The Abbagoochie

Preface to the new Christian Fiction Novel, titled The Hoax That Wasn't.

One innocent article written in the humor column of a local Webster County, West Virginia newspaper in 2001, described how the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources (WVDNR) was rumored to have secretly, yet inadvertently, acted against the best interest of the citizens it serves. Reportedly, these mysterious creatures from Costa Rica, called Abbagoochies, were introduced to the wilds of this state as an experiment to help eradicate and control nuisance animals and insects. Turns out, this article is quickly dubbed as a "hoax" by the newspaper editor out of necessity, due to the extent of public outcry of panic and fear.

Significant increase in Missing Person reports from the Potomac Highlands region of West Virginia catches the attention of the West Virginia State Police, who in turn contact the FBI for further assistance. This increase in missing persons is attributed to the rumored large scale feeding needs of the Abbagoochies, in which their insatiable appetite had progressed from animals to also now include humans. The FBI quickly scrambles and assigns a small task force, disguised as fishermen and hunters, to find, kill and extinguish the remaining Abbagoochies.

This task force repeatedly comes up empty handed and now the government is becoming increasingly agitated and worried about the looming potential of mass hysteria in this fragile post- 9/11 culture. The FBI turns this Abbagoochie threat over to the Department of Homeland Security in 2004, who heighten the intensity of this hunt.

This novel follows the Abbagoochie "hoax" through a series of deeply personal events, including the disclosure of what my father, the writer of the first newspaper column, really knows about these mysterious creatures. This disclosure occurs on the evening of Thanksgiving Day 2008, in spite of him having been sworn to secrecy in a mandatory May 15, 2008 meeting held by state and federal officials.

This disclosure puts me in a position I don't want to be in. My torment, anguish and confusion with this information is intense. It is a struggle between perceived reality and factual falsehoods.

Join us as we set out on this journey to validate the information which my father so painstakingly revealed on that Thanksgiving Day. The pursuit of this truth puts us in several mind-twisting encounters with both civilian and government personnel, before the truth is known.

In the light of circumstantial happenstance and inside maneuvers, my daughter and I dedicate our lives to the elimination the Abbagoochie threat, however, in so doing, find ourselves in the midst of a much larger assignment.

In a bizarre and completely unforeseen turn of events, this assignment challenges all that we thought we knew about the Abbagoochies and life in general.

Join us on this journey as we live out the limitations of our human experience and catch a glimpse into something truly extraordinary.

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