iUniverse
Approved PRESS RELEASE
of gods and negroes (by don Kenobi)
©2006
Q: Please supply us with a detailed summary of your book (between one and three pages).
A: How do you carry on when all you are or ever will be is explainable. How do you face life when it seems that everyone wants to lay his or her baggage on you?
Is it wrong to expect nothing from the world and so remain unfazed by the problems you face?
Is it better to cry in pain each time life hurts you?
Can you reject life and taunt it, with each breath you take?
Is it wise?
Why was I even born?
What is life?
Will I ever find happiness?
How happy are happy people?
Do I deserve to be happy?
Why was I born?
Why was I born….
It seems those questions were uppermost in my mind as I wrote this book – over a period of some 20 years. Yet while I wrestled with the thoughts that would form the chapters of the book, I felt a reassurance within that beneath it all was a fun and a loving essence which watched us as we took our first faltering steps and passed from being plain men – to well… men – those who will be men (as God created them to be). Who would swear to an oath and not waver….
In addition to the questions above, the book also seems to be saying:
You can find a better way
I know a better way
Come let us find a better way
Come let me show you …. how I survived.
It is a story of love and the search for love.
It is also a story of the search for self-acceptance
It is the story of a gentle man – lost because he runs a different script.
In the end, it is as much the why I wrote the book as it is about the what is the book about.
Q: Why did you write the book Mr. Don Kenobi
A: The why is simple:
There are many books out there and many stereotypes but you cannot find your story and you do not fit into any stereotype…… This sets up a need and cause, which will nag and tug at you every minute of your life not spent doing it. It will take up a whole chunk of your time and you may even grow to hate it - probably because you have to `relive it to tell it'. While writing the book, I sometimes had no idea if I was writing a book or the book was writing me! Yet the book is fiction.
Q: Is the book really not about you? Thinly disguised? Is it really fiction?
A: [Laughter] Fiction? What is fiction? Phew! I don't know anymore what fiction is - Maybe we all are fiction… fictitious characters taking ourselves far too seriously. We are all stories – fictional characters in Gods story! Who said that? I just did.
What do I think of my own writing?
Pure pain! I hate writing – and I hope when you read the book you will understand the first chapter. I'm so grateful I had a chance to mould a story around Uncle Joe - a real-life character…. I will probably write about him again…. But I love writing too. I really do!
It's everything to me. Its what I am: about 23 years ago, as I stood in line waiting for the letter which would post me out of the military-style camp onward to my primary national service assignment, I said a little prayer "If I get posted to a school to teach dear
Lord, it means you want me to be a writer. If I get posted to a factory, then you want me to be an engineer" I got posted to a cement factory…
I think I owe a lot to John Steinbeck…aha! I can see the nay Sayers looking for similarities – `whole copied pages'… it will not be found. When Steinbeck wrote he was da Createur! I have just created a word to hide my blasphemy. We are tricky we writers….
Steinbeck always made me feel the presence and power of the storyteller… he suffocates me – there is a pureness about his writing which… I can't say any more words really have no use when you want to tell the truth is a deep personal way.
Already I have seen a few ‘mistakes’ I would have loved to correct but I just had about had it and wanted no more of the manuscript. Let it take up its own wings and fly or crash
Why? Because I think I am guilty of overwriting this book!! And I am – it took me 20 years of chiseling and chipping away. Am I satisfied? No! In all honesty I need another 20 years to do justice to the story in my head.
I hope the elected leaders of my country Nigeria read the book especially the last two chapters. They need to know that their actions are being recorded (for posterity)
Q: Will readers love this book?
A: I don't know. What I do know is that I'm glad its over. I need to apply myself to other things…. But if you like it, you will read it more than once and each time you will read a different story. It is the loving story about a lovely man… there are several lovely characters.
I am not qualified to say this because I really do not know the whole story. The first time that I knew what the story was really about, was when the publisher…
I think I have said enough. I have said enough! I must not let too much light into the closet!
Q: What is the setting of your book?
A: Nigeria, San Diego, Boeria a fictional place that appears to be in Southern Africa, and Kenya…
Q: Who are the main characters, what are their relationships, and why are they important to the story?
A: Dedan Kimathi, the protagonist, Ollie the beautiful Nun who left the convent to be with him, Ay-ii the spirit guide who takes DK to the spirit world of Lokinanga, and Father A.E Lee the kind prince of the catholic church
Q: Why do you think that this book will appeal to readers?
A: It is a love story. We all love love stories. It is the story of a man determined to be the captain of his fate.
Q: Who is your target audience?
A: People. Spiritual people. People who want a better world.
