Neal and Sir Newland: The Genisis

New Jersey author N.O.D. both writes and illustrates his debut novel NEAL AND SIR NEWLAND. He served in the military for 20 years and was medically retired. He attributes both his storytelling and illustrating as a trait he has practiced and polished with his son. Now he shares that passion in printed form.One of the many aspects of NOD’s writing is the sense of the events and people being from his own life –credible, sensitive tender, and rich in spirituality. There is a sense of this in the manner in which he opens his novel – ‘I have heard it said, that we should have a purpose in life, something we can believe in, to give us hope; I’ve never known what that something should have been for me. I guess that’s how I ended up here, slowly sinking in this dark abyss, dying in loneliness, drowning in the eternal prison of woe! My name is Neal. I like to think that I’m a little different than most kids my age; for instance, I have different interests than your average fourteen-year-old boy. I go out of my way to avoid what I consider meaningless conversations and trivial subject matters. I’m not very fond of sports or topics that destroy the character of other cultures. I don’t like certain types of music, anything that uses vulgar language, disrespects people, or anything that objectifies females or promotes ignorant acts that would otherwise set the whole nation back 200 years. It isn’t music; it’s self-hate with a beat. Yes, I call it self-hate, because you have to hate yourself to make it and hate yourself to listen to it. Yeah, I think I’m a little different, and you are probably thinking the same right now. I live with my mom and my dad; well, I use to. My dad is real cool; we have the same name because he liked the idea of naming me after himself (smile). Dad is from a small town in the northeast New Jersey to be precise, just across the GW Bridge from Manhattan Island, New York. We also lived in Northern California, in an area just before you get to Shasta Mountain, and Okinawa, Japan which is about 829.87 nautical miles from Tokyo, Japan. My dad served in the military, the United States Air Force, so our family moved a lot. I have had many good times living in different places with my parents. I remember my dad would tell me different stories about his family, some of them funny and others were not.’ That is the flavor of this warmly adventuresome book.The story is rather brief but the length fits the plots. According to the fine summary, ‘Neal’s journey takes him on a quest where he will embark upon adventures far beyond anything he could imagine. He is confronted not only by his own fears, but the misfortunes of life. His father and mother are divorcing and he has no friends, nor does he fit in anywhere or with anyone. He has no faith in anything greater than himself, he believes in nothing, other than what he can see. Neal embraces the beauty and wonderment of Pairidaeza a perfect world far distant from his own; but rejects who he is and his responsibility to the people of Pairidaeza, not knowing how that rejection will ultimately affect his own world! But what he experience will also thrust him into the dark and harsh ugliness that dwells within the haunting walls of Castle Ashkenazi! He is transformed after being mentally and sexually seduced by evil itself…..Neal has to learn the value of life, the struggles of mankind, the importance of faith, the richness of humility and the amount of his own worth. But first he must die!’Fine writing, excellent illustrations, (Sir Newland of the title is the cover illustration) and a journey through mythological sci-fi fantasy with an overlay of spirituality. This will be a fascinating new author to watch. Grady Harp, April 17