Virtual Book Tour for Miracle Man by William R. Leibowitz

Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Book Tour, presented by Pump Up Your Book, for Miracle Man by William R. Liebowitz.  Please leave a comment or question for William to let him know you stopped by. 

The Story Behind Miracle Man by William R. Liebowitz

What inspired me to write Miracle Man? Three things, really.

Firstly, I wanted to tell a story about a real hero—not a celebrity, but a person who treasures and acts on important human values. A person who, in fact, is an anti-celebrity, in the sense that he pursues his selfless goals in virtual isolation. I think such a person would be inspirational in the times we live in –where baseless fame has seemingly become the chief goal of so many. The protagonist in Miracle Man, Robert James Austin, uses his extraordinary gifts selflessly to cure diseases. He doesn’t want adulation. He doesn’t want his picture to be on magazine covers and T-Shirts.

In my opinion, too much time and attention is heaped upon meritless celebrities who contribute nothing to society and have no talent other than the ability to garner media attention. I believe that this undermines the fabric of our society and sets a terrible example for today’s young people. We need a real modern day believable super- hero, who can be inspirational—and Robert James Austin is that guy.

Secondly, Miracle Man is a vehicle for me to convey, in an entertainment context, a humanistic message that’s very important to me –i.e., the sanctity of each individual human life and how the loss of just one person can have extraordinary ramifications. Throughout history —including current times, so many people have died needlessly. The world proceeds as if these casualties are just “numbers”. But I believe that the person who would have cured cancer was exterminated in a Concentration Camp during World War II. And what about the millions of Asians who were slaughtered in Cambodia and the millions of Africans in Uganda, Rwanda and the Sudan? —aside from the tragedy, I believe that some of these people would have made a contribution that changed the world. That’s why Miracle Man begins with the ancient quote from scriptures: “To destroy one life is to destroy an entire world and to save one life is to save an entire world.” When you read Miracle Man, the relevance of this quote will become very clear.

Thirdly, I wanted to get people thinking about a serious problem that affects us all. Just like MiracleMan’s Robert James Austin –I find it incomprehensible that virtually no major disease has been cured in over 50 years. How can that be the case when so much money has been spent over the decades on research? Simply put, there’s a lot more money to be made in treating symptoms than there is in curing diseases. Austin realized that Big Pharma has no interest in curing diseases. It just wants to keep selling expensive symptom treatments –and as we know, many people are on ‘medication maintenance programs’ for years. Austin wanted to change all of that –and that’s why be became Big Pharma’s worst nightmare in Miracle Man. I think people need to start asking questions. Big Pharma’s shenanigans are in the newspapers every day and it’s clear that they have scores of politicians in their pockets. MiracleMan, in an entertainment context, explores these issues.

Title: Miracle Man

Author: William Leibowitz
Publisher: Manifesto Media Group
Pages: 428
Genre: Cross-genre Thriller
Format: Paper/Kindle

Purchase at AMAZON

About the book;  

REVERED   REVILED    REMARKABLE

The victim of an unspeakable crime, an infant rises to become a new type of superhero. 

Unlike any that have come before him, he is not a fanciful creation of animators, he is real. 

So begins the saga of Robert James Austin, the greatest genius in human history.  But where did his extraordinary intelligence come from?

As agents of corporate greed vie with rabid anti-Western radicals to destroy him, an obsessive government leader launches a bizarre covert mission to exploit his intellect.  Yet Austin’s greatest fear is not of this world.

Aided by two exceptional women, one of whom will become his unlikely lover, Austin struggles against abandonment and betrayal.  But the forces that oppose him are more powerful than even he can understand.  

EXCERPT

A tall figure wearing a black-hooded slicker walked quickly through the night carrying a large garbage bag.  His pale face was wet with rain.  He had picked a deserted part of town.  Old warehouse buildings were being gutted so they could be converted into apartments for non-existent buyers.  There were no stores, no restaurants and no people. 

“Who’d wanna live in this shit place?”  he muttered to himself.  Even the nice neighborhoods of this dismal city had more “For Sale” signs than you could count.

He was disgusted with himself and disgusted with her, but they were too young to be burdened.  Life was already hard enough.    He shook his head incredulously.  She had been so damn sexy, funny, full of life.   Why the hell couldn’t she leave well enough alone?    She should have had some control. 

He wanted to scream-out down the ugly street, “It’s her fucking fault that I’m in the rain in this crap neighborhood trying to evade the police.” 

But he knew he hadn’t tried to slow her down either.   He kept giving her the drugs and she kept getting kinkier and kinkier and more dependent on him and that’s how he liked it.   She was adventurous and creative beyond her years.  Freaky and bizarre.  He had been enthralled, amazed.  The higher she got, the wilder she was.  Nothing was out of bounds.  Everything was in the game. 

And so, they went farther and farther out there.  Together.  With the help of the chemicals.  They were co-conspirators, co-sponsors of their mutual dissipation.  How far they had traveled without ever leaving their cruddy little city.  They were so far ahead of all the other kids. 

 

He squinted, and his mind reeled.  He tried to remember in what month of their senior year in high school the drugs became more important to her than he was.  And in what month did her face start looking so tired, her complexion prefacing the ravages to follow, her breath becoming foul as her teeth and gums deteriorated.  And in what month did her need for the drugs outstrip his and her cash resources. 

 

He stopped walking and raised his hooded head to the sky so that the rain would pelt him full-on in the face.  He was hoping that somehow this would make him feel absolved.  It didn’t.  He shuddered as he clutched the shiny black bag, the increasingly cold wet wind blowing hard against him.  He didn’t even want to try to figure out how many guys she had sex with for the drugs. 

The puddle-ridden deserted street had three large dumpsters on it.   One was almost empty.  It seemed huge and metallic and didn’t appeal to him. The second was two-thirds full.  He peered into it, but was repulsed by the odor, and he was pretty sure he saw the quick moving figures of rodents foraging in the mess. The third was piled above the brim with construction debris.

Holding the plastic bag, he climbed up on the rusty lip of the third dumpster.  Stretching forward, he placed the bag on top of some large garbage bags which were just a few feet inside of the dumpster’s rim.   As he climbed down, his body looked bent and crooked and his face was ashen. Tears streamed down his cheeks and bounced off his hands.  He barely could annunciate, “Please forgive me,” as he shuffled away, head bowed and snot dripping from his nose.

About the Author
William R. Leibowitz has been practicing entertainment/media law in New York City for a number of years.  He has represented numerous renowned recording artists, songwriters, producers and many of the leading record companies, talent managers, merchandisers and other notable entertainment businesses.  At one point, he was the Chief Operating Officer/General Counsel for the Sanctuary Group of Companies, a U.K. public company that was the largest ‘indie’ music company in the world (prior to its acquisition by the Universal Music Group). 

William has a Bachelor of Science degree from New York University (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and a law degree from Columbia University.  He lives in the village of Quogue, New York with his wife, Alexandria, and dog, George. 

William wrote Miracle Man because of its humanistic and spiritual messages and because he feels that in our current times – when meritless celebrity has eclipsed accomplishment and the only heroes are those based on comic books, the world needs a real hero –and that, of course, is Robert James Austin, the protagonist in Miracle Man.  Miracle Man won Best Thriller in the National Pacific Book Awards.

For More Information

Visit William Leibowitz’s website.

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Visit William’s blog.

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