10/04/2022
Retired and operating his bookstore out on Sevierville Road, a stone’s throw from the Maryville College campus where he once served as a professor of the Classics, Coleman Ashburn is about to be drawn into a web of conspiracy and mystery that will require his vast resources of knowledge to help unravel.
Maryville College Alumni may be scratching their heads to remember Professor Ashburn, but if they come up empty, it’s for good reason — he is, after all, a fictional character! He does, however, play a role in the new book, “Assassin’s Manuscript,” penned by Dr. William J. Carl, a scholar, screenwriter and playwright who’s also served as a former professor, seminary president and pastor. He’s the husband of Jane Alexander Carl, a member of the MC Board of Directors, and is a long-time friend of the College who will be one of the featured speakers next spring for our Margaret M. Cummings Conversations on Faith, Learning, and Service.
Although he lectures on the brain at medical schools and conferences and has spoken at such prestigious institutions as Cambridge, Princeton, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon and has written eight nonfiction books, his latest work ventures into espionage and murder as it follows former CIA assassin Adam Hunter, who attempts to leave his old life behind but finds himself pulled back into a race to crack the code of an ancient manuscript in order to foil a terrorist plot.
The setting takes place around the globe, but even a small “role” in a novel by such a respected writer and intellectual is cause for commemoration … especially when MC is joined by other real-world settings, like the Downtown Maryville, Greenbelt, The Vienna Coffeehouse and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to serve as the backdrop for “a brilliant tale of international intrigue,” according to one reviewer.
At 6 p.m. this evening, Dr. Carl will be interviewed live for the podcast Author Adventure, and you’re invited to watch here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1546773315768750
https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6981403776771313664/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndKnotjJLCA
You can ask questions or comment during the chat, so please … join Bill and hosts Liz and Russ and find out more about the next great book on your reading list that features a bit part by your favorite small, private liberal arts college!
