Attic Whispers from the Blue Mountains [September 2021 Edition]

Greetings from my attic in the Blue Mountains!

It’s always nice to begin with some good news, and I am pleased to tell you that I have plenty wonderful news to share with you this month. And best of all, not only are you all part of it, but none of it would not have been possible without your wonderful support. I therefore look at anything we achieve together as a team effort.

You will remember that in July the USA TODAY Bestselling Author ranking has given the Jack Rogan Mysteries series huge exposure, not only in the US, but around the world. This has resulted in numerous magazine and newspaper articles which have substantially expanded my readership.

One delightful article appeared in our local paper, the Blue Mountains Gazette, which I would like to share with you now. Here it is:

But that wasn’t all. The best was yet to come! Two weeks ago I received notification from the US that The Lost Symphony, book 6 in the Jack Rogan Mysteries series, had won a gold medal in the Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards! This coveted award receives thousands of entries from around the world each year and is judged by a panel of literary experts. To be judged by your peers is always exciting, and elevates the book to an entirely new level. An award like this, gives it great visibility and kudos in a very competitive market. Needless to say, this would not have been possible without you. Thank you all!!

Because an award like this is a team effort and represents a successful collaboration between author and reader, I would like to offer you a little gift in return.

As a small token of my appreciation, Professor K: The Final Quest, Book 4 in the Jack Rogan Mysteries series (also a Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal award winner), will be available for free on Amazon for two days, starting now. Please follow the prompts below to download the book. Those of you who have already read the book can tell family and friends, and share this opportunity with them. I encourage you to do so!
Grab Your Copy on Amazon Now!

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon AUS

As my books are particularly popular in the medical profession, and many of my readers are doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and first responders, I would like to dedicate this little gift especially to them as a big ‘Thank You!’ for their outstanding commitment and service to our communities during these challenging times.

Audiobooks; an update

As you know, we planned to release the Jack Rogan Mysteries series in audio format this year, and have been working hard to achieve this. Unfortunately, due to Covid 19 restrictions, this has not been possible, and we had to temporarily shelve the idea. That said, we are ready to pick up the reins again as soon as circumstances allow, and restrictions ease.
Realistically speaking, this will happen early next year. By then, everything will be ready to go, including an exciting narrator with a beguiling voice I know you will find fascinating and enjoy.
However, well before that happens, we have something exciting to look forward to: the next book which, all going to plan, will be released just in time for Christmas.

THE NEXT BOOK

You will remember that in the last newsletter I gave you a general overview of the storyline, some of the exciting characters, and historical material featured in the book. As we get closer to the release date more aspects of the book will be revealed, but for now, I thought that a brief extract from the book would be warranted to give you a little ‘flavour’ of what’s to come.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Memories are the little gems that link us to our past. They can appear in surprising ways when we least expect it, and have a profound effect on the present.

I can still remember that fascinating little book very well. It was hidden under a set of dusty novels by Alexandre Dumas. Faded pages stained around the edges whispered: ‘open me, come inside, and discover my secrets.’ I found it by accident one afternoon after school up in the attic of my grandfather’s hunting lodge in Austria. I must have been about twelve or thirteen at the time, and the attic was a wonderland; especially for a young boy. Just to get to it was an adventure. You could only reach it by way of a narrow set of winding stairs that always creaked.

Once you made it to the top, you were met by a low, wood-panelled door with solid, wrought iron hinges. The attic, a narrow, rectangular room at the very top of the spacious house where a maze of massive exposed wooden beams held up a steep roof, became my secret world. It was a place where I could dream and let my imagination run free. And there was certainly a lot to stimulate the imagination – books mainly, hundreds of them – and a few fascinating, exotic artefacts from Africa and Asia to enchant a curious boy.

There were no shelves or bookcases; the books were all in old trunks covered in cobwebs. As a career soldier – a high-ranking officer in the Austro-Hungarian army – my grandfather travelled a lot. He was stationed in various parts of the Empire, often for years, and his most treasured possessions travelled with him in those trunks.

Sadly, I never met my grandfather – he died many years before I was born – but in that attic I believe I got to know him through his books. I became a voracious reader. After school, I headed straight to the attic. Not to do homework, but to read. It was my introduction to the wonderful world of books, a passion that has never left me, and which today, more than ever guides my life. I believe this was my grandfather’s legacy; a gift to the grandson he never met: literature.

The most memorable feature of the little book in question was the picture on its faded cover. It was a picture of a striking golden Inca burial mask in the Prado in Madrid. I cannot remember the title of the book, but it mentioned a lost treasure and Inca gold. I can still recall sitting in my grandfather’s leather chair, devouring the faded pages of this fascinating book telling the story of Atahualpa, the Inca king captured by Pizarro in Cajamarca, and the legend of a fabulous treasure hidden by Ruminahui, the Inca general who came to rescue his king, only to find that Atahualpa had been murdered.

Many years later, I visited the Prado, and there in one of the glass display cases, I saw the golden mask. It was just as I remembered it. Surprised, I kept staring at it as memories of that little book I read up in my grandfather’s attic all those years ago came flooding back, and my mind began to wander. What if that fabulous treasure hidden by Ruminahui did in fact exist and was still waiting somewhere to be discovered? What if…

These fascinating questions stayed with me and became the inspiration for this book.

Gabriel Farago

Leura, Blue Mountains, Australia

PROLOGUE

Inca city of Cajamarca, northern Peru:

16 November 1532

It had begun to rain again, and low clouds and mist obscured an angry sky, looking down on the remote, almost deserted Inca city high up in the mountains. Francisco Pizarro looked up at the condor circling above like a messenger of doom, the piercing call of the huge bird of prey making him feel uneasy. As a battle-hardened commander, he could sense danger.

Consumed by ambition, lust for gold and riches, and yearning for glory and recognition, this illiterate, illegitimate son of a nobleman and an impoverished commoner from Extremadura – a western Spanish region bordering Portugal – was prepared to do almost anything to achieve his deep, and dark desires.

When Pizarro and his band of 180 profligate conquistadors entered the once beautiful and flourishing city of Cajamarca in November 1532, his timing couldn’t have been better. A bloody civil war had weakened and torn apart the empire, and a fierce battle between Atahualpa and his brother Huascar had snuffed out the lives of thousands. Atahualpa had emerged victorious and had been proclaimed the undisputed king, or ‘Inca,’ of the vast empire stretching southward from the Ancomayo in present day Colombia, all the way to the Maule River in Chile with an estimated population exceeding sixteen million, making it one of the four great pre-Colombian civilisations.

After the battle, news reached Atahualpa who was on his way to Cuzco with his army, that a strange band of foreigners from the north with apparently supernatural powers feared by the priests had entered his kingdom. His curiosity aroused, Atahualpa decided to meet them and see for himself what the unsettling rumours were all about. With a battle-hardened army of eighty thousand warriors behind him, he thought he had nothing to fear from a mere handful of men, however powerful and mysterious. This was a miscalculation that would cost him not only his life, but also his empire.

End of Extract

And so, my friends, begins Jack Rogan’s next adventure that will take us on an exciting journey to South America, the Caribbean, and many other exotic places as we explore an ancient mystery of a cursed treasure that has haunted treasure hunters for centuries. Intrigued? I hope so! More soon; promise.

As we move closer to the release date of the new book, I will tell you more about it as we prepare the way for its publication.

Finally, don’t forget to download my little gift, tell your friends about it, and share it with them. It is my sincere hope that the book will bring a little sunshine and good cheer into your lives, and help you navigate your way through these challenging times.
And please don’t forget that the darkest hour is just before dawn!