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Last
month I told
you about David
J. Castello releasing a new
novel called The
Diary of an Immortal (1945-1959).
Since then David's enthralling tale
of how a young American soldier
stumbled upon a formula that would
let him live forever has been
steadily building an enthusiastic
audience in Amazon's Kindle
Store where it is priced
at just $2.99 (vs. $17.99 for
the soft cover edition).
The
book has reached as high as the top
ten in Amazon's Magical Realism
category - a genre that GoodReads.com
describes as "one
in which magical elements blend to
create a realistic atmosphere that
accesses a deeper understanding of
reality. The story explains these
magical elements as normal
occurrences, presented in a
straightforward manner that places
the "real" and the
"fantastic" in the same
stream of thought."
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
and The Green Mile are
examples of some classics in the
genre.
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I
just returned from a nine-day holiday
cruise that was made even more
enjoyable by being able to sit by
the pool and read The Diary of an
Immortal with no distractions.
It's a good thing nothing else
needed my attention because the
story was so engrossing I would had
ignored it anyhow!
I
don't want to spoil anything for you
so I will just encapsulate the story
in a couple of paragraphs and leave
all of the twists and turns of the
story for you to enjoy for yourself.
Steven Ronson, the young
soldier from Florida (where David, an
accomplished musician, writer and -
with his brother Michael - acclaimed
domain investor, also grew up),
found himself fighting the remnants
of Hitler's forces in 1945 Germany
when, during a raid on the Dachau
concentration camp, he discovered a mysterious
stash of pills that were
meant to allow Hitler to live
forever, but fortunately never made
it to the Fuhrer. Ronson began
consuming the pills and soon found
they gave him extraordinary
abilities including the power to
heal from any injury -
completely impervious to death.
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Ronson
moved to New York City after
the war where, aided by the
formula, be became a
saxophone-playing phenom
on the local jazz scene. One
night after playing he met
a |
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Photo
of Buddhist monks from Bigstock |
disfigured
former missionary (Albert)
who recognized something
familiar in Steven that he
had seen before -
immortality. Albert told
Ronson that the immortality
formula originally came
from China where an
order of secretive monks had
been using it to live
continuously for centuries.
Albert
also had a beautiful niece, Jennifer,
whom Steven fell in love
with, so he jumped at the
opportunity to accompany
them to China (in the midst
of that country's civil war
which Steven was soon
embroiled in) to learn more
about the immortals and why
he was destined to
become one. With the
guidance of Albert and 2,000
year old monk Chow Li
Steven would get the answers
he was looking for but the
story does not end in the
way we expect...and that is
all I can tell you without
spoiling it! |
It
is a terrific read (and I could see
an epic movie made from this book).
Castello is a long time history buff
and an expert on World War II
history in particular. That allowed
him to fill the book with real
people, places and events that
allows the story to transcend
fantasy and make you forget from
time to time that you are reading
fiction! I've written non-fiction practically
my entire life and I have no doubt writing
good fiction is much harder.
How someone can create, solely from
their imagination, engaging
characters, dialog and a great story
with so many moving parts that have
to all be tied together in
the end completely amazes me.
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When
I asked David how this
process worked for him as
he created his first novel
he told me, "The book
came to me in a series of
dreams that seemed odd
and disjointed. Luckily, I
didn’t fight it and went
with the flow because when
it was completed I could see
they all lined up.
There is a part where
Steven tells a music
producer in New York City
that (when playing his
astounding other-worldly sax
solos) he felt like a
radio receiver to the cosmos.
I wrote that because I
was feeling that way!
There is no way my book
would have been created as
it is if I hadn’t taken
notes the instant I
returned to consciousness. I
would’ve only remembered
the basic elements, it
wouldn’t have made sense
and my conscious mind
would’ve taken control and
steered me away to a
different destination."
Thankfully,
David's dreams (and his
meticulous note taking with
the pen and tablet he kept
at his bedside) took him to
the right place - a
place you can arrive at too
after taking the fast-paced
307-page journey through The
Diary of an Immortal.
If you need more |
Author
David J. Castello |
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incentive,
the book ends with the
ingredients in the
immortality formula! Let
me see you get that at
Walgreen's for $2.99!
:-) |
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