THOR BLOEDEL
Author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A Lifelong Practitioner of the Arts
Painting was my first foray into the arts, transforming blank canvases into unified scenes of color, line, light, and space. But as time progressed, I began to think about the written word and discovered a fascination in creating and telling stories. I'm attracted to antihero tales and embody this trait into the main character of my novel, Escaping Leopold. The story embraces the dark corners of one’s mind by recounting the lengths a boy will go to escape his past.
ESCAPING LEOPOLD: A NOVEL
When war divides a country and death fractures a family, life catches up to you, even on the run.
In 1967, seventeen-year-old Leopold embraces the discontent of his generation by taking to the road. He leaves all that he knows behind, his mother and brother in their graves, his father a drunk. He seeks to find his experience in San Francisco, arriving during the Summer of Love. But instead of discovering the Golden City of his dreams, he finds a city cracked and flawed. His optimism for a renewal of life turns to desperation as a love triangle goes awry and a man vanishes. Only Leopold knows where, but he’s not telling.
To escape, Leopold enlists in the army to fight as a soldier in Vietnam. He soon discovers the deep jungles of ‘Nam hides its own shadowy secrets. His dead eleven-year-old brother appears in the bush, stalking him. He stares at Leopold from behind painted face and menacing smiles, taunting with the sharpened edge of his tomahawk. The brother does not seem to forgive the mistakes of children. Intending to exorcise all that haunts him, Leopold joins a covert unit to hide. The six-man team skulks through enemy lands, ghostly and deadly, practicing in the art of guerrilla warfare. But when opportunity presents itself in the form of a map, the men go rogue. They venture into a distant valley in Laos searching for the riches they believe will change their lives. The brother follows suit. With revenge in the air, Leopold’s two worlds collide, past and present, forcing him to confront his family ties, his memories, and his sanity.
EXCERPT
Most times I prefer the quiet of the jungle to the raucous noise of the camp. The camp brings headaches. The putrid smell wreaks havoc in my brain. It makes me sick. I lie awake and drink and smoke all night.
In the jungle I can sleep. No one bothers me here. Hammonds says I’m the luckiest motherfucker around. He can’t believe that I can sleep so well. Rain or shine, night or day, if I’m not pulling security, I’m in dreamland.
I dream about my mother mostly. She comes to me, standing over me and smiling just the way I remember – the way that she did when she was alive. I never can seem to talk with her even though I try. She only stares at me with caring soft eyes. Other times, she gestures to me, on what, I do not know. I never understand what she wants or what she needs. It’s a silent existence between us two but one that is welcomed with open arms.
I see her in the places that we lived, in the old house, out back by the red barn, walking the streets of the city. Her guitar is gone. She does not play anymore, nor do I. Maybe she knows what happened to it, maybe she doesn’t. It doesn’t make any difference now that I am with her again.
She’s my mother, and she loves me.
Then, I gently wake.
-- Escaping Leopold
CONTACT
Minneapolis, MN
Get in touch with me to learn more about my novel, Escaping Leopold.