BLACK GHOST
Black Ghost is a story set during the tumultuous times of early 1930s Paraguay and Bolivia, when black gold is the name of the game and a proxy war – Bolivia against Paraguay – is being fought out in the name of sinister international oil concerns which want more than anything to rob the two poor nations of their natural resources for their own ends. As the first shots are fired off in Paraguay in a war that will end in the deaths of one hundred thousand men for the sake black gold, a dangerous beast lurks the wild, inhospitable land of the Gran Chaco, killing the livestock of recent settlers to the South American country, the Mennonites. Menno Pannabacker, a Mennonite leader, decides to seek the help of his friend, Tumpa González, a local Guaraní Indian and tracker of some repute hunt the animal down, a giant jaguar called the Black Ghost. The Guaraní leader, however, Chief Barrios, is angry with the Gringos as they accuse one of the Europeans of murdering one of their own. After much debate, Pannabacker gets the chief’s blessing and, with González as the hunting party’s leader, they embark on a hunt to kill the Black Ghost.
Meanwhile, in Bolivia, an American oil expedition led by geologists working for Standard Oil of New Jersey crosses the border into Paraguay, where they have been promised oil finds beyond their wildest dreams. Two quests – one for riches, the other for retribution – are on a collision course while all around them the threat of all-out war is never far away.
Sales have been slow since I published it late last year. Approximately 600 sold in the UK and a similar number in the US.
CAMP VILLA MONTES
It all started in the late 1920s after they had discovered oil in the Andean foothills, west of the Gran Chaco. The Bolivian government, under the leadership of President Hernando Siles Reyes, had ambitions of asserting its rights to the region, which was sovereign territory of Paraguay, Bolivia’s southern neighbour. Now, in 1930, border skirmishes were raging between the forces of both countries. In a few years, an all-out war would be declared, pushing two of the continent’s poorest nations into a bloody and bitter feud that by the end of it would cost the lives of 100,000 men.
Everett Salsbury, 30, stepped off the Ford Trimotor airplane at the landing strip in Villa Montes, a town in the southern extremities of Bolivia, close to the borders of Argentina and Paraguay. He had flown in from La Paz, the nation’s capital. Salsbury was an agent of Standard Oil of New Jersey, the American concern which had acquired approximately three million hectares of Bolivian oil concessions between the years 1920 and 1922. He was here to inspect the excavation site and drilling techniques but also for more sinister reasons.
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Federica Piano
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Author review: Another great translation from Federica. Very efficient but very careful with her word choice. I highly recommend her for future work translating English works into the beautiful Italian language. |
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Gabriela Gazzi
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Author review: Excellent translation again from Gabriela! |
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Erika Huérfano
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Author review: Erika did an amazing translation on my historical fiction piece. She really captured the spirit of the time and I highly recommend her for further translation work in the historical fiction genre. |
