn, I would research everything I could about Indian food and create a novel around it. With time, a character began to form on the page, that of a harried Brooklyn housewife named Bella Bloom whose lack of cooking skills is driving away her husband. She seeks out a Guru to try and save her marriage. One thing leads to another and suddenly she’s cooking Indian food and making Indian spices to keep her marriage and family intact. In addition to Bella, I introduce the characters of Maharishi Krishna Ram, otherwise known as the Garden State Guru, and Dolly Parton Patel, an ex-Bollywood star turned cooking goddess inspired by Aishwarya Rai. Together with a colorful cast of characters, these main characters operate in a world where Indian food and culture play a major role, and in some ways, Indian food is even a supporting character in the story.

In time, the plot developed that I was able to weave together from stories I culled from the headlines surrounding diamond smuggling inside chocolate bars, diamond switching on 47th Street, and Indian Gurus who may or may not be on the up and up. That's the beauty of fiction: you can take stories from the headlines and weave them into a story to delight and entrance your audience almost like a snake charmer minus the snake.

Yes, I love being a writer! 

During my extensive research, another interesting aspect began to develop on the page, and that concerned chocolate.

I suppose I had always known about the importance of Cadbury chocolates in Indian culture, but when I began working on the manuscript of Brooklyn Masala, I visited several Indian grocery stores in Brooklyn and Jersey City and noticed one ubiquitous product that always appeared near the cash register: Cadbury Chocolates.

For Indians, few products have captured their heart like chocolate, and their brand of choice is Cadbury. First imported to India by the British during the colonial era, chocolate soon became a daily habit for some twenty percent of Indians. And of that twenty-percent, Cadbury accounts for two-thirds of all sales. In fact, the chocolates are so beloved in India, that Indians view them as a distinctly Indian product.

Even today, brand loyalty surrounding Cadbury endures, even among members of the Indian diaspora. The brand evokes an almost permanent nostalgia and an undying love for the treat that is unmatched by any other candy product. And no trip to an Indian grocery store is complete without that purple foil-wrapped chocolate bars that stole the heart of India. And that is why I made Cadbury an important element of the story-line.

While the story is at heart a thriller, it's also an amateur sleuth novel, a comic satire, a mystery, and a great girl buddy novel. It's about second chances in life. It's also about starting over. It's about getting out of one's comfort zone to find hidden strengths and new talents. It's about remaking your life when you've hit rock bottom. I hope you will enjoy reading Brooklyn Masala as much as I enjoyed writing it. 

Stay tuned for more news!

Poem: The Smoke Rises High In The Negev Sky

 

Photo by Hanan Greenwood

The smoke rises high in the Negev sky,
A burning house, a car, a mother, a child
What happens to martyrs after they die-
Do their souls weep for all the defiled?
Do the Heavens cry out for those who are dead
And for the living who would take their place.
What happens to letters unsent and words unsaid-
Do they linger in some dark, quiet space?
When their memories are gone, their faces forgotten
Will the world pause to remember their dread?
Can life carry on from a peace misbegotten
After every last tear has been shed?
In the Holy of Holies, the cherubim cry out
They pray for their Zion restored
When the cedars of Lebanon will sprout in the wild
And the desert shall bloom like the rose.
When sorrow and sadness at last flee away
And the arrogance of man is brought low
And in the haunts where the jackals once lay,
Grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

New Poem: Dreams

Each dream, said Freud, is a wish unfulfilled,
A longing for an unreachable goal,
Obscure desires deep in our subconscious
That haunt us even as we sleep.
The nighttime is the mind’s chance to rebuild,

Fulfill the longings of each desperate soul
To awaken memories of a distant promise,
That lie dormant, hidden somewhere deep.
A world without order, a world without sense
Awaits us each night when we hibernate,
Each detail a mystical connection
That exists not in our waking state.
The search for meaning, the search for clues,
Answers to life’s riddles as we snooze
Friendships lost; tasks yet undone
That when we awake are soon forgotten.
Random images from a long time ago,
From out of childhood’s unconscious mind
That stalk us each night after bedtime
From out of the darkness and obscurity.
If only we could finally crack the code
And bring light to this eternal mystery!

More on Universal Truths in Literature

My most popular post without a doubt is “Why We Need Universal Truths in Literature,” which has garnered over 4,500 views. This is shocking enough, and I never stop asking myself why a post about a tired old concept like “universal truths” would attract so many readers, especially given that we are already living in post-modern, post-rational world.

