Austin College history professor Hunt Tooley has published his first adventure-mystery novel, Anima and the Goat. Setting the story in London in the 1880s, Tooley draws from his expertise on European history to tell the tale of Charlotte Drummond.
The fictional Charlotte is a journalist with rare independence for a woman of that time. “She is certainly a composite in some sense,” Tooley said, “I think the closest model is indeed a historical person, the great Emily Hobhouse, an English journalist and commentator whose courage and determination exposed the brutal British imperial policies in the Boer War.”
In the novel, Charlotte’s young cousin Amanda is kidnapped in India. She mobilizes a colorful team to travel the world and rescue the girl, but mysterious forces confront the team on its epic mission to the remote mountains of the Hindu Kush. And, in Charlotte’s nightmares hover violence and a loathsome man in a cave.
Tooley published Anime and the Goat via indie publication, which is self-publication through B&N, Amazon, and Smashwords. As the author of three non-fiction books, he has already worked through university presses and concluded that indie publishing afforded several advantages for his fiction. “The indie book world offers a lot of positives,” he said. “I will never see the book on the shelf in an airport snack shop, but on the other hand, since I released the book in June, I have a quite a few readers and some good reviews.”
Tooley is working on a sequel to Anime and the Goat titled The Cloud Man. He has written and edited many books and articles in the field of modern history, and he has lectured widely in North America and Europe. The second edition of his book on World War I appeared in January 2016 as The Great War: Western Front and Home Front. He is a blogger, especially on historical and political topics, and his blog on the Paris Peace Conference (http://parispeace1919.blogspot.com/) is a resource for students of history in many countries.
Tooley has been a member of the Austin College faculty since 1991.
Austin College, a private national liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas, has earned a reputation for excellence in academic preparation, international study, pre-professional foundations, leadership development, committed faculty, and hands-on, adventurous learning opportunities. One of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives, Austin College boasts a welcoming community that embraces diversity and individuality, with more than 40 percent of students representing ethnic minorities. A residential student body of approximately 1,275 students and a faculty of more than 100 allow a 13:1 student-faculty ratio and personalized attention. The College is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and cultivates an inclusive atmosphere that supports students’ faith journeys regardless of religious tradition. Founded in 1849, the College is the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original name and charter.
Source: Austin College Media Release | October 2016