By Marc “Mookie” Kaczor | SDUN Reporter 
Hillcrest resident Mikel Wilson took a trip to the beautifully vast and scenic city of Sedona, Ariz. 13 years ago and it changed his life.
His desert vacation inspired him to write a screenplay. Though it never saw the light of day, that screenplay eventually changed shape and became the novel “Sedona: The Lost Vortex,” which is currently available to the general public.
Like many independent authors of today, instead of hiring an agent to shop around his novel to major corporate publishers like Random House or Simon & Schuster, Wilson chose to publish his debut novel on his own.
Sedona, Ariz. has become a haven for people interested in metaphysics and spirituality and although “Sedona: The Lost Vortex” is classified as science fiction, the lure of Sedona’s famous energy vortexes is very real.
The story has tremendous character development; in fact, it took Wilson three months to develop the characters even before writing the first chapter. The lead character is a man named Gregor Buckingham, an interestingly complex individual who decides to leave Los Angeles to make the trek out to the mystical and picturesque Arizona desert. Within the story, Buckingham encounters more than a handful of characters including his soon-to-be love interest, Iris Wickline and a strong (and very evil) antagonist named August Briar. There’s love, there’s adventure and there’s a bit of mysticism in this novel.
As an independent author, Wilson is not looking for money, he’s looking to gain an audience and he’s certainly going about it the right way. There are several social networking sites dedicated to the promotion of the book including a Flickr page, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube as well as his own personal website.
A hard copy of the book is available through Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Wilson is also offering an electronic version for the Kindle or Nook for less than one dollar.
Wilson is an extremely talented author who is dedicated to his craft. Wilson is currently employed as the public relations and marketing director for Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest, so when he’s not working, he’s usually up all hours of the night putting his thoughts on paper.
Wilson also enjoys heading toward the coast on the weekends, gaining inspiration by sitting at the tide pools near Cabrillo National Monument, often with his headphones on.
As an author, Wilson has been influenced by the writings of John Knowles and Arthur C. Clarke. He’s also influenced by the movies of J.J. Abrams and the music of Gerry Rafferty.
Wilson knows that this story has the potential to become a trilogy. Currently, he’s working on the second and third novels right now. The way that “Sedona: The Lost Vortex” ends, definitely leaves the reader wanting more.
For more information, visit MikelJWilson.com.
