CAPISTRANO: Pumpkin Heads

CAPISTRANO: Pumpkin Heads: Post Halloween, symbols of the event can be found throughout towns and cities, discarded and forlorn, as they await garbage pickup. Lik...

Pumpkin Heads

Post Halloween, symbols of the event can be found throughout towns and cities, discarded and forlorn, as they await garbage pickup.

Like the guillotined heads that rolled during the French Revolution, they exhibit the gruesome, final facial expressions of an all too short life. A truncated existence determined by the whims of others. Others who traded them as commodities in the marketplace.

Metaphors perhaps, for the human condition.

Pumpkins are thin skinned. Their “meat” is prized as a dessert filling. They are hollow inside but those cavities contain seeds. Seeds that guarantee their future success in the natural order of the world.Seeds as sine qua non for sustainability.

Enter Mr. Michael Campbell. Some would describe him as a pumpkin.

He manages to escape the social guillotine of marriage breakup. He also avoids the blade that descends toward his neck released by his corporate superiors.

He seeks the seeds that lie within as he builds an empire that trades in a commodity that is of a tender age as well. The desserts that some, those of means, gorge on. The sweetness, the seductiveness of youth cloaked under the cover of night.

Come to the story of Michael’s quest in the novel, CAPISTRANO.

Follow his exploits, witness his personal fears, his fearlessness in the face of adversity, his fulminations against the status quo. Emphasize with, and perhaps even demonize the man and as he struggles mightily to farm his personal pumpkin patch.

Capistrano is available at:

www.amazon.com,  barnesandnoble.com, chapterindigo.ca, Xlibris.com

CAPISTRANO: HIGH FLIGHT

CAPISTRANO: HIGH FLIGHT: HIGH  FLIGHT Behold the cormorant in flight. It is a carnivore. Everything about it has been adapted over eons of time to fulfill i...

HIGH FLIGHT

HIGH  FLIGHT

Behold the cormorant in flight. It is a carnivore. Everything about it has been adapted over eons of time to fulfill its function of species propagation by feeding on fish. It is dominant in its chosen environment.

Search on line for stock photos of the Lockheed SR-70, Blackbird warplane and note the eerie similarities between the two machines, one of nature and the other of man’s creation, in flight.

Mach 3.2 at an altitude of 85,000 feet notwithstanding, the latter creation proved to be transient. The Lockheed was retired in 1998. But the bird in the photo continues to soar.

Enter Michael Campbell, the chief protagonist in the novel, CAPISTRANO.

He has fulfilled the words of  the wartime pilot, G. Mcgee in his poem, High Flight.

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things 

You have never dreamed of…

I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, nor even eagle flew-

Michael comes to dominate the environment he has chosen. He is the founder and driving force behind the success of Capistrano, the club for gentlemen in Metro Manila. And he wars with those who would unseat him from his throne.

His exploits model the musing of Alexander Pope when he wrote,

Man: the glory, jest, and riddle of the world.

Michael is everyman, yes everyman, and then some. Join him, laugh with him and cry with him and come to A. Pope’s conclusion,

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan:

The proper study of mankind is man.

CAPISTRANO IS AVAILABLE AT:

amazon.com,  barnesandnoble.com, xlibris.com, chapters.indigo.ca, e-books at KOBO & KINDLE

CAPISTRANO: Who Is Driving The Bus?

CAPISTRANO: Who Is Driving The Bus?: In the dwindling gloom of early morning, the dashboard of a school bus and the country road it will follow are seen. The predawn ...

Who Is Driving The Bus?

In the dwindling gloom of early morning, the dashboard of a school bus and the country road it will follow are seen. The predawn commencement of the scheduled pick up of students is about to begin. They will be, quite literally and figuratively, driven down their road to learning via this vehicle and others like it, throughout the world.

Only an ambulance has more miles of electrical wire and cable to activate their many safety lights than do these ubiquitous chrome yellow transporters of young people. They dot and define the landscape with the arrival of each, new fall season.

“Who is driving the bus?”, is a question that has been a part of the lexicon of business language for some time. And the people who manage people in business, are those to whom the question is posed. It is a metaphor for the setting of direction, of goals, and the routes or strategies that will be followed to achieve a punctual arrival or business success. 

To effectively “drive the bus” a manager, like his or her counterpart behind the wheel, must know the rules of the road, the societal or governmental regulations that apply. The manager must look to the wellbeing of those for whom there is a responsibility and all the while, maintain order among those whose agendas might differ from the direction that has been set.

Michael Campbell is a man who is driving such a bus. He knows enough, just enough, of what must be done to arrive at his destination. And the rest requires his common sense, his true grit, elements of personality that he has in abundance.

Come join Michael, in the novel, CAPISTRANO, and experience the ride of your life as he negotiates both the paved and the rocky roads to achieve his dream. 



CAPISTRANO is available at:
amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, xlibris.com, chapters.indigo.ca, ebook format at kindle & kobo

CAPISTRANO: Bold Designs of The Heart & The Brain

CAPISTRANO: Bold Designs of The Heart & The Brain: Sunlight is seen revealing the pattern of folds in brain coral. It is resting on the bottom step of many that ascend upward to a h...

Bold Designs of The Heart & The Brain

Sunlight is seen revealing the pattern of folds in brain coral. It is resting on the bottom step of many that ascend upward to a higher level.

The human brain, when looked at, in the same light as the coral, is a simple organ to define. It weights about 3 lbs or 1.5 kg. The brain is high in fat and cholesterol. It was eaten by primitives to create a sense of immortality.

