Table of Contents
PART TWO – THE STORIES BEHIND THE TALES
One
Night
In Copán
Chronicles of madness foretold
Tales of Mystery, Fantasy and Horror
W. E. Gutman
CCB Publishing
British Columbia, Canada
One Night in Copán: Chronicles of Madness Foretold, Tales of Mystery, Fantasy and Horror
Copyright ©2012 by W. E. Gutman
ISBN-13 978-1-77143-017-3
First Edition
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Gutman, W. E., 1937-
One night in Copán [electronic resource] : chronicles of madness foretold, tales of mystery, fantasy and horror / written by W. E. Gutman – 1st ed.
Electronic monograph in PDF format.
ISBN 978-1-77143-017-3
Also available print format.
Additional cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada
Photo and cover design by the author.
This is largely a work of fiction. Allusions to real persons, living or dead, and the dramatization of actual events are meant to lend the narrative epic realism. All other characters and events are fictitious or fictionalized.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the express written permission of the author.
Publisher:
CCB Publishing
British Columbia, Canada
FOR LINDA
Also by W. E. GUTMAN
JOURNEY TO XIBALBA -- The Subversion of Human Rights in Central America (c) 2000. Reporter’s Notebook (out of print).
NOCTURNES -- Tales from the Dreamtime
(c) 2006. Surrealistic fiction.
FLIGHT FROM EIN SOF
(c) 2009. Satire.
THE INVENTOR
(c) 2009. Historical fiction.
A PALER SHADE OF RED: Memoirs of a Radical.
(c) 2012. Autobiography.
ONE LAST DREAM. Screenplay (English-language version). Registered 2010 with the American Writers’ Guild. (c) 2012.
UN DERNIER RÊVE. Screenplay (French-language version; translated by the author). (c) 2012.
Evil has a wandering, fluid quality;
It drifts like thought.
Lance Morrow
PROLOGUE
I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies,
but not the madness of people.
Isaac Newton
There exist ill-defined forms of mental illness, so subtle, so skillfully concealed and so utterly undetectable that they elude even those trained to recognize the myriad faces behind which they hide. Is he demented who pretends to be sane? Is he who fakes madness -- mad? Is conformist behavior proof of sanity? Is a clown “crazy?” Would his buffoonery be sanctioned outside the circus tent? He’s only play-acting, you say? What about motorists who willfully exceed the speed limit: are they clear-headed? Are citizens who, time after time rush to the polls and vote into office inept or corrupt politicians under the ludicrous pretext that they’re taking part in the “democratic process” -- in full possession of their faculties? Or are they imbeciles who deserve the scoundrels they