Walter Woodrow Pillow would have moved through life unremarked if he had not committed the most outrageous and traitorous act in American history. A young design engineer in a Texas bomber factory, he had become consumed with guilt and remorse for his role in designing the deadliest weapons system of the Vietnam era. So, one day, in 1965, he sabotaged the mighty bombers. Wally made tracks for the border, the FBI, the CIA and Interpol hot on his trail. The Glass Guitar is the story of Wally’s efforts to elude government agents and along the way champion causes promoting peace, fairness, and justice in an imperfect world. He is joined by a number of kindred souls, including a beautiful prostitute known as “Angel of the Arroyos,” an Italian movie director whose mother dated Mussolini, and a reformed explosives expert who penned the classic Ethics and the Firecracker. In its efforts to make right the wrongs of the world, this merry band of fugitive-reformers leaves a path of devastation across the social landscape. The story is a cautionary tale suggesting that there are often unexpected consequences for doing the right thing.
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About the author
iWIC: What or who inspired you to write?
I was inspired to write the Glass Guitar by my opposition to the war in Vietnam. When I started the book I was working at General Dynamics because I loved airplanes. But, just like Wally - the lead character in the book - I was conflicted. Here I was - a pacifist - helping build a deadly bomber. I worked on the book, off and on, for many years, completing it only recently.
iWIC: Who would you say inspired you most in your life?
The most inspiring experience of my life was when I stayed at the ashrams of two great holy men in India. The first was Swami Muktananda Peramahans, of Ganeshpuri. The second was Sai Baba whose ashram was just outside Bangalore. The experience changed me as a person. I believe it had a great impact on the book. It changed much of the anger into humor, a satire instead of an outpouring of grievance.
iWIC: What are you trying to inspire in your readers?
I suppose I'd like the reader to leave the book with a greater awareness of the injustice, folly and inhumanity that exists all around us. But it cautions that in our opposition to injustice, folly and inhumanity, sometimes doing the right thing can have unexpected consequences
Author bio:
Over the past two decades, Marshall W. Riggan has written more than 200 scripts for non-theatrical films and television. These scripts have been for films and television productions that have won countless awards , including an Emmy for a documentary researched and written in China for ABC News. His assignments have taken him to the far reaches of the globe, including projects in India, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Africa, Indonesia, the Caribbean, the Arctic and Central and South America. His scripts have been written for the Smithsonian, National Geographic, PBS, The Learning Channel and Disney. Twice, films he wrote were selected for the PBS Eudora Welty Americana Award as the best short American films of the year. Two years running, his films were selected by the Outdoor Writers Association as the best nature films of the year. Commercial assignments have been for such corporate clients as Xerox, AT&T, American Airlines, US Steel, Eli Lilly, UCLA, and the nation of Trinidad and Tobago. For nine years, Marshall and his wife, Betty, lived worked and cruised the Caribbean aboard their sailboat, Fandango. They now live in Dallas, Texas.
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