A Writer Writes – Peace Corps Worldwide

3rd Edition: CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN by John Perkins (Ecuador)

Apr 20 2024

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins (Ecuador 19968-70) Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 3rd edition February 2023 384 pages $16.49 (Kindle); $17.97 (Paperback); $21.91 (Audio CD) • • • How do we stop the unrelenting evolution of the economic hit man strategy and China’s takeover? The riveting third edition of this New York Times bestseller blows the whistle on China’s economic hit man (EHM) strategy, exposes corruption on an international scale, and offers much-needed solutions for curing the degenerative Death Economy. In this shocking expos, former EHM John Perkins gives an insider view into the corrupt system that cheats and strong-arms countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars and ultimately causes staggering income inequality and ecological devastation. EHMs are highly paid professionals who use development loans to saddle countries with huge debts and force them to serve US interests. Now, a new EHM wave is infecting the world, and at the . . .

THE LIGHT OVER LAKE COMO | New novel from Roland Merullo (Micronesia)

Apr 19 2024

The Light over Lake Como by Roland Merullo (Micronesia 1979-80) Lake Union Publishing June 2024 280 pages $14.89 (Paperback), $4.99 (Kindle), 1 credit (Audiobook) • • • Two lovers separated in war-torn Italy struggle to reunite in a riveting and heartrending historical novel by the bestselling author of Once Night Falls and From These Broken Streets. It’s 1945. The Nazi occupation of Italy is in its closing days. But risk is ever present. It’s been nearly two years since Sarah Zinsi found tenuous sanctuary in Switzerland. Unmoored in a foreign land, she heeds a rumor that her village on the Lake Como shore has been liberated. Clutching her young daughter, Sarah navigates the arduous mountain trek back home to be with Luca Benedetto, the father of her child. A resister to the end, Luca has one last assignment: assassinate Mussolini, the man who destroyed everything Luca cherished and who forced the love of his . . .

Flash Fiction “Never Too Old” by Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia)

Apr 16 2024

A Writer Writes – Never Too Old by Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia 1965-67) • • • “Let’s count the stars,” he said. “Count the stars? That’s not possible!” she said. “Not possible?” “Right. Glad you agree. There are too many to count.” “But, if we started now–look! There’s one….and another…: She started laughing, muttering 13, 14, 15,16, under her breath, shouted out, “20! You’re right–there’s number 20. Do you see her?” “Her?” “Or him. Gender is hard to tell at this distance.” She had turned away, so he couldn’t see her face, couldn’t see the grin, the-making-fun-of-him smile that he knew so well and, actually loved, not that he would tell her. “One hundred!” she shouted triumphantly, and started running across the field, towards more stars. “Two hundred!” Another triumphant shout. “Two hundred twenty-two!” Her favorite number-222. He laughed then and took off after her. She’d be easy to catch, easy to tackle from . . .

FALLOUT: NEAR-FUTURE SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE by Jon Kohl (Costa Rica)

Apr 14 2024

Fallout: Near-future Science Fiction Romance by Jon Kohl (Costa Rica 1993-95) & Kimberly K Comeau Independently published 199 pages April 2024 $2.99 (Kindle) In Fallout American cities have been suffering increased domestic terrorism. Harry Longmeadow tries to ensure his own personal security from rising urban terrorism by fleeing Philadelphia and building a subterranean fallout shelter in the forests of north central Pennsylvania; but it’s his own insecurity, which he cannot flee, that nearly lands him in jail for homicide that he did not commit. • • • Jon Kohl is the founding executive director of the PUP Global Heritage Consortium whose mission is to support communities in their management and conservation of natural-cultural heritage from a holistic focus. This non-profit global network uses Jon’s book, co-written with Dr. Stephen McCool as its philosophical background. Jon Kohl has been writing his whole life, starting in fifth grade when he scored the . . .

