Backcover Description: The Committee had been formed decades ago, by wellintentioned men, determined to use their wealth and experience to affect changes for good in the world. Tonight, July 23rd 1976, however, what one faction called a solution could be described as mass murder.
In the rented cofference room overlooking the San Fransisco Bay, the florescent lights hummed and flickered on. as the diagram of a human form disappeared from the overhead screen. Standing there as his eyes adjusted, Doctor Richard Coleman put down his pointer and concluded his presentation. "It's been a hard grind coming up with it, gentlemen," he told the two men seated, still watching the screen. "What we have is an encasulated toxin, the coating of which behaves very much like that of a cold remedy you might buy over the counter. But, when heated and injected, the active ingrediants will be carried to all of the majot organs, becoming especially concentrated in the liver and kidneys."
And so beginsnew author Brian L. Murphy's debut novel that seethes with action, drama, and speculation. When all is said and done, "Drugs, Death, and Auras: A Story of Love" is a story with a lot of heart told during a time when one could still smoke on an airplane and a start-up in Silicon Valley really meant something. Here is where one young gun will learn how to be a freind and what it means to sense auras in order to discern the truth. As readers watch him set his moral compass due north, they begin to grasp a universal clue that timing is everything and that drugs dont kill people, people do.
Book Review/s to share: KIRKUS wrote: A callow young man takes a seemingly mundane office job and gets more than he bargained for in this absorbing thriller.There's bound to be something fishy about a job opening when the interviewer starts out byasking about your belief structure. But it's economically stagnant 1976 and recent grad Tim Conolly isn't getting many nibbles on his résumé, so he accepts the junior-management position with RDG, a California manufacturer of medical tests. Half the job, of course, is navigating office politics and personality clashes, a challenge that becomes considerably easier after Tim's mysterious mentor a member of a shadowy cabal known as the Committee gives him a magic key that lets him see his coworkers hidden emotional states as colored auras. (Remember, the 70s were the decade of the mood ring.) Once he gets used to the headaches, Tim learns to read the auras of the people around him green means contentment, blue means anger, yellow means suicidal self-loathing,and even to project his emotions into other minds. Those skills come in handy when two crises erupt. The first is the murder of Tim's mother, which he sets out to avenge when the perp gets off scot-free. The second is a plot hatched by a conspiracy within the Committee to use poisoned heroin to rid America of its drug addicts. The auras might sound a bit goofy, but Murphy deploys them in a restrained, deadpan style as a muted element of magical realism. They serve to highlight what is actually a subtle study of workplace group dynamics, and of the grief and rage that roil Tim's family in the wake of tragedy. The author's prose is taut but full of feeling and psychological nuance it reveals his characters souls more vividly than their auras do.
A well-crafted, imaginative tale.
Email to share: bmurphy@stories-oflove.com
Author Meeting Place Interviews Author Brian L. Murphy of Milpitas, California
Bio: Brian L. Murphy was born in Detroit Michigan, and came to California during the turbulent 1960’s. After earning a bachelors degree in Business from San Jose State University, followed by a Masters Degree in US History, he now teaches Economics, Government, and US History at a Northern California High School. He lives with his wife Terri, and “Drugs, Death, and Auras: A Story of Love” is his first of at least three books.
How many book/s have you written?: 2
Please share with us your book titles: "Drugs, Death, And Auras: A Story of Love" available now on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and other online stores.
"The Children of the Mountain: A Story of Love" which is in what I hope is its final rewrite.
What genre/s would you like to write in?: Fiction, with suspence and thrills
Please share with us who or what encourages you to write and why?: Its a need to write, or specificlly the need to find out what happens next in a story I'm creating. Once I begin one, it's that curiosity, wondering what the charactors will do in the situations I put them in, that brings me back to my computer, sometimes in the middle of the night.
How long did it take for you to write your book/s?: Since life has a way of insinuating itself into my writing time, it took me years to get a finished product.
How long did it take for you to publish your book/s?: Once it was finished, publishing took only a few months.
Who did you publish with and why?: I published through the Amazon.com and then called Booksurge and later CreatSpace, because first, I could get my work listed on Amazon.com and other online outlets. Secondly, in truth, I knew my book was good and I didn't want to go through the crushing process of rejection letters from Agents and traditional publishers. I'd love to get hooked up with either, though.
Please share with us how you prefer to market your book/s?: The world of marketing a book is completely new to me. I'm a willing novice searching for what it takes to succeed. On the other hand, I've got great energy to do whatever it takes.
Please share with us any event/s that you have planned in marketing your book/s:
Do you wish to share any additional information with our readers?:
Email to share: bmurphy@stories-oflove.com
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