Hi, Readers--
Thanks for taking a look at my novel, The Blue Disc. Since this space is reserved for the author, please indulge me a bit while I talk a little about myself. I grew up in the Mississippi Delta and moved north to pursue graduate work, first in history (Ph.D.) and law (J.D.) and then anthropology (M.A.). In 1993, I published The Modern Christmas in America, A Cultural History of Gift-Giving. My career was with the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, where I supervised the unit that examines all state-chartered banks, savings banks and savings and loan associations. I live in Lambertville, NJ, and manage to play golf once a week with an ever-shortening backswing.
It is my anthropology experience that I have relied on the most in writing The Blue Disc. I was struck by how the discipline sends its students to the remotest places on the planet to do research, sometimes with thin preparation for the rigors of field work. The fact is that research commonly involves risk to health and life. Moreover, while anthropology is committed to research, it is less committed to mitigating the impact of that research on subject groups.
These concerns are reflected in The Blue Disc. It’s about Rick Johnson, a graduate student who is sent into the South American rain forest to do his dissertation research. There, he encounters a group with strange customs regarding sex, marriage, politics, warfare, religion, sports, wealth and inheritance,. The group is particularly apprehensive about being discovered by modern society and having their culture overwhelmed by outside values. That would ruin their contented enjoyment of the prosperous life they have created. Over the years, they’ve protected their way of life by zealously guarding their privacy, but now Rick is there to research and write his dissertation, a work that would rend their veil of secrecy. Should Rick give up his dissertation and his dream of becoming a professor?
Bill Waits
