occasionally blending of two char-
acters into one, but Beck promised
that the story stays true to the facts
and is only altered enough to make
it engaging and readable for any
age.
ount of what I think is a landmark
conservation program," he said.
writing Thirteen Gold Monkeys to be
fun and free from writer's block.
Much of that, he admitted, comes
from the fact that he has 40 years of
experience in conservation, includ-
ing more than 20 spent managing
the re-introduction of the tamarins.
first shot at a
novel, Beck has
been writing sci-
entific papers on
the project and
many others for
decades.
less than a year,
novel through Outskirts Press. Like
many first-time novelists, Beck
found self-publishing to be a useful
tool but also a challenging one. Out-
of-pocket costs might discourage a
lot of people, he said, and once the
book is actually available, self-pro-
motion and generating buzz is a la-
bor in and of itself.
sources like Saltwater Media in Ber-
lin will make self-publishing locally
an attractive option for writers.
earlier. They're dynamic," he said.
adventure, a love story, and a fact-
rich account of golden lion tamarin
monkeys and the struggles of con-
servation. Too many books paint
conservation in a bleak light, he
added.
pressing and we're always quick to
identify bad guys," said Beck.
happen when people get together
and try to preserve nature. Though
the battle is never really won, Beck
revealed that the tamarin population
has boomed since re-introduction
began in the '80s. With the momen-
tum from his first novel, Beck has
begun a second book, which will fo-
cus on chimpanzees.
back and e-book editions. Likewise,
it can be found at barnesandno-
ble.com, including an e-book for the
Nook, iTunes, the Beanery, Salt
Water Media, and the Barnes and
Noble in Salisbury.