Goddess Fish Book Promotions: Tale of the Lizard

The Lizard’s Tale

by Kurt Kamm

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GENRE: Mystery/Crime Thriller

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BLURB:

Kurt Kamm has written a novel that's a literary crime novel, with a strong thread of non-fiction running through it. The Lizard's Tale is a tale of crime—with an a wide-ranging cast of characters.

When the DEA goes up against the Sinaloa Cartel, an orphan and an endangered lizard are caught in the conflict. The action moves from Guatemala to Mexico to Catalina Island off the coast of California.

Alejandro, a middle class Guatemalan, wants his share, and makes a deal with the cartel. Now he’s risking his life to deliver the goods.

El Dedo, a brilliant financier, is the Sinaloa Cartel’s banker. He worries about what to do with the billions of dollars collecting dust in his underground vault.

Ryan, a DEA Special Agent, needs to make a high profile case to get a promotion. Is the big yacht headed for California carrying a Mexican drug shipment?

Kate, a wildlife officer on Catalina Island, smells smoke. When she heads out in the middle of the night to investigate a fire, she makes an astonishing discovery.

Jorge, an orphan from the streets of Mexico, is abandoned in the United States. Will he find his way back home and track down his mother’s killer?

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Excerpt:

Dedo was one of the few outsiders at the top of the cartel hierarchy. He came from a different background than most of the drug lords, who had grown up in poor towns in the Sierra Madres where people suffered a hard existence living in hovels made of cinderblocks. Dedo had no poverty to escape. He grew up in Mexico City and lived a blessed childhood. His father owned a small Mexican chemical business that grew large when it began to supply the Cartels with the ingredients used to make methamphetamine. His mother was Swiss, and had worked for a chemical company in Basle when she met his father. Dedo inherited his intellect and business sense from his father. His grey eyes came from his mother.

When his father brought him to the State of Sinaloa for the first time, Dedo stood in the dust and blasting heat and felt the moisture evaporating from his skin. “Those mountain highlands,” his father had told him, pointing off into the distance, “are ideal for growing poppies. All they need is sunlight and moisture.” Then he turned and pointed in the direction of the Pacific Ocean, and continued, “And out in those valleys between the mountains and the coast, the climate is perfect for growing marijuana.” Finally, his father looked at Dedo and told him, “Fortunately for us, sunshine and water don’t produce methamphetamine. For that, they need chemicals—a lot of chemicals—and that’s why we’re here.”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Malibu, California resident Kurt Kamm has written a series of firefighter mystery novels, which have won several literary awards. His newest novel, The Lizard’s Tale, provides a unique look inside the activities of the Mexican drug cartels and the men dedicated to stopping them.

Kurt has used his contact with CalFire, Los Angeles County and Ventura County Fire Departments, as well as the ATF and DEA to write fact-based (“faction”) novels. He has attended classes at El Camino Fire Academy and trained in wildland firefighting, arson investigation and hazardous materials response. He has also attended the ATF and DEA Citizen’s Academies. After graduating from the DEA Citizen’s Academy in 2014, he began work on The Lizard’s Tale.

Kurt has built an avid fan base among first responders and other readers. A graduate of Brown University and Columbia Law School, Kurt was previously a financial executive and semi-professional bicycle racer. He was also Chairman of the UCLA/Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Foundation for several years.

Visit his author website at www.kurtkamm.com

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Kurt Kamm LITERARY AWARDS

TUNNEL VISIONS (MCM Publishing 2014)

2014 USA Best Book Award -Fiction: General – Finalist

HAZARDOUS MATERIAL (MCM Publishing 2013)

Best Novel 2013 – Public Safety Writers Association

Winner of the 2012 Hackney Literary Award for best novel of the year ($5,000 PRIZE)

Reader's Favorite 2013 – Finalist – Urban Fiction

The 2012 Dana Award – Finalist

Eric Hoffer Award - Finalist (2014)

Excerpt published in Birmingham Arts Journal http://www.birminghamartsjournal.com/pdf/baj10-2.pdf

ONE FOOT IN THE BLACK (MCM Publishing 2012)

The 2012 USA Best Book Awards – Fiction: General – Finalist

The 2013 Beverly Hills Book Awards – Fiction: General – Finalist

Excerpt published in Felons, Flames and Ambulance Rides: Stories About America's Public Safety Heroes

CODE BLOOD (MCM Publishing 2011)

Writer’s Type - First Chapter Competition. January 2011- First Place

2012 International Book Awards - Fiction: Cross Genre Category – First Place

National Indie Excellence Book Awards – Faction (fiction based on fact) - Winner of the 2012 Award

