The Spider in the Laurel

The Spider in the Laurel combines elements of Indiana Jones adventures and Jason Bourne thrillers with a V for Vendetta dystopia, and an American Gods fantasy.

DESCRIPTION

The Spider in the Laurel is the story of history teacher, Rafael Ward, in a world that has outlawed the basis of most of our history: religion. When Ward is forced to take a job destroying the relics he cherishes, it will take the uncompromising faith of an outlaw as an ally, and the acceptance of his guilt for his mother’s death, to help him break free of the government’s yoke. If he’s lucky, he might just prevent the coming apocalypse, for which this secular future is completely unprepared.

The Spider in the Laurel straddles the line between simple adventure fun, and the kind of novel which can force a reader to question his or her own beliefs.

FROM THE AUTHOR

The ideal audience for The Spider in the Laurel is anyone who would like to holler in glee on a rollercoaster while watching Raiders of the Lost Ark in the coaster car.

Rafael Ward is an everyman capable of the kinds of decisions most everymen can’t stomach. His companion, Hannah MacKenzie, offers readers a strong female lead in the mold of The Neuromancer’s Molly Millions.

The Spider in the Laurel questions the methods of both governmental authority and those attempting to subvert the status quo. And it presents two unique visions developed by me for the novel: a new, never before heard fairytale, and an alternate take on the concept of creation from Genesis and other narratives, based on actual ancient and Dark Age mythologies.

All of this makes the ideal audience anyone who questions, loves conspiracy theories, or knows deep in their bones that (if I may borrow from The Matrix) there just something wrong with the world. But in the tangible, cropped, and categorized, terms of market demographics, I think it appeals to the full range of 18-49 year olds in both men and women.