Or are we?

As I wrote in my previous article, Humans have an insatiable desire for truth, and good literature and art in general awaken the knowledge of these truths that exist in our subconscious, especially since truth appears to be embedded in our DNA. In this sense, truth can never be excised, no matter how much we are told the opposite or subjected to propaganda. We know truth when we hear it, when we see it, and when we read it. We are drawn to truth like moths to a flame because it awakens in us concepts that are eternal, and can never be expunged from our souls. This is the reason why art and literature are usually the first things to go in totalitarian societies because art brings us dangerously close to the truth. It awakens us to the lies and distortions that  we are subjected to. Art allows us to transcend our present situation, no matter how dire or repressive, with timeless concepts. It envelops our humanity in a cocoon of eternal wisdom and meaning that shield us from lies and deceit. Art is transparent. It allows us to see deep within a concept to its universal qualities and how they apply to our lives. Art never hides the truth: it illuminates and glorifies it. Art preserves the truth for future generations, teaching us what it means to be human in a chaotic and often dangerous world.

The Function of Art

If you ask the average person why they pick up a book to read, most people would say to be entertained, to get a thrill, to experience a romance, to travel, to learn, to feel some emotion. Hardly anyone would say they want to encounter a truth. For what is a truth? Who says if something is true or not? Who gets to decide these matters? 

One of the many functions of art is to express emotions, to enrich mankind with teachings, to immortalize stories and heroes. But also, one of the functions of art is to teach us what is true about ourselves. This seems a little self-contradictory since it would appear that it was the job of the natural sciences to give us truth. But rather than being didactical, literature can demonstrate the truth about our humanity in a more effective way: via the characters' behavior and actions, thus teaching a concept in a rather stark and more memorable way.

Allow me to illustrate.

Not too long ago I was reading an old classic called "Moonfleet" by J. Meade Falkner (1898), a historical novel about a young orphan who gets involved with smugglers. About four chapters in, I wasn’t too impressed with the novel. It was only when I reached Chapter 5 that I was awestruck. Un the first two pages of Chapter 5, I encountered no less than four universal truths. This is astounding given the fact that most novels are lucky if they contain even one universal truth. Here were four in a few paragraphs! How was this possible?

In the story, the orphan (John Trenchard) has lost his mother and father early on. He lives with an uncaring aunt who hated his father and resents having to raise him. Because young John feels so alienated in his aunt’s home, he often goes out wandering, and on one night, he spies some smugglers and follows them to their hiding place (a crypt) where he is unwittingly locked up and left to die.

James Trenchard is an orphan who finds himself in peril in "Moonfleet."

During all the time he is sealed up in the vault, his aunt never goes looking for him. She never worries about him. In fact, she doesn’t even care that he’s gone. She's almost glad to be rid of him. It takes his teacher to go looking for him after he fails to appear in class several days in a row. But the teacher doesn’t go looking or him initially because he fears he’s missing. He goes to the aunt’s house to pay him a sick call, since he believes the boy is sick, and is shocked to discover the boy is not sick, but missing. When he asks about the boy, the aunt merely shrugs her shoulders and says, “He is run off I know not where, but as he makes his bed, must he lie on it. And if he run away for his pleasure, may stay away for mine. I have been pestered with this lot too long, and only bore with him for poor sister Martha’s sake. But ‘tis after his father that the graceless lad takes, and thus rewards me.” She them slams the door in the teacher’s face.

Initially the teacher believes the boy has run off to sea, but after putting a few clues together, he realizes the boy has been shut up in a vault and thus saves his life.

In these few paragraphs I learned some shocking universal truths. And by universal, they apply to everyone regardless of time or place. They apply to all humans on the basis of our shared humanity:

a) There’s a danger in being with people who don’t care about you. You must have someone to care about you and inquire after you.

b) You never know who will be your friend in the end and who will be your enemy.

c) Visiting the sick is not just a nice thing to do. It could literally save someone’s life.

d) When one does not love you, they will not care about you or ask about you.

In the end, the teacher finds John Trenchard close to death, and with the help of the local tavern-keeper, nurses him back to life. When John goes back to his aunt’s house, instead of welcoming him back home, she greets him with harsh words and does not let him cross the threshold, saying she would have no tavern-loungers in her house. She tells John to go back to the tavern and he realizes that his aunt’s home has never been his true home:

“When I heard such scurvy words, felt the devil rise in my heart, and only laughed, though bitter tears were in my eyes. So I turned my back upon the only home that I had ever known, and sauntered off down the village, feeling very alone.”

