Preview of a Postscript

The Saint of Santa Fe is finished. I will review the manuscript one last time before sending it off to publishers. But, in essence, the novel is done.

In this posting I'll share the work's "Postscript." Keep in mind that a postscript's location is after the conclusion of the novel, after the story has been told. The purpose of a postscript is to help readers better understand the boundaries between fact and fiction. I offer it today in the hope of enticing readers to learn more about the extraordinary man Father Héctor Gallego was.

Postscript

Shorty after moving to Panamá, in 2002, I read Father Héctor Gallego’s story in a local newspaper. The questions surrounding the priest’s disappearance and death intrigued me. At the time I was working on Meet Me Under the Ceiba, so I filed away Father Gallego as a possible subject for a future novel.

Immediately upon completing Ceiba, I started to look into Héctor Gallego’s life in earnest. The more I learned, the more his story captivated me. At times, I believed I could distinctly feel the priest’s spirit urging me to tell his tale. As my investigations progressed, I became convinced that what he did in life was far more noteworthy than the mystery that shrouds his tragic death.

The final stage of my research consisted of an extended stay in the town of Santa Fe, in the mountains of northern Veraguas. The first person I interviewed was Jacinto Peña, a close friend of Father Gallego and the lone witness to his abduction. Toward the end of our conversation—which took place late in the evening—I mentioned, casually, that I would love to speak to Héctor Gallego’s family. At the same time I lamented that they lived in far away Colombia—for a writer on a limited budget, that is.

“You don’t have to go there,” Jacinto answered. “His sister, Edilma, lives in Panamá. In fact, at this moment she’s in Santa Fe.”

I’ve been the beneficiary of several small miracles, such as this one, while writing The Saint of Santa Fe and Bernardo and the Virgin, my first novel.

Early the next morning, I visited the offices of the Fundación Héctor Gallego, where Jacinto had assured me that I would find Edilma, the youngest of the priest’s ten siblings. I spent several days in conversation with her, in addition to attending the commemoration ceremonies for the Thirty-Fourth Anniversary of her brother’s disappearance. Edilma Gallego’s contribution to this novel is immeasurable.

When I came down from the mountains I was ready to tell Héctor Gallego’s story.

Four publications were particularly helpful in writing this novel: María López Vigil’s Héctor Gallego está vivo; the June 1972 edition of Diálogo Social: Revista Mensual, published on the occasion of the first anniversary of his disappearance; R.M. Koster and Guillermo Sánchez Borbón’s In the Time of the Tyrants—Panama: 1968-1990; and Graham Greene’s Getting to Know the General. Greene’s chronicle of his close friendship with Omar Torrijos portrays the general in a highly favorable light. His work helped me capture the complex nature of this man of light and shadow.

According to Panamá’s Comisión de la Verdad, the military was responsible for 189 disappearances or deaths during their twenty-two year stewardship of the country. Most of these tragedies occurred during the early years of General Omar Torrijos’s reign. Father Héctor Gallego is, by far, the most famous victim of Panamá’s military dictatorships.

At present, there is mounting popular pressure on Panamá’s Catholic Church to start the process of Héctor Gallego’s beatification—the first step on the path to sainthood. One miracle is being attributed to Héctor’s intervention.

To this day, the details of his death and the disposal of his body are cloaked in a deliberate cloud of secrecy.

The Republic of Panamá no longer has an army.

A Revision Update, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old XIV

A Revision Update:

I honestly thought I'd be finished with The Saint of Santa Fe by now. But as the start of the next school year quickly approaches (I have to report back to Balboa Academy in a week), I've been obliged to spend time preparing for the students' arrival.

The good news is, though, that by this weekend the novel will be done, it's only a matter of a few more hours of work.

The Saint of Santa Fe will be locked away safely--to distance myself a little before I read it one last and then send it off in search of a publisher. In the meantime, I will address the changes Arte Público Press wants me to make in the manuscript of Meet Me Under the Ceiba. In essence, the publisher's concern is that the narrative employs too many Spanish phrases, and they want these translated into English. This is not a problem, and I trust the judgment of the folks at Arte Público Press. After all, they are the largest publisher of Latino and Latina authors in the US. They know the market better than anyone.

The year 2009 will be exciting for me as there is the strong possibility that two of my novels will make it into print. Also, the revision updates and the recycling of previously published articles will come to an end as I'll be able to turn my attention, once again, to producing new pieces for this weblog.

