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Dillon hiking trail plays into new novel

KIMBERLY NICOLETTI
summit daily news

Bill Hubiak loves traveling to Dillon to hike his favorite area, the Mesa Cortina trail. So, it seemed natural for him to set the climax of his thriller atop the waterfall there.

“Troubadour of Peace” is Hubiak’s second novel. He published it through his business corporation, following a growing trend of authors taking book publishing into their own hands. Like others, Hubiak felt he deserved to net more money from his book.

“Troubadour of Peace” features a peace activist’s family, after he is assassinated following 35 years in hiding. His teenage sons and his wife escape to the mountains of Colorado after the newly formed Islamic Alliance invaded Israel (and to complicate matters, the United States faces a possible nuclear holocaust). The family is pursued by powerful forces: a lascivious Rasputin(a), spiritual advisor to the religiously fanatical American president; the ruthless founder of a covert propaganda machine intent on creating a new world order; and the powerful Club, a shadowy organization whose money and influence manipulate a reality contrived to confuse the American people.



“While the back story is about the newly formed Islamic Alliance and the potential nuclear holocaust, the story line centers around the labyrinth of deceit surrounding these circumstances and the trials and tribulations of being caught up in such a net,” Hubiak said. “I believe that the challenges facing my protagonist Joshua, finding his own identity, coming to terms with his insufficiencies as his father’s son, recognizing and maximizing his potential, and tackling what seem insurmountable challenges that life throws at him are universal.”

In Hubiak’s experience, the story nearly wrote itself, he said, “popping into my head with all its twists and turns almost as a complete idea.” He actually wrote it before 9/11, but current events prompted him to update and publish it. And then there was the influence of his wife, who “wouldn’t let me sit on it any longer.”



Hubiak is a business consultant who specializes in organizational and human resource management. He also has taught at Regis University and Colorado State University. Though five of his publications are nonfiction manuals about downsizing, models of quality and organizational problem-solving success, he has delved into the world of fiction, inspired by the interesting people he has met throughout his more than 30-year career. His first novel, “Embodiment of Evil,” is a psychological thriller about a psychiatric patient and his doctor, who attempts to figure out if the patient’s current book stems from his imagination or from experience with a satanic cult.


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