And thus I learned still another universal truth: that people use religion and morality as a means to emotionally abuse people and exclude them.

"Moonfleet" is a great adventure novel about a boy overcoming terrible odds, but in the end, it is also a teacher of important truths. A simple story with such profound wisdom and moral teachings! 

We ignore the teachings of art and literature at our own peril.

New Cover Reveal: Island on Fire - Romantic Historical Thriller

So pleased to reveal a new cover for ISLAND ON FIRE, a romantic historical thriller set in the Caribbean, during the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée in Martinique. I released the book in 2018 after three years of research and writing, two trips to the island where I immersed myself in the culture, history, volcanology, and archeology. I visited two volcano museums and explored parts of the city that were never rebuilt. I have written about my harrowing journeys through volcanic ruins, confrontations with insects, and the sweltering heat. But it was all worth it. Especially when I received a wonderful review from Publishers Weekly that called the novel "a memorable romantic thriller."

For the new cover I wanted a more evocative image that highlighted the exotic jungle flora, the danger of the volcano, and a character whose life is in peril. Love this new design by Tim Flanagan at Novel Design Studio. He got the imagery perfect including the historical feel of the novel.

The novel is now on sale this Fall for .99 cents - Kindle version and $8.99 for the paperback. Take advantage of these new low prices to immerse yourself in a story of danger, romance, intrigue, adventure, and voodoo mysticism set at the turn of the last century on an island that is about to erupt from within, culminating in the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century. You can buy a copy of ISLAND ON FIRE by clicking HERE. 

Socrates: A Poem

One day while strolling in Athens town
I met a man of great renown
A scholar known as Socrates
This philosopher put me quite at ease
Great sir, said I, can you teach me—
The secrets of your philosophy?
And so, this Greek said with a wink:
“I cannot teach; I can only make you think!”
And so, I endeavored on a whim
To learn the secrets of his acumen
What made this man second to none?
He said, “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”
And then he said the strangest thing:
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
That knowledge is a virtue; and ignorance a sin
For greatness comes in knowing that we know nothing.
His philosophy was all I yearned
Yet there was so much more I had to learn
He said, “Education is the kindling of a flame
Let it not burn out and die in vain!”

The Incredible True Story of America's First Shots Fired During WWI

On the evening of March 21, 1915, the German steamer ODENWALD attempted to quietly pull out of the harbor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, without customs clearance. As the ship was leaving the harbor, she was “met with a brisk machine gun fire from Morro Castle," said German Ambassador Count Johann von Bernstorff in an angry letter to Secretary of State Robert Lansing. A few minutes later, "a solid cannon shot struck the water a short distance in front of the ship's bow, raising a column of water from ten to twelve feet high. The engine was immediately stopped and backed at full speed. The forward motion of the ship ceased at once. In spite of which she was fired upon about three minutes longer. Marks of the bullets can be plainly seen in various places of the ship and hull. It was only through luck that no human life was lost in that onslaught."

This Caribbean tale of drama and conflict occurred just after Germany declared their policy of “unrestricted submarine warfare” in February of 1915, when they would sink any merchant ship heading to Great Britain without warning. This policy angered neutral countries, especially the United States. The tactic was only abandoned in September 1915, after the sinking of the LUSITANIA and ARABIC. But in the meanwhile, tensions were high. Germany desperately needed supplies. So, they ramped up their supply network through passenger ships of the Hamburg-America Line. The United States knew this, and knew that any ship that made it to Germany would prolong the war, prolong the agony. So, they disallowed Germany to make use of their neutral ports, among them, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Odenwald in San Juan harbor.

The ODENWALD was a German merchant freighter (a coal collier) that began to service the German Navy days after the beginning of the war. Her duty was to serve as support freighter for the cruiser SMS Karlsruhe whose mission was to patrol the eastern Atlantic in search of enemy merchant vessels to raid and sink. She sailed into San Juan harbor around August 6 1914, possibly seeking refuge from a British squadron of warships. Since the U.S. was neutral, it is possible that her crew claimed to be a merchant ship, but the U.S. authorities suspected otherwise.

