John H.T. Francis will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
by John H.T. Francis
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BLURB:
Gailana is the central island of the world; Aurganots, Reminos, Hindarassis, Pelanese, and Free People, different societies with different customs and values, live in it. Gailana is old, with a history rich in events and civilisations. The mother island has undergone important changes in recent decades, including a devastating war from which the Aurganots emerged victorious. Following this war, Aurganot has become a country of wealth, technology, and power, dominating all others.
In this modern age, Aurganots value their new found joie de vivre; Pelanese love commerce and business; Reminos are still dedicated to honour and glory in war; Hindarassis continue to care most about their families; and the Free People cherish their freedom above anything else. Among the Free People, a young Levon has set a high and ambitious goal: to seek and find the ultimate meaning of all that humans do. Levon has been on his intellectual quest for years, and the coming days are significant. Paratos, the sage of Gailana, is in the land of the Free People, and Levon is readying to meet him. The young man knows that something life changing will come out from this meeting, only he does not imagine what.
In this fictional first part of The Story in Three Parts, John H.T. Francis tells the story of Levon, a young and sincere soul looking for meaning in a changing world. This short novel will take you on a journey through Gailana, shows you its diversity, and brings you close to many of its human aspects. Events will develop fast on the island, and Levon is about to be in the midst of them.
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Excerpt One:
A rooster crows in the distance; the neighbourhood dog barks at it; Levon’s eyes start to move underneath his closed, tired eyelids; his breathing changes. The faint rays of the morning light find their way through the many cracks in the large window. Timid movements can be heard outside the room. Levon wakes up. He opens his eyes and thoughts gather quickly in his mind; he knows this is an important day. Only, Levon is not a morning person; eyelids closed again, he summons his morning’s feeble energy to warm up his muscles. He rolls around in bed and, in doing so, finds himself hugging Gaya, his long-term love and partner. She wiggles her feet gently against his and breathes deeply. Levon turns again and jumps out of bed.
“I need to go,” Levon says while gathering papers and belongings.
Gaya, still in bed, turns towards him, opens her eyes, smiles, and says, “I know.”
Half an hour later, Levon goes out the door, “I need to catch the first shuttle to Nordavia; no time to waste.”
For Levon, who made the search for ‘the general true meaning of human endeavours’ his calling for the past years, the next days are significant. He has a rare chance to come in direct contact with one of the leading living thinkers in Gailana, Paratos, and he hopes that this will help him make the breakthrough for which he has so longed. Paratos is in fact visiting Nordavia, in the land of the freethinking people, or as they simply call themselves ‘the Free People,’ and Levon is eager to make his way to him north, from Sudavia where he lives.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
John H.T. Francis is a general thinker and writer. His main interests are in the condition of the modern man, human knowledge, and social development in our modern times. The author is universal in his calling and approach.
John H.T. Francis is the author of the trilogy The Story in Three Parts and Reflections on Fundamental Matters: Not for the Satisfied Mind. He is regularly on the move geographically and combines with his writings a career of entrepreneurship, which he hopes will one day yield similar merits in the world of action as in the world of thought.
Website: www.johnhtfrancis.com
Blog: http://johnhtfrancis.wordpress.com
Twitter: @JohnHTFrancis
Facebook: http://facebook.com/johnht.francis
Where to buy:
Kindle: http://amzn.to/1G6FHCK
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1BUbzPn
Lulu: http://bit.ly/1BcLATe
MY TAKE/****Review****
While I was reading Searching for Meaning in Gailana, I had Dream Messenger playing which is actually meditation music that is airy, fluid, and mystical. It served as fitting background music.
The novel is described a trilogy because it happens in three parts rather like three acts. Don’t let the concept of a trilogy overwhelm because it is concise as opposed to being verbose. It tends to be more of a book for every man told by Levon who could be anyone, except, he has a very grand project. Levon wants to find the real meaning of life.
There are several layers within the tale just as they are several different cultures. It is easy to draw parallels, although the author doesn’t necessarily tell the reader making this book more literary than genre fiction. Paratos, the wise man Levon idolizes, could easily have been modeled on the Dali Lama. It isn’t too hard to assign names to the country if a person is interested in doing so.
Searching For Meaning in Gailana is Orwellian leaning toward satire in some places, then other times, it is a simple allegory that sometimes reads like a case study. In the end, it is an entertaining tale that could spark discussion and thought.