PREFACE

Could anything have saved us from the sorrows of Empire? 9-11, the Patriot Act, the Iraq War, the economic debacle. Written and set in 1998, Guardians of the Secret is the story of a group of men who could have done just that.  Tracking their plot is an investigative journalist who's also contending with his own labyrinth of alcohol and sexual obsession.

Viewed from the perspective of ten years which have passed since I wrote the novel, some of the content was strikingly prophetic, from one of the major events of our time, to the campaign slogan of a Presidential candidate. Other elements such as the War on Drugs that loomed large and had for a time diminished in importance, are now back center stage.

What remains constant are the psychological insights that link to a heritage at least 40,000 years old and the struggle for America's identity.

I hope you enjoy the novel.

Cary Shulman
Ocean Park 2009
.......................................................................Chapter 1