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This time around we feature another of our self-published authors and his latest work: Gerald R. Schmidt and his historical fiction, The Strange Life of Walenty Karnowski, The Rabbi’s Illegitimate Grandson.
Outskirts Press self-published author Gerald R. Schmidt’s The Strange Life of Walenty Karnowski tells a tale of murder, rape, kidnapping and sacrilege that have terrified the rural inhabitants of this mid-19th-century Polish countryside in a pre-industrial age when people actually lived by the faiths they professed.
In 1842, in the once peaceful Polish countryside now dominated by Prussian rule, young Marta Nering gives birth out of wedlock to the babe Walenty. Moishe Karnowski, the father, a sexually addicted peddler and the son of the town’s rabbi, is soon after drawn deep into the woods by a coven of Satan worshippers. He becomes possessed by demons who propel him on a pornographic spree of graffiti writing and desecration of the Eucharist at several local churches.
Moishe’s demonic possession and sinister acts of sexual and religious obsession continue to escalate and the local townspeople are forced to lock their doors as the hexed wares of the possessed peddler cause various evils to befall some of his customers. After kidnapping his tiny son Walenty for a sacrifice to the coven on the day of Corpus Christi, Moishe has the baby stolen from him by a man who hopes to use Walenty to extort a ransom. Moishe finds the man, kills him and rapes and kills his concubine, but forgets to take Walenty with him back to the coven. He does have a communion host, however, and this satisfies the coven as the centerpiece for their next sexual orgy.
The Strange Life of Walenty Karnowski continues with the pursuit of Moishe by an inept German detective and a Catholic exorcist whose first attempt fails to rid Moishe of the twelve demons now possessing him. Schmidt weaves a suspenseful web of surprising twists and turns for the tragic Moishe in this fifty year saga of Polish history and culture where religion is no Hollywood prop, but is the driving force behind this fascinating narrative.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Gerald R. Schmidt was born in 1937 in Chicago. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Illinois in 1966 and was licensed in 1972. He earned an MA in Theology from Franciscan University of 
Steubenville in 1996. He spent many years exploring religious life. Hear a spoken excerpt at http://www.leisurelywalkthrucatechism.com
For more information or to contact the author, visit www.outskirtspress.com/strangelifeofwalentykarnowski.
This author purchased the Book Blast package, saving 25% on 5 powerful marketing services to blast the book into the stratosphere! The Book Blast package includes the following options: Custom Press Release, PR Publicist Campaign, Book Review Submission Service, Book Video (shown above) and Personal Marketing Assistant. Outskirts Press authors can easily and conveniently add this package at any time from the Marketing Options screen of the Publishing Center.
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