On two thorough searches by harbor officials, the ODENWALD was refused permission to sail. Tensions were high among the sailors and harbor officials. “There was no ground upon which to decline to issue the papers,” insisted Bernstorff. “The reckless action of the harbor authorities in opening fire on the steamer without warning was not justified by the circumstances of the case.” Secretary of State Robert Lansing defended the action, saying that “in her endeavor to leave port, the ODENWALD “committed a willful breach of the navigation laws of the United States…which made it necessary to employ force to prevent her unauthorized departure.”

Were the port authorities justified?

When war broke out in August 1914, the United States tried to remain neutral. Still, American ships carried food, ammunition, and raw materials to Britain and Russia, which remained a thorn in the side of 

the Kaiser. In addition, German ships were subject to strict regulations as to how long they could remain in port, and what they were allowed to carry. When the ODENWALD tried to pull out with a shipload of supplies bound for U-boats in the Atlantic, her sister ship, the S.S. PRÄSIDENT was hovering nearby, waiting to see how far they could push American patience with their willful breaching of the navigation laws of the United States. The PRÄSIDENT was a German vessel that served as both passenger and cargo ship before the war. When the war broke out, she also began to serve in the German Navy as a support vessel to the cruiser Karlsruhe by providing radio communication and supplies. She arrived in Puerto Rico in December 1914 to take refuge from British and French cruisers that were hunting her and eventually was interned by the U.S. government.

Unfortunately for the Germans, the officer on duty was a determined military officer who was having none of it.

Col. Teófilo Marxuach (1877 – 1939)

Col. Teófilo Marxuach was a Puerto Rican military officer who took decisive action that would make him known as the person who ordered the first shots fired of World War I on behalf of the United States. Born in Puerto Rico under Spanish rule, he studied military engineering in Guadalajara, Spain and received a lieutenant's commission in the Spanish Army. After the Treaty of Paris (1898) transferred control of Puerto Rico to the United States, Marxuach resigned the Spanish Army and joined the Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry, commissioned with a rank of second lieutenant. In 1908, the U.S. Congress reorganized the regiment as part of the regular U.S. Army and Marxuach took an oath of U.S. citizenship along with his new officer’s oath. That same year, he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and stationed at El Morro Castle.

The Captain of the ODENWALD, C. S. Segebarth, requested clearance to sail back to Hamburg the next day and 5000 tons of coal for the trip. Suspicious of the request, the local authorities decided to consult with Washington, D.C. and, afraid that the vessel would leave without clearance, alerted the commanding officer at the fortress of El Morro. Washington approved the use of force if necessary and the German captain of the ODENWALD was warned several times. Despite the Germans’ assurances that they would not leave without clearance, the soldiers on the fort made preparations in case such a situation occurred. A machine gun platoon was placed on the Bastión de San Agustín, 500 feet from the Morro Castle commanded by Captain Wood, and the heavy guns of El Morro were readied under the command of Lt. Teófilo Marxuach.

On the day in question, the customs inspector visited the ODENWALD, but his visit was cut short when the ship started her engines around 3:00 pm and began moving on the main channel towards the mouth of the harbor without clearance. The customs collector was asked to leave in a small boat. As the ODENWALD passed the Bastion de San Agustin, Captain Wood, standing on the parapet of the sea wall, hailed the vessel several times without success. The ODENWALD stayed on course and Wood ordered Sgt. Encarnacion Correa to fire warning shots with his machine gun. Failing to stop the vessel, Lt. Marxuach fired a 4.7 inch cannon of the Santa Rosa battery in the upper platform of El Morro across the bow of the ship in what is considered to be the first shot of World War I fired by the regular armed forces of the United States against any ship flying the colors of the Central Powers. When the ODENWALD stopped and dropped anchor at the mouth of the harbor under the fortress, she was eventually moved back to the upper harbor with a pilot and its supplies were confiscated. An international incident broke out when the German government accused the United States of holding the ODENWALD illegally against its will without firing the customary warning shot as required by international law. The United States government responded that Lt. Col. Burnham, commander of the fortress of El Morro Castle, made it clear that only warning shots were made and that none were aimed at the ODENWALD. Eventually, the ODENWALD was refitted and renamed SS NEWPORT by the U.S. government and assigned to the U.S. Shipping Board, where it served until 1924.

In 1917, the Germans resumed the practice of unrestricted submarine warfare against all Allied ships, which led to America's entry into the war. But they never stopped their smuggling and sabotage activities, which is the basis of my novel, THE UNLIKELY SPY, now out on Kindle and paperback.

CLICK HERE. 

Watch a video of Spanish historical re-enactors firing a cannon from the fort of El Morro, Puerto Rico: