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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Exciting, thrilling, and a definite page turner - The Vilcabamba Prophecy by Robert Rapoza

"Congratulations to Mr. Rapoza for writing an excellent story. One I would recommend to anyone that enjoys thrills, adventure and “edge of your seat” reading. I am looking forward to reading more books from this very talented author. 
Superbly done!" - Jill Corley

Description:

Published: April 10th, 2016

NICK RANDALL is an archeologist who believes mankind isn’t alone on Earth. When a mysterious benefactor funds his research, he departs to find the lost city of Vilcabamba. Hidden deep in the Amazon, Randall believes the city holds proof that his contentious theory is true. Upon arriving at the ruins, he mysteriously disappears.

Randall’s beautiful daughter SAMANTHA learns of her father’s disappearance from his mentor FRANCISCO ANDRADE who pleads for her help. An accomplished archeologist herself, Sam must decide if she will set aside her career and search for the man she blames for her mother’s death. 

But someone else is looking for her father as well. FRANCIS DUMOND, a shadowy man with unlimited resources, will stop at nothing to find Vilcabamba and use its technology to control the world. It’s a race against time to see if Sam can find her father, prove his theories and stop Dumond.

ONE LINER: A beautiful archeologist must find her estranged father, prove his controversial theories and prevent a madman from unleashing a deadly weapon on the world.

GUEST POST

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of lost civilizations and the daring men and women who search for them. When I was younger, I remember being glued to the TV when Leonard Nimoy narrated the show ‘In Search Of’. His deep, baritone voice, describing mysterious events, taking place in far off, exotic locales was almost hypnotic. I was hooked. Before his show, I didn’t know these types of amazing mysteries existed. Lost planes, ghost ships, civilizations unseen by humans for thousands of years were too good to be true. And the locations? The Bermuda Triangle, Easter Island, Ancient Egypt. I had to see these places. 

Then came the moment that changed everything. A ruggedly handsome, swashbuckling character, searching for lost treasure, made his way onto the big screen. Raiders of the Lost Ark blended history and action perfectly. Its lead character boldly battling evil, risking life and limb to save important religious relics. His leather jacket, whip and hat became synonymous with adventure. It didn’t hurt that the ladies found him irresistible too. Indy was an archeologist who put his training to the test in the real world, traveling to exotic locations, searching for the Ark of the Covenant while fending off the Nazis. 

I didn’t know a boy who didn’t want to be Indiana Jones. He was tough, funny, and wasn’t afraid to take on the bad guys…even when the odds were overwhelmingly against him. But what if Indy had a daughter? Would she want to follow in his footsteps? When my daughter Heather was born, my life changed forever. So did my story arc. BAM! Nick Randall and Sam Randall were born! But what about my son Ryan? No problem. I just added John Randall to the mix and rounded it out with Anne Randall, Nick’s wife. The First Family of Adventure was born!

But what about those mysteries from Mr. Nimoy’s show? What was he implying about the mysterious disappearance of those ships and planes? They were never found. Not even wreckage. How could skilled military aviators just get lost and disappear without a trace? 

I was born in 1967, just before the first American walked on the moon. I grew up watching the Apollo moon landings, probes being sent to Mercury and Venus, and eventually, the Space Shuttle. In other words, space travel was just beginning. When I attended El Segundo High School, our science teacher introduced us to a show called ‘Cosmos.’ Some of you will remember that show and how its narrator, Carl Sagan enthusiastically explained how vast and wonderous the universe is. He also opened our eyes to the possibility that we’re not alone. The universe is a big place so what’s the chance we’re the only intelligent creatures roaming around out there? Is that what Mr. Nimoy was implying in his show?

From there, all it took was a little creativity to come up with some mysteries for the Randalls to solve. The first one is my book THE VISITORS which follows the adventures of Nick and Sam Randall as they battle the bad guys while searching for the truth. Of course, I liked the idea so much, I had to come up with more tales of adventure as John joins in the fun. It has been a lot of fun coming up the story of Nick Randall and his family and I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoyed creating them up.

About the author:
Born and raised in Southern California, Robert Rapoza began writing his first novel in 2012. The result of these early efforts is his first story THE VISITORS, a novel about Nick Randall, an archeologist on the fringes of the scientific community. Since that time, he has written a second thriller ARCTIC INCURSION, which continues to follow Nick Randall’s exploits. When not writing full length fiction novels, he also enjoys writing short fiction following the characters from his novels along with other original concepts. He is a member of the Southern California Writers Association and the International Thriller Writers Association and enjoys interacting with other local writers. Bob is also actively involved with the online writing critique group ‘YouWriteOn’ where he receives and provides feedback with other authors. 

The ideas for his stories are drawn from his interest in archeology and science and his love of adventure stories. Bob has always been drawn to these topics and is fascinated by the technology utilized by ancient civilizations. This interest has provided fertile ground for entertaining stories. History is rich with mysteries waiting to be solved and Bob enjoys asking questions about these mysteries and offering ideas about what they might mean.

Bob is represented by Mark Gottlieb of the Trident Media Group and is actively seeking to have his first works of fiction published.


1 comment:

Robert Rapoza said...

Just want to thank the fine folks here at Mythical Books for allowing me to have a blog post. You've been so wonderfully supportive throughout the process and I can't say enough good things about the experience!

Bob Rapoza