Master of the Moon


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June 8th 2013
Published: June 8th 2013
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When you are travelling in the Indian sub-continent, you need a good read for those long hours in the bus, or train, and in the evenings before bed. I have just published a Kindle version of a novel I have written called Master of the Moon, which I shall publish in this blog on a day to day basis.

Drawing on my experiences as a volunteer in Kathmandu during its hippy heyday at the end of the 60s, the novel weaves together two narratives: an account of a naive young man, Frank, discovering love against the backdrop of an exotic and unspoiled Kathmandu valley, and his search for 'truth' on a pilgrimage to a holy lake in the mountains.

Mixing autobiography, a travelogue, philosophy, and fiction, Master of the Moon has something for everyone, particularly for those of you thinking of visiting the Himalayas as tourists or volunteers, who want to know more about the cultures and religions of the region.

<span>It will be published here daily, chapter by chapter, or you can purchase it as an e-book via Amazon. Profits will go to Jim's UK registered charity, the Himalayan Education Lifeline Programme.

Just go to http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BJNSTLO (UK Marketplace) orhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BJNSTLO (US Marketplace) or, if you are based elsewhere,http://www.amazon.com

It only costs £1.99 or $2.99, and all the profit from sales will go towards HELP's charitable activities.If you don't have a Kindle, you can download the novel onto an iPad using a free Kindle app.

SYNOPSIS

What is the truth about love? What, indeed, is the truth about anything? A Brahmin astrologer points Frank in the direction of answers to these questions, but he discovers that there’s more to love and truth than meets the eye.

Drawing on the author’s experiences as a UN volunteer in Kathmandu during its hippy heyday in the late '60s, Master of the Moon interweaves two narratives: a search for love against the backdrop of an exotic and unspoilt Kathmandu valley, and a search for truth on a pilgrimage to a holy lake in the mountains.

His passionate and fraught affair with the beautiful Sunita is opposed by interfering family and colleagues, while his friendship with Kalpana gives Sunita cause for concern. To complicate matters, Frank is friends with Kalpana's charismatic husband, Tashi, who loves women indiscriminately and voraciously.

Brushing aside Sunita’s pleas for him not to go, Frank sets off with his friend Hamish on a trek into the mountains to find the astrologer's lake. Informed by their encounters with Hindu and Buddhist practices and beliefs, they chew over issues of belief, religion, science and philosophy. Hamish contends that truth can only be dug out of reality. But what is real about reality? Frank believes that intuitions can feel the way to truth. But which intuitions? And whose? With his philosophical and physical journeys converging on the lake, an alarming experience diverts his thoughts urgently back to Sunita.

He hurries back to Kathmandu only to find that events have moved on in his absence with consequences that still reverberate 40 years on.

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