THE LIGHT OVER LAKE COMO by Roland Merullo (Micronesia)

Apr 01 2024

New book — The Light over Lake Como by Roland Merullo (Micronesia 1979-80) Lake Union Publishing June 2024 280 pages $14.89 (Paperback), $4.99 (Kindle), 1 credit (Audiobook) • • • Two lovers separated in war-torn Italy struggle to reunite in a riveting and heartrending historical novel by the bestselling author of Once Night Falls and From These Broken Streets. It’s 1945. The Nazi occupation of Italy is in its closing days. But risk is ever present. It’s been nearly two years since Sarah Zinsi found tenuous sanctuary in Switzerland. Unmoored in a foreign land, she heeds a rumor that her village on the Lake Como shore has been liberated. Clutching her young daughter, Sarah navigates the arduous mountain trek back home to be with Luca Benedetto, the father of her child. A resister to the end, Luca has one last assignment: assassinate Mussolini, the man who destroyed everything Luca cherished and who forced the love . . .

“Carlos and the Parrot” by Becky Wandell (Ecuador)

Nov 12 2023

A Writer Writes Throughout my service, I lived in the rural outskirts of a bustling city, and sometimes I walked to town. It was a 45-minute stroll, all downhill, which gave me a chance to wave to the shop owners setting out their brooms, their fresh-baked rolls and their publicity boards announcing a new item. If I timed it right, I passed by Luis. His black bowler hat made him look taller than he was as he shuffled up the sidewalk with his large black cow in tow. I’d give him a nod and smile, his coffee-brown wrinkled face always emitting enough sunshine to fill my day. While hopping over the heaved slabs of sidewalk and steering around the sections of mud and litter in the path, I took in the distant vistas, the passing cars and the groans of buses grinding up the hill. After several months of living . . .

HUSTLE: The Making of a Freelance Writer by Lawrence Grobel (Ghana)

Aug 15 2023

HUSTLE: The Making of a Freelance Writer by Lawrence Grobel (Ghana 1968-71) Independently Published 358 pages August 2023 $19.95 Paperback Lawrence Grobel writes: Freelancers are people willing to take risks, willing to gamble that they can succeed without a steady paycheck. Most of the people I’ve written about have had the confidence to believe in themselves, and most can point to how they maneuvered down precarious and uncertain paths. In my career as a freelance writer, I’ve had moments of doubt. I’ve suffered rejections and cancellations. But there were crossroads along the way that allowed me to continue pursuing my dream of working for myself, doing what I wanted to do, and figuring out how to survive. Freelancing is a lifestyle. In preparing this book, I marvel at how I somehow managed to avoid all the pitfalls and not drown in pessimism. When Alfred Hitchcock, Leonard Bernstein, and Fred . . .

A Writer Writes — “The Cotton Trenches of Uzbekistan”

Apr 12 2021

by Beatrice Grabish Hogan (Uzbekistan 1992-94) Dispatch from Uzbekistan’s cotton campaign November 1993 On the fifth day of barf (Tajik for “snow”), the troops surrendered. The war, a.k.a. the cotton harvest, lasted eight weeks this year and yielded (only) 87% returns. I had watched my students pile into a 25-vehicle motorcade and wind around the mile-long university boulevard amidst handkerchief waving and cheers from teachers and other onlookers. Two days later, much to the horror and surprise of my women colleagues at Samarkand State University, I joined the students’ work camp. On October 5, I arrived at the collective farm called Guzelkent, about 40 kilometers outside the city limits. The place was a collection of brown-streaked, whitewashed houses made of mudbrick, rising like Oz out of acre upon acre of cotton fields. It was a scene framed by purple mountain peaks and a flawless blue sky. At . . .

A Writer Writes — Death at Tinta by Michael J. Beede (Peru)

Mar 30 2021

DEATH AT TINTA By Michael J. Beede (Peru 1963-64) • At dawn on February 4, 1964, my partner Ron Arias (Peru 1963-64) and I left our home base in Sicuani, Peru. We were headed for Tinta, 17 miles away, a small nearby town in the Quechua-speaking boondocks three hours south of Cuzco. It was to be a routine inspection trip to monitor the distribution of USAID food in the rural schools enrolled in the government’s school lunch program. Nothing out of the ordinary was expected. At the time, Ron and I had the use of a Peace Corps Jeep to visit these rural areas. That morning I was driving our pastel blue Peace Corps Jeep with Ron riding shotgun. We stuck out like a sore thumb, an inviting target for mischief. A fine powder billowed up from the unpaved dirt road filling the cab with a choking cloud of . . .