An Invitation to Revisit an Obsession of Old:

On March 25, 2006, over one million Latinos and Latinas marched through the streets of major US cities in protest of an unjust immigration bill that was coming before Congress. The world took notice. In Latin America, the event made the top headlines.

The success of the march brought back sentiments that had been with me since childhood. I wrote this piece and after it appeared in The Panama News, I received a couple of angry letters stating that the Latino presence in the United States is harming the cohesiveness of "American Values." Sometimes, people miss the point a writer has to make. Latinos have been active contributors to these "values," but their efforts have gone unrecognized.

I invite you to read, or reread, "The Cloak Removed."

A Revision Update, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old XIII

A Revision Update:

So close I can taste it.

The Saint of Santa Fe is basically done. Three final stages remain, however. The first consists of my wife, Erinn, reading the manuscript. She's an outstanding editor, no joke. Then, based on her feedback I will go over the novel one last time to address her comments as well as to check for inconsistencies. (As a novel evolves, certain things change from the way they were in the beginning. This may be the name of a character, the mood of a setting, the nature of a situation, and so forth. In the final stage I check all the "little" things so the picture remains tight.)

The last stage is the most fun because, as the writer, I'm one step from exiting a very long tunnel (this work took three years to complete—including a twenty month hiatus where I had to work to earn a living). In this stage, I prepare the title page, the table of contents, the dedication page (always a moving moment), the afterword, and the acknowledgments.

Once this is done, the manuscript goes in search of a publisher, and I move on to my next project.

An Invitation to Revisit an Obsession of Old:

My wife and I are fans of Bombay Cinema, more commonly known as "Bollywood." Our friends think we're strange for loving films that come out of India, but the truth is many of them are quite good and they invite us to see the world in a different way. Because of Bollywood movies, one of our dreams is to someday visit India for an extended period of time. Until then, however, watching Bombay Cinema will have to suffice.

(When I return to writing new articles for this weblog, I hope to produce a piece that explains how far my knowledge and taste for Bollywood movies has advanced.)

When this article appeared in The Panama News, I was gratified to receive emails from the United States, Canada, and India from Hindustanis welcoming my wife and me to the joys of Bollywood.

I invite you to read, or reread A Glimpse into India; or, My Love Affair with Bollywood.

An update: At the time I wrote this piece there were no Indian restaurants in Panama. We now are blessed with two.

A Revision Update, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old XII

A Revision Update:

At last, the end is in sight. Forty-eight chapters of The Saint of Santa Fe are pretty much ready, leaving only Chapter 49 and the Epilogue. Locking myself away in Moravia, Costa Rica has yielded the desired results. Erinn and I will be traveling back to Panama this Saturday, which would still give me a couple of days to finish revising the novel. Thus, more than likely the next the posting will contain the news that The Saint of Santa Fe is done.

From that point I'll be moving on to making the changes Arte Publico Press has requested for publication of Meet Me Under the Ceiba.

These are busy, but very exciting times with the convergence of two works reaching culminating stages on their paths toward publication.

An Invitation to Revisit an Obsession of Old:

Racism often arises in public discourse that a society may consider harmless. Such an instance arose in Panamanian sports, and I felt the need to respond.

I invite you to read, or reread, Acknowledging Prejudice.

A Revision Update, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old XI

A Revision Update:

I'm making good progress on The Saint of Santa Fe, here in Moravia, Costa Rica. Chapters 38-40 are practically done, and I'm up to Chapter 43 in my revisions. I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel quite yet, but it's exciting to almost be there.

It has been nice to be working in Moravia, formerly a small town that now has become a suburb of San Jose. In the early mornings, after my wife, Erinn, leaves for her masters classes, I walk around the town for an hour, enjoying the sights and sounds, which are quite different from Panama. What's more, the community is in a mountain valley that is quite cool. In addition, our room at the inn is an ideal place for working on writing, with a nice view out of our window. Thus, I couldn't ask for a better spot in which to try to finish the novel.

An Invitation to Revisit an Obsession of Old:

Perhaps my most memorable experience shortly after moving to Panama occurred before a baseball game at the Rod Carew Stadium. There, I happened to bump into, literally, Panama's most famous athlete, known throughout the world for beating his opponents to a pulp.

Read all about it in "A Close Call."