North Bend author pens novel about Labyrinths
September 26, 2008
By Ryan Piersol
Roland Harper
When Roland Harper began his first published novel, he knew his subject. He knew his characters. He even knew how he was going to research.
There were two things, however, Harper was clueless about — the ending of his novel and exactly how painstaking the editing process can be.
After several months, Harper figured out his ending. And, after several hundred hours, he got through the editing process. The result is “The Labyrinth Chronicles,” a mystery novel and mystical adventure dealing with the Hopi Nation of Arizona and the Olympic Mountains of Washington state.
“I wrote out of inspiration at various times. I might have had a month gap in places, before I picked the story back up. And I didn’t know the ending when I started, so I had to connect it all together and let it evolve,” Harper said of his writing process.
“It’s an agony and an ecstasy for me. The ecstasy part of the writing is fun. The editing is pure, gut-wrenching agony.”
Harper, who writes under the pen name Will Harper, splits his time living in both North Bend and Scottsdale, Arizona. A long-time pharmacist and computer consultant, he moved to North Bend upon retirement.
A graduate of the University of Washington, the 67-year-old Harper doesn’t have a lengthy writing background. But he’s managed to put together his first published novel through a love of authors like Frederick Buechner, Og Mandino, Paul Coelho and James Allen and a deep interest in the two areas where he lives.
“I’m basically a retired pharmacist and computer consultant who has an interest in Labyrinths,” said Harper, whose novel is being published by Outskirts Press Inc. “This story had been mulling around in the back of my mind for several years and, after finally retiring, I discovered I had the time to create an adventure with this book.”
“The Labyrinth Chronicles,” traces the lives of two boys thrown together under strained circumstances. Conrad comes from Boston society, while Kimsi is a Hopi boy who befriends him after moving to the Apache Junction in Arizona. They are bullied and harassed in grade school and the solace they find in each other makes them life-long friends.
The discovery of an ancient map on a murdered Native American years later leads the two men on a mystical journey into the mountains of the Hopi Nation. A strange labyrinth on the mountain top and an ancient mystic named James changes their lives forever.
An article in the Seattle Times draws Conrad to the Olympic Mountains, where another ancient labyrinth has been discovered. This second discovery causes people to go through transformations that show them a purpose for their often aimless existences.
The Hopi Indian tribe resides on a large reservation in Arizona. Harper said he became quite intrigued with the tribe during research for the book.
“Visiting the Hopi people, I found them extremely interesting. They impressed me a great deal with their gentleness and their spiritual nature,” Harper said. “So, I became interested in the legends that surround the Hopi.”
Harper said he hasn’t decided whether or not this will be his only novel. “Labyrinth Chronicles,” can be purchased at both www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.
Reach editor Ryan Piersol at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.
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