The 2012 USA Best Book Awards - Fiction: Horror - Winner

LuckyCinda Publishing Contest 2013 First Place – Thriller

Reader's Favorite 2013– Finalist – Horror Fiction

Knoxville Writer’s Guild - 2011 Novella or Novel Excerpt – 2nd Place

RED FLAG WARNING Aberdeen Bay 2010

The Infinite Writer– Mystery 2010 – First Place

The Written Art Awards - Mystery/Thriller 2010 – First Place

Royal Dragonfly – Mystery Category 2011 – First Place

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lizards-Tale-Kurt-Kamm/dp/0997441305/ref=sr_1_1

B/N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lizards-tale-kurt-kamm/1123975999

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Interview with Jorge, or La Cuiza, A Character in TALE OF THE LIZARD
Before proceeding with the interview, it is important to know Jorge's backstory. Maria Gabriella, the beautiful prostitute who has become the mistress of Dedo, the banker for the Sinaloa Cartel, describes Jorge as follows:

“There’s a young boy, his real name is Jorge, but everyone calls him the La Cuiza—the Little Gecko—because he collects lizards.”

Maria Gabriella says she wants to bring Jorge to live at Dedo's mansion. She explains that Jorge is the son of one of the prostitutes she once worked with and his mother is dead:

“Jorge was only five at the time, and after Luisa was killed, he had no one. We took turns, caring for him for a few days or weeks, but that was all anyone could do. No one had the time to raise a child. He has never had a real home and now that he’s older, he just drifts

from place to place, sleeping in someone’s entryway or kitchen, eating meals wherever he finds them.”

Jorge is not a normal child. He has had a severe traumatic shock—he has watched a man kill his mother:

The room was filled with the lemon scent his mamá wore when she worked, and the odor of rancid sweat from the naked body grinding away on top of her. The man, who had come many times to visit his mother, intensified his efforts. The bed shook and the sagging web of springs holding the filthy mattress pressed down on top of Jorge. In a few months, he would be six—too big to crawl under his mother’s bed.

A cuiza, a small, unremarkable gray-green gecko, crawled through the dust on the concrete floor under the bed, trapped between Jorge and the wall.

“No, dammit, no, no,” the man bellowed. The bed stopped swaying.

Jorge heard the sound of a hand slapping flesh and his mamá whimpered.

“You pig,” the man said. “Do better than that. Damn you.”

The second impact was louder, harder. Jorge heard her high-pitched cry. He reached for the gecko and it flattened itself against the concrete, remaining motionless in the dust. Its head was inches from Jorge's face. He looked at its black eyes and it stared back. A live insect—a tiny fly—struggled in its jaws. The little lizard swallowed the insect.

The man became furious and the blows were more powerful. This had happened before, but it had never gone on so long or sounded so brutal. His mother’s cries turned to screams and Jorge tried not to listen. He grabbed the cuiza's tail with his fingers.

The gecko made a chirping sound—chik, chik, chik—shed its tail, and skittered away.

The force of the final blow knocked his mamá off the bed. From his hiding place, Jorge saw the brown skin of her naked back as she lay on the floor.

As a result of the emotional shock, Jorge has become what psychologists call a selective mute. This means that although he is capable of talking, he has withdrawn into himself and does not speak. As a result of the juxtaposition of his mother's death and the gecko he sees under her bed, Jorge has become obsessed with lizards, and the only words he utters are chik, chik, chik, the series of three chirps which is the sound of the gecko.

With this background, we can now proceed to the interview:

INTERVIEWER: Jorge, tell us what you saw when you descended into Dedo's underground vault.

JORGE: Chik, chik, chik.

INTERVIEWER: The vault supposedly had billions of dollars of American cash. Is that true?

JORGE: Chik, chik, chik.

INTERVIEWER: Uh huh. Ok, perhaps you could describe the trip you took to Catalina Island on Dedo's yacht.

JORGE: Chik, chik, chik.

INTERVIEWER: Well, young man, thank you. Your comments have been very interesting.

JORGE: Chik, chik, chik.

Does Jorge ever say anything but "Chik, chik, chik?" Does he ever get over his trauma and regain his voice? Read TALE OF THE LIZARD and find out!

He watched the man’s bare foot poke her and then push her body aside before he walked out the room. When Jorge crawled out from under the bed, he saw the blood dripping from his mother’s face, collecting in a small red pool on the floor. He wanted to wake her, but his brain no longer controlled his voice. His throat was frozen—no words came. Jorge lay down on the floor, curled up next to his mamá, and cried silent tears. Above him, he saw the tailless gecko climbing the bedroom wall.

“” The Cuiza made the gecko sound, ,


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