About HEART IN THE JUNGLE, MEN IN THE MOON

     Many have been curious about my upcoming novel, Heart in the Jungle, Men in the Moon. Most authors borrow moments from their lives or derive ideas from the observation of friends, acquaintances, or even strangers. Characters can be based on specific people, or a compilation of personalities and incidents from a number of persons. Some friends may recognize themselves if they read this novel, but let me say up front with one final disclaimer. It is a work of fiction.

HEART IN THE JUNGLE, MEN IN THE MOON is a story of discoveries—about life, about love, and about a distant land. No matter how hard Frank Davis struggles to understand life and love, he cannot reach his dreams. In 1966, Frank, 19, leaves his hometown in west central Pennsylvania for the first time and, as an American soldier, spends a year in the jungles of Thailand during a time of war in Southeast Asia. While in this primitive land, he stands among lepers in the jungle to share a crude black and white television set broadcasting man’s landing on the moon. In the chaotic setting of a war-torn jungle and man’s conquest of a moon landing, Frank must make his own conquests over broken dreams, over love, and make his own discoveries about life while in a strange and distant land. Before arriving in Thailand, he encounters three women, one he loves, one who loves him, and one incapable of love but nearly destroys him with her insanity—all fated to fail through circumstance, tragedy, or faint heart. He gets caught in an anti-war riot, a super-secret operation in California, a Buddhist enlightenment in the heart of an ancient world, and as an unlikely hero, risks his life to rescues a Thai princess in a daring escape from a prison camp. During four years of his life, he completes the journey from boy to man and from naivety to wisdom, in life transforming experiences. When he comes home, Frank and his world are changed forever. Nothing would ever be the same. Years later, he stands alone at the monolith Memorial Wall of the Vietnam War in Washington. His emotions imprisoned for years, the floodgates of his suppressed tears open and he weeps--for friends who died and whose names he discovers on the wall, for paths to opportunities robbed from his life, for his misspent youth. In disbelief, he asks himself why his own name is not on that wall. Why was he spared? Perhaps it was to tell the story of a heart in the jungle of life, love, and war.

         Although some events in this book have some basis in fact, names have been changed and numerous incidents have been either fictionalized or consolidated into various characters in order to paint more easily a picture of emotion and consequences of events. The author makes no claim as to which events in the story are true and which events are not, except for obvious historical events. In short, this is a work of fiction and no claims to real events are made or implied. Any resemblance to real events or real persons is mostly coincidental. 
[For inquiries, write: fred@lauvermanagement.net]