BIKO LIVES

Set in 2004-2006, Madison Whitehouse, a black conservative, a grimly funny provocateur who delights in insisting racism ended in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act, swiping at feminism, multiculturalism, affirmative-action, illegal immigrants and the Left. He is also a food critic for the Orange County Register and best-selling author of travel books that have gotten him banned in many third world countries. He is in the middle of a divorce and low on money. His agent proposes a travel book about Central Africa. He agrees, sure he will be back in a few weeks. In Africa, he is caught in a coup d'etat, accused of the death of American soldiers, then goes on the run and in the course of his journey, a secret he has kept for years will be forced into the open. He will have a question to answer: At what point does one stop trying to avoid who they were and confront who they are now?

Biko Lives is a epistolary novel, combining first person narration of the protagonist trying to explain what has befallen him and family member's responses to chapters of the narrative. It opens in 2006, in Charles De Gaulle Airport, Roissy, France. MADISON WHITEHOUSE is in a designated "safe" area for political refugees. His name, now synonymous with betrayal of the U.S., has been destroyed. So, he's writing his version of what happened to set the record straight. His troubles begin in 2004. At that time, he is a famous black conservative with a political "secret." He is a provocateur of hot button issues: racism ended in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act, taking swipes at feminism, multi-culturalism, affirmative-action, illegal immigrants, punching holes in the NAACP and the Left. He is also a food critic for the Orange County Register and bestselling author of travel books that have gotten him banned in countless third world countries. He is in the middle of a California divorce where all assets must be split. Low on money, his agent proposes doing a travel book about Central Africa, Desperate for money, he agrees, sure he will only be gone for a few weeks. While in Africa he gets caught in a coup d'etat, accused of causing the death of American soldiers, but when Left militants attack the prison, releasing all the prisoners, he is swept up. He immediately learns the American government has a price on his head and is calling him a traitor. BREWSTER, a CIA Agent living in Africa is tasked with tracking him down. Meanwhile, his beleaguered cousin, JANICE is being harassed by the FBI because she has a manuscript that will clear MADISON of what he is being charged, but will reveal his "secret"....on the run, he is forced to confront what he believes.

This is Mr. Gardner's first novel. He is a producer, filmmaker, screenwriter, playwright.