FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Robert Louis DeMayo
3640 Moki Drive, Sedona, AZ 86336
(928) 300-3225
rdemayo07@aol.com
www.robertlouisdemayo.com
Robert Louis DeMayo, Author of The Sirens of Oak Creek, receives three national awards for his new novel.
DeMayo’s book skillfully interweaves historical fact with local myths and legends in this fascinating tale of the West.
Sedona, September 1st, 2019 – Robert Louis DeMayo‘s “The Sirens of Oak Creek”, a novel spanning more than a millennium, has been recognized with three national awards. After the eLit Book Awards celebrated it with a Silver Medal for Literary Fiction in March, the Pinnacle Book Awards announced it as the best new Historical Mystery in June, and now the Book Excellence Awards listed the novel as a finalist in the category of Female Empowerment.
“The Sirens of Oak Creek” is set in and around a remote high-desert canyon with a cave that holds a secret, and generations of people who stumble upon it. The story is told through the eyes of eight different women who are all drawn to the canyon. Some of the events in the novel are rooted in historical fact, some in local lore and ancient myths. The pioneer characters are based on real people, and their relations are illustrated in the pioneer lineage section at the end of the novel. But ultimately, DeMayo invites the reader to draw the line between fact and fiction.
“I’ve been fascinated with southwestern history and mythology since I arrived in magical Oak Creek Canyon twenty years ago,” says DeMayo, “and this novel embraces twelve hundred years of it.” The story is structured into four books, whose respective characters are pre-Columbian hunter-gatherers and their Mayan visitors; Spanish conquistadors; pioneering American settlers; and modern-day seekers of bliss. “There’s something magical about the wild, remote red-rock canyons of this area, and they have drawn people here for centuries.” DeMayo frames his narrative within the stunning natural beauty of this area throughout the seasons: The novel´s twelve, six-chapter sections each take place in a different month.
“The Sirens of Oak Creek” has garnered much applause from readers as well. “The story so respectfully elevates and champions the indomitable female spirit while still being a thrilling adventure. This is a book that both men and women will enjoy. I couldn’t put it down,” wrote Christie Brink.
The novel is available in local bookstores in Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, and Flagstaff. “I am especially thrilled to have the book for sale at local businesses like Indian Gardens, the Junipine Inn, the Butterfly Garden Inn and Dairy Queen, as each of these places are historical locations featured in the book,” says DeMayo. You can purchase the 452-page novel locally or online for $21.99. The eBook is for sale on Amazon, Ingram and B&N Press for $5.99.
Robert Louis DeMayo is a native of Hollis, N.H., but has lived in many corners of the planet. He took up writing at the age of twenty when he left his job as a biomedical engineer to explore the world. His extensive journaling during his travels to more than one hundred countries inspired two of his novels and extensive work for the travel section of The Telegraph, out of Nashua, NH, and the Hollis Times. He is a member of The Explorers Club.
His undying hunger for exploration led to a job as marketing director for Eos, a company that served as a travel office for six non-profit organizations and offered dives to the Titanic and the Bismarck, Antarctic voyages, African safaris and archaeological tours throughout the world. For several years thereafter, Robert worked as a tour guide in Alaska and the Yukon during the summers and as a jeep guide in Arizona, during the winter. He was made general manager of the jeep tour company but eventually left the guiding world to write full time.
Robert Louis DeMayo is the author of six novels: “The Making of Theodore Roosevelt”, a fictionalized account of Roosevelt´s first acquaintance with wilderness living; “The Light Behind Blue Circles”, a mystery thriller set in Africa; “The Wayward Traveler”, a semi-autobiographical story following a young traveller on his adventures abroad; “Pledge to the Wind, The Legend of Everett Ruess”, a fictionalized account of the life and times of the young solo traveller; “The Road to Sedona”, the story of a young family that heads up to Alaska to find work in the wake of 9/11; and recently, “The Sirens of Oak Creek”, a historical mystery spanning twelve centuries. Collectively, his novels have won eight national awards.
Currently, DeMayo resides in Sedona, AZ, with his wife Diana, where they own a spa called Uptown Massage. They have three daughters: Tavish Lee, Saydrin Scout, and Martika Louise.
