And here's the Quiz I created (linked to the book's central theme):
Click it and play this QuickQuiz now and test your knowledge!
You'll discover that some very famous people were impacted by genetic inheritance, perhaps some you never suspected like Jane Fonda or Queen Victoria.
You'll discover that some very famous people were impacted by genetic inheritance, perhaps some you never suspected like Jane Fonda or Queen Victoria.
If you're wondering why I picked heredity as a subject for the quiz, that's easy! It's something I've always been fascinated with: the issue of nature vs. nurture. Are we born as a clean slate and therefore become the product of our education and experience (nurture) or have we inherited family traits that determine who we are and how we act (nature)?
Anyone who's read my FEAR OF THE PAST (published in 2011 in 3 installments published as separate ebooks or THE PHOENIX HERITAGE (out in 2012) knows the book is really about the weight of heredity and whether one can shake it off and become free from the past.
We all have seen our parents or grandparents in our children. Don't you wonder sometimes who you really look like? If you look like someone in your family who was a happy, successful person, good for you!
Suppose you realize you look like a family member who notoriously messed up his life, who had a tendency to love the wrong woman or sink in depression and alcoholism...or worse, committed suicide? How would you feel then?
In THE PHOENIX HERITAGE, Tony Bellomo, a young Italo-American suffering from burnout undertakes a unique journey into self discovery: he falls in a Time Trap in Sicily (his deceased father's home) and meets the ghosts of his ancestors waiting for Judgment Day. You'd think this is a marvelous opportunity for Tony to learn more about which forebears he looks like and discover who he really is. Most of us can't go back 900 years like Tony... But this very knowledge will torment Tony in the worst possible way.
Suppose you realize you look like a family member who notoriously messed up his life, who had a tendency to love the wrong woman or sink in depression and alcoholism...or worse, committed suicide? How would you feel then?
In THE PHOENIX HERITAGE, Tony Bellomo, a young Italo-American suffering from burnout undertakes a unique journey into self discovery: he falls in a Time Trap in Sicily (his deceased father's home) and meets the ghosts of his ancestors waiting for Judgment Day. You'd think this is a marvelous opportunity for Tony to learn more about which forebears he looks like and discover who he really is. Most of us can't go back 900 years like Tony... But this very knowledge will torment Tony in the worst possible way.
Here's the place where he found the ghosts of his ancestors roaming about: the Circolo di Conversazione, a "conversation club":
This place actually exists in Ragusa. Such clubs existed all over Sicily in the 19th century. The lion I used for the cover is on top of the building:
Here is the inside:
A perfect place for ghosts and a marvelous opportunity for Tony to learn about himself... but a scary one. He discovers he shares everything - both looks and emotions - with a certain Francis Leckie, an English adventurer who settled in Sicily in the 1800s. An attractive dare-devil and an innovative entrepreneur, alas, he met nothing but failure: he went bankrupt and the woman he loved, the beautiful Duchess of Floridia (a real historical character), left him for another (actually she married the King of Naples in 1814)...
The story unfolds on another, deeper level. Tony worries that his resemblance to the Englishman also marks him out as a failure. Can he avoid making the same mistakes?
The real question is: can Tony play the cards heredity has bestowed on him in a different way? Or is he condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past?
Do you know anyone who's the prisoner of his family heredity? Is there a way to escape it? Tony, by the last page of the last book has found his way...Find out how he did it and be prepared for surprises: this novel takes you to many unpredictable places and situations!
A KDP Select title, exclusively available on Amazon. Click here to buy
Do you know anyone who's the prisoner of his family heredity? Is there a way to escape it? Tony, by the last page of the last book has found his way...Find out how he did it and be prepared for surprises: this novel takes you to many unpredictable places and situations!
A KDP Select title, exclusively available on Amazon. Click here to buy
For those who prefer their books printed, it will be available in March 2012 on Amazon ( 525 pages)
If you want to buy the latest, edited version, here is Book One of the trilogy THE PHOENIX HERITAGE:
Available on Amazon click here
Book 2:
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| Available on Amazon, click here |
Book 3:
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| Available on Amazon, click here |
Why the phoenix? Because it is consumed by fire but rises again: a symbol of the fall and rise of the Bellomos, an ancient Sicilian family.
Related articles
- Epigenetics: A Turning Point in our Understanding of Heredity (blogs.scientificamerican.com)
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