The brain is the center of our nervous system. The cerebral cortex has more than 25 billion neurons that are connected to synapses and then to several thousand other neurons. A complex work to be sure.

From the beginning of recorded time a debate has raged concerning the brain. Is it merely the regulator of body function and perception or is it, as well, the seat of the soul.

Aristotle felt that the heart was the center of the soul. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, believed that from the brain came the joys and laughter of life as well as the sorrows and the grief. Rene Descartes held that the mind existed independent of the brain.

Modern research seems to suggest that Hippocrates was on the right track. But in the panoply of emotions and actions played out daily by human beings, maybe it doesn’t matter. 

Michael Campbell is an individual practiced in the parade of the human condition. He sets a goal for himself, and, in the process of striving to achieve it, tests both body and soul. And, like the brain coral, he starts off on a bottom step. Follow him as he ascends the staircase to realize his dream.


Capistrano is available at:

amazon.com barnesandnoble.com Xlibris.com 
chapters.indigo.ca

CAPISTRANO: Novel for all seasons

CAPISTRANO: Novel for all seasons

Novel for all seasons

CAPISTRANO: Bird On A Wire

CAPISTRANO: Bird On A Wire: www.capistranoBook.net Bird On A Wire Observe the bird perched on the bow line in a harbor. A cursory look at the photo mig...

Bird On A Wire

www.capistranoBook.net

Bird On A Wire

Observe the bird perched on the bow line in a harbor. A cursory look at the photo might suggest however that the feathered creature is instead, resting on the reflection of the main sail cover atop the boom.

What we choose to see is what we believe to be true. And belief spawns action in all of us.

Think of the observer on the ground staring up at aircraft in the sky. Frequently they appear to be on collision courses when, in reality, the planes are thousands of feet apart. Perspective as precursor to reality.

I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,

He called out to me, you must not ask for so much.

And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,

She cried to me, hey, why not ask for more.

                                                                                                Leonard Cohen

Michael Campbell, the main character in the novel, CAPISTRANO, is a man more inclined to listen to voices in darkened doorways. He tires of the toil needed to satisfy the desires of others. He abandons corporate life and sets out on a great adventure. And he is the only man in possession of the blueprint that will give form and meaning to his new reality.

Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir,

I have tried in my way to be free.

                                                                                              Leonard Cohen

Michael does gain his freedom as the enterprise takes shape but, as with any choice made in life, it comes at a cost.

Join Michael in his sensual tale of desire, of defeat and of the capacity of some, like him, to ultimately prevail.

Capistrano the novel,  is available in hard cover, soft cover & e-book formats through:

www.amazon.com         www.barnesandnoble.com      www.xlibris.com   www.chapters.ca

King Solomon among the flowers

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Consider the flowers of the field, how they grow;

they toil not, neither do they spin;

And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon 

in all his glory, 

was not arrayed like one of these.

The Bible, St. Matthew

Can a flower know of the beauty ascribed to it by man? Could King Solomon comprehend  the transient nature of his own finery? Both the flowers of the field and Solomon of old have two things in common.

They both enjoy, an albeit short, period of splendor. And they both wither leaving little trace of their former magnificence. Such is the way of the world.

Michael Campbell, the main character in the novel, Capistrano, is in the summer of his life when he conceives of and constructs Capistrano, a club for gentlemen, in Metro Manila. The sun shines on him and the grand enterprise he embarks upon in South East Asia. And his oasis is populated by flowers, flowers of the evening whose purpose is to prolong their summer splendor.

Join Michael in his grand adventure as he weathers the storms that also attend any season of growth. 

Capistrano the novel,  is available in hard cover, soft cover & e-book formats through:

Xlibris.com,    Amazon,        Barnes & Nobel     Chapters Indigo & fine book stores everywhere

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

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This lumbung or storage barn for the rice harvest is festooned with the horns of many buffalo. Their crowns adorn the front of this building that is located close to the town of Toraja in central Sulawesi. And they are all that remain of the large beasts. 

Tethered by one leg to a stout tree, the handlers condition the animals to lift their heads and extend their necks by pulling on the rope that is tied to the metal ring through their noses. The attempts by the animals to avoid the pain is short lived however. Immediately after one sharp pull, their necks are cut with one deft swing of a long steel blade. Many times the executioner misses his mark and both the carotid artery and the trachea are severed. The stricken, immobile beast falls to its knees in a spurting stream of bright red blood and an angry pink mist shrouds their heads as they fall. The killing ground runs red for days. 

This slaughter is all part of the ceremony for the dead in the region. It is held once or twice each year. And it is a major tourist attraction. The assembled mourners feast on the flesh for days.

Michael Campbell, the main character in the novel, CAPISTRANO, looms large as the owner operator of a club for gentlemen in Manila. But Shakespeare, in Henry IV,  had it right. Creation of a kingdom is one thing, keeping it is another. In the chess game of life, Michael gets caught in a knight fork. As Bob Dylan wrote, 

"in ceremonies of the horseman, even a pawn must hold a grudge." 

Follow Michael and his exploits and witness his attempts to avoid the fate of the buffalo.

Available at:

Amazon, Barnes & Noble & fine book stores everywhere.

CAPISTRANO: All The World's A Stage

CAPISTRANO: All The World's A Stage: www.capistranoBook.net Available at: amazon.com                              barnes & noble                         e-editions...