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iuniverseblog · 6 years

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Claudio B. Clagluena’s new political thriller, “The Petrossian Legacy”

iUniverse author Claudio B. Clagluena discusses his exciting new thriller, The Petrossian Legacy.

Please briefly describe your book . . .

The Petrossian Legacy is a novel, a political thriller inspired by own experience over a rather long active time as a businessman in the regions and locations described in the book.

The narrative combines pure fiction with realistic contemporary scenarios of terrorism and renegade intelligence outfits.

Petrossian was founded during the Turkish-Armenian war / genocide by an extremely wealthy Armenian who took his newly formed resistance and intelligence organization to East Siberia, near Khabarovsk in 1917.

The almost outdated anti-communist intelligence firm that was operating mostly during pre-Second World War as well as the ‘cold war’ got itself into engagement while one of its retired agents uncovered electronic financial crimes that involved the IS. The circle of evil widened quickly when the aged men and women of Petrossian started to uncover a devilish design of destabilizing the fragile world peace which led to vicious attacks on the Petrossian agents back in the field.

The story features retired agents, men and women, that found out that ‘Petrossian’ is still alive and employs well trained, deadly young agents which are determined to live up to the Petrossian dogma of justice and fairness.

The involvement of rogue international ex black-ops that originated in the US as well as the financial and technological power of a corrupt industrial corporation combined with conspiracy on the highest level, started to pull the elderly women and men of Petrossian back into a personal defense first and later into action.

And can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m 72 years old, semi-retired businessman.

Born March 5th, 1946 in Switzerland, ice hockey player, officer of the Swiss Army (police)

In August 1968 I was in Czechoslovakia visiting hockey friends when the Soviets ‘restored’ their evil rule. I was engaged with my friends to dismantle street signs in Prague that all ended up in the trunk of my car with Swiss plates. What could go wrong?

On August 24th I got arrested by the local police and handed over to the Soviets which brought me to Plzen (but not for the famous beer).

The officers questioning me (not interrogating) were civilized and I spent only one night in a dark room with two other people that never introduced themselves. There I met a Soviet captain who was playing ice hockey as well and on the second day of my captivity we mostly discussed hockey. One more night with the Soviets and I was free to go. Even my car was ready.

The Soviet captain (ret. Col.) with whom I maintain a friendship until today inspired me for one of the leading characters in my book.

After getting back to Switzerland I was subject to much harder interrogation and remained in the ‘suspect file’ for decades.

The incident in Prague changed my life dramatically and I decided to spend my life outside my birth place, heading for Africa. There, in Libya, I sold portable water filters to all kind of guys, including some that landed sooner or later on international wanted posters.

My business gradually developed, and I expanded to Chad and other rather dark places. These activities brought me in constant touch with intelligence firms in Libya. My connections somehow were interesting if not valuable for them and I didn’t mind sharing some information for free booze that was otherwise unavailable in the country.

In 1971 I was able to travel in Russia with the help of my friend (in my book the character ‘Fedorov’) where we visited his birth place Khabarovsk. This trip was another inspiration to the story I’m telling.

A few years later I received an offer to represent a German industrial group in Asia. I grabbed the opportunity and successfully created and developed projects in the petrochemical industry in Indonesia.

There, I met my wife who I not only love but also adore. She is the inspiration for another leading character in my book, Ketut.

After leaving the German company I ventured into the then still fledgling IT business without having a clue of it. However, my gut feeling led me into the right direction and again back to Russia, which was Russia then, not the Soviet Union.

I still live with my wife in Indonesia, which I regard as my homeland. Two sons have blessed me with six grandchildren on which I try to improvise frightening horror bed stories. They love it.

Do you have any particular literary influences?

It was mostly people close to me that inspired me to write and create a narrative that might tie up readers of fiction that sounds and feels realistic.

I’m an ardent, enthusiastic reader of fiction and non-fiction. I have read literally thousands of books and most of them fascinate me. While writing I read which relaxes me and gives me guidance.

There is no novelist that I would adopt as my base of thoughts, however, the epic stories of Ken Follet, the sarcasm of Nelson Demille as well as the detailed accuracy of Frederick Forsyth glue me to their works.

What is the one message you would like to convey to your readers?

If you love conspiracies in a thrilling way you will fall in love with my book(s). I try to mix pure fiction with a realistic landscape that is filled by unusual heroes, i.e. elderly men and women that are pulled into fierce self-defense and action joined by professional youth.

After this, I hope to get a message from my readers.

Are you working on a sequel to your book?

Yes. I’m already working on the second Petrossian (title still open) that steps right into the path of the first. I left the ending of the first wide open to create a jumping board to the second.

Are there any events, marketing ideas, or promotions planned for your book?

Unfortunately, I’m quite inexperienced in book marketing and have only now started an Instagram account. I would be more than grateful to hear and learn as how to market my book successfully.

Some of my friends have read the book (simply electronically on ‘Word’) as well as my family. I have asked for open critics! My wife tells me that she is sometimes scared to read on, my sons find it fascinating, looking at me suspiciously whether I ever had a role in the action.

What was your favorite part of your publishing experience, overall and with iUniverse?

Well, let’s start with the less enchanting experience. I had to pay to publish such a great work?

(Laughing…my grandkids would use the term ‘lol’)

Seriously, I find the service of iUniverse simply “universal”. The professional guidance, the personal contact (although, I live about 13.000 miles away) is something I would (and will) recommend to everybody with the same ambition as I have.

Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Difficult for me to say since I am one myself, however, my sincere advice would be to never give up, don’t take sabbaticals during writing and creating, let the story you create develop while you write. I found out the more I write the more solutions for a scene are arising in front of my eyes. I sometimes write without a clear conception as how the chapter might or should end. But the writing, the following up, always leads me to a resolution of a ‘story dilemma’. I never stop until I have an ending for a chapter that I myself would like to read and enjoy.

Make sure to check out the iUniverse site for more advice and blogs, as well as iUniverse Facebook and iUniverse Twitter. For a FREE Publishing Guide, click here!

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