UPDATE: The Rainbird War won second place in the Frontiers in Writing Literary Competition.
It was picked as a finalist at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Competition.
The African Groundnut Scheme won second place at the Southwest Writers Association Competition.
The Rainbird War is a work of historical fiction based on the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya. The novel explores what drives a man to rebellion and betrayal.
My first novel, The African Groundnut Scheme, is based on the greatest colonial boondoggle in British history, a project aimed at planting several million acres of peanuts, or groundnuts, in the African bush in Tanganyika. The book is a humorous take on a government's misguided effort to transform a colony without bothering to learn about the realities on the ground or the people.
I was a journalist for twenty-one years, starting out at a small town newspaper in Tennessee, The Oak Ridger. After that, I joined Dow Jones Newswires and worked for them in New York City as a reporter, in Amsterdam as a bureau chief, and Bonn as a reporter. I returned to the U.S. in 1995 and worked as the company's White House correspondent for ten years before deciding to work full time on fiction writing.
At some point, I got bitten with the Africa bug. But it is an affliction with its upsides such as seeing Mount Kenya at dawn or looking down from the Chimanimani mountains into the rolling hills of Mozambique. And nothing beats being on a hike in the old hunting grounds of Shaka Zulu in Natal when you bump a pride of lions. From the Lunatic Express to the diamond mountain that was discovered when a farmer picked up a shiny pebble and held it to the sun, the tales of Africa defy even the best imagination.
For background on the books, please see the section on history and interview. Or, click on the photos on the page listed as Kenya Photos.
Thanks
Alex Keto