The Wake-up Call - Softcover

Terence Beynon, a 53-year-old Canadian philosophy professor has been kicked out by his girlfriend of 20 years. He flees to Northern Italy in order to find some peace of mind and to write a book on Friedrich Nietzsche. He becomes pally with a local waitress, Alessandra, whom he tries to seduce, but to no avail. His life takes a sudden turn when Nick, a strange young man, enters his life. Nick also happens to be Death. Shortly afterwards Terence suffers a heart attack but survives. Nick recognizes this stroke of luck and offers a pleading Terence respite of his inevitable fate. There begins for him a search within the depths of his soul, the whys of his life and the hunt for redemption, coupled with a wavering belief in Nick’s true identity. Having reached the conclusion that Nick is a psychopath, Terence decides to leave Italy and fly back home. Yet Nick manages to follow him. He realizes that the short time still apportioned to him is best used for closing off the last painful chapter in his life and to find ultimate peace that way.

Born and bred in Antwerp, Belgium. The first fact dates back to 24th February 1965, the second ended with his self imposed exile to London, U.K. at the tender age of twenty in order to conquer the world with his brooding songs, aided in the process by copious amounts of alcohol and willing women. That was the plan anyway. Fate decided otherwise and he became a household name in the Fine Arts and Jewellery Insurance business for the next 20 odd years, thus slightly longer than Andy Warhol’s famous 15 minutes of fame. After having spent 10 years in England, he switched sides and crossed the Chanel to further his budding career in Paris. After this Odyssey of about 20 years in all, he finally returned to his native country in order to finally get down to business and start writing for real. Writing is a passion. It’s something he’s done from an early age onwards in one form or another. He likes to tell stories - sometimes short ones (they used to be shorter when he was younger) and they’ve seemed to pick up words as he’s gotten older. Or should that read “more mature”?