Fortunato (ePub)

This genre-breaking book, "Fortunato," combines history, fiction and a measure of investigative journalism. The book focuses on the dramatic events in Saigon, and also aims to identify covert action of intelligence services and trace connections between John F. Kennedy's early involvement in Vietnam and the assassination in Dallas.

I researched the topic since early 1980s, lived in Vietnam for about seven years, met and interviewed some participants and eyewitnesses of the events. The new book builds on my earlier publications, including books and newspaper articles: "Honest Mistakes: The Life and Death of Trinh Minh The." New York, 2001; "Hollywood Attacks America in Graham Greene Remake" (21 February 2003, The Asian Wall Street Journal) and "Vietnam's Preview of Dealey Plaza: A Tale of Two Assassinations" (22 November 2003, Asia Times).

The book, "Fortunato," comes as a unique work as it was written simultaneously in three languages, English, Vietnamese and French. I did not write in one language and then translated into other languages, but I wrote all three versions simultaneously. These texts are not exactly the same, and each has some of its own literary and historical context.

This "dramatized historial" comes a prequel and sequel of Graham Greene's "The Quiet American". The book offers a narrative of events preceding and succeeding real life plot elements of Greene's novel. It takes a new look at "The Quiet American" and Greene's actual role in Vietnam.