President Eisenhower

A

as in Secretary of Home Defence, Abramov

When the novelist Michael Sympson (see his autobiography on his official website) published his novel The Circle and the Cross, critics were quick to point out similarities between the Secretary of Home Defence Benjamin Avlak and his alter ego Simon Abramov in the novel. Both rose from wealthy backgrounds and after brilliant academic achievements at Havard enlisted with the marines before embarking on a political career as an advisor at the White House with close affiliations to key figures in both parties, a position that allowed them to preserve their political independence.

But that’s where the similarities end.

The author is adamant that only his creation ever earned the affectionate epithet “Darth Vader“ with his fictional underlings, although rumor has it that the Secretary of the State, Huckabee, did once refer to Benjamin Avlak at least once as a “Lord of the Sith.” Of course he was kidding.

As a matter of fact Benjamin Avlak has never displayed Abramov’s ambiguous attitude to the Evangelical right in our country. Avlak was born in Birmingham, Alabama; Simon Abramov is supposed to come from Orange County, California. Avlak has a degree in economics and the social sciences, the fictional Abramov is a computer scientist and intelligence specialist with connections to the CIA and the intelligence community.

(printed with permission of © ‘cyclopedia Americana, 2023)

A

as in Lost Angels

The name of a pop group that recently has become notorious for the antagonism it provokes in circles of the so called religious right, who accuse the singers of propagating Satanism and immorality.

The shrewd manager of the group has done everything to keep the scandal alive and the singers perform in Gothic costumes their provocative a-Capella routines, often imitating Gregorian chants. Lately the mayor of Los Angeles has awarded the group with the golden keys to the city. It caused an outcry nation wide. However the Californians don't seem to mind, even begin to call Los Angeles after the group.

If anything, this shows that there is more than the San Andreas Fault separating the Nation from California.

(printed with permission of © ‘cyclopedia Americana, 2023)

C

as in The Circle

... the “circle” in Michael Sympson’s novel is a reference the alleged existence of a secretive fraternity in the ranks of the US military. The novel alleges that today virtually all of the top ranking officers in the United States belong to this semi-Masonic lodge with the exception of the fictional character of General Probus (see the article) and have received advancement more according to the individual rank held within the hierarchic structure of the fraternity, than their actual merits in the military.

This is of course blatant nonsense.

It is one of the reasons why the novel suffered a credibility crisis with critics and journalists who use to take the author’s caveat, that the events and characters in his book are purely fictional, for what it is: a legal cop out to avoid libel charges.

In this day and age nobody is to be fooled by such naive and simplistic ploy. However it cannot be stressed too much: there is no such thing as The Circle.

(printed with permission of © ‘cyclopedia Americana, 2023)

E

as in ‘cyclopedia Americana

The novelist Michael Sympson’s notorious spoof of one of the most respected institutions in the academic world, the Encyclopedia Americana. In more than one instance the author has used the cheap ploy of fictive quotes, thus entirely distorting the true spirit of this publication. Enough said. It is open for everybody to compare the nonsense in the ‘cyclopedia with the carefully researched integrity of the real thing. The reader is invited to subscribe here.

(printed with permission of © ‘cyclopedia Americana, 2023)

L

as in Lucilla

Lucilla is one of the names born by a central character from the novel The Circle and the Cross. The actual name we are told, is Lucien Leclerque a Franco-Canadian who as a young student went to Paris to enroll at the Sobonne, but instead enlisted in the Foreign Legion. According to the novel, Lucien received special training as electronic surveillance specialist in the Legion’s intelligence unit. There he met the other leading character of the novel, a Californian adventurer who, too, had enlisted in the Legion's specialist unit and had received training as a sniper and assassin.

“From this cast we already get the idea what this novel is all about - it barely lifts above the level of cheap and speculative pulp fiction” says the critic Morton Baldwin at the New York Reviews.

If anybody could be in doubt of Mr. Baldwin’s assessment, just consider this character, so central to the novel. “Lucien” is a hardened legionnaire from one of the finest fighting outfits anywhere in the world, yet after his discharge we are asked to believe that this men’s man has chosen to become a drag-queen and dress as a female? To top the absurdity, Lucien has numerous one night stands with female partners, how psychologically coherent, let alone plausible, is that? And because of his, in Christian terms positively sinful lifestyle, the author is haunting Lucien's presumably Catholic conscience with pangs of guilt and remorse.

One can only classify this tripe as a cheap ploy in order to propel an implausible plot.

P

as in General Probus

In the idiosyncratic world of The Circle and the Cross, a fantasy of almost psychedelic depravity, appears a surprisingly wholesome character of integrity and competence. Which is not surprising since it seems General Probus is modelled, down to the details of his physical appearance, on General Pace, the 16th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

General Pace was a man who refused to be corrupted by the administration of a controversial president, and in October 2007 rather preferred to step down from his position voluntarily. Not unlike his model, General Probus (a curious choice of name) rose through the ranks from a very early age, is shown to hold a business degree, and throughout his fictional career is presented as the golden boy who from early on was eyeballed for promotion and leadership, but eventually fell victim to his own integrity. So it really stretches plausibility to the limit, to have the decadent Senator Roscoe appointing the general as the guardian for his two retarded sons.

(The senator’s daughter of course is beyond help, even for a writer of a better caliber than Mr. Sympson).

R

as in Senator Roscoe

The most deplorable and corrupt character in Michael Sympson’s abortive novel The Circle and the Cross. A decadent epicurean who owes to his connections with the “old money” from the East coast his seat in the US Senate as the representative of California. In and by itself already a not very plausible proposition, despite the exceptional example of Governor Schwartzenegger.

But Senator Roscoe couldn’t be further from the hard working and efficient republican. First of all Roscoe is a democrat and old style liberal with a small following in the Senate, where he is the center of the opposition to everything that is good and decent, including the Evangelical Alliance and the moral majority. His abortive policies are matched only by the depravity of his private lifestyle, but this publication shall not stoop to delve into lurid details.

(Last minute addition: News have reached the editor, that after the so called “Lex Arnie” has led to an amendment of the constitution, the new president of the United States, Arnold Schwartzenegger, considers litigation against the author and his publisher to have such unpatriotic misrepresentation of an American politician removed from the text. The author’s comment is typical: “I didn’t know the President of the United States of America is going to do the PR campaign for my novel free of charge.”)

S

as in the Church of the Shepherd

Among the improbable and implausible creations in Michael Sympson’s novel the most outrageous of all: the book alleges the existence of a religious cult or church that is depicted to reach a growing following especially in the military, and even appears to disrupt the success of the evangelical churches in the general public. Typically, the author barely cares to lift the curtain over the actual rituals and the theology behind the simplistic articles of a fictional creed. For many years the reader is kept guessing why in the funeral ritual the “companion” of the deceased is carrying a stethoscope. It is also still unclear, who, or what the “shepherd” might be, despite the apparent references to the “Good Shepherd” in the earliest church. From the looks of it, it seems a fantasy taken out of the world of the film “Flatliners,” from 1990, directed by Joel Schumacher, with Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, and Kevin Bacon in the cast.

Communications with the author, so far, have failed to establish a clarifying response.