The Bone Man of Benares: a novel based on a true story - Paperback

by Terry Tarnoff (Author)

In 1971, fed up with the politics and culture of America, Terry Tarnoff packed a bag, a guitar and sixteen harmonicas and headed out on an eight year journey that would take him into the jungles of Africa, the mountains of India and beyond. Smoking a chillum around a funeral pyre with lepers, battling fist size cockroaches in Mombasa Africa or driving through the poppy fields of Thailand with a kamikaze cab driver, each adventure leads Terry further into worlds unlike those he has ever known. Through an eclectic coterie of like minded expatriates-from a heroin junkie in Bangkok to the girl of his dreams in Stockholm-Terry begins to discover the true purpose of his travels. An energetic exploration of one drop-out's search to find answers in a world that poses only questions, Tarnoff's journey is an exploration of freedom and an effort to push the limits of human experience. With wit, irreverence and more than an ounce of pathos, The Bone Man of Benares traverses the chasm of time and through his startling adventures speaks to readers young and old about the universal need for connection.

Author Biography

Terry Tarnoff was born in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, a small town in the northern United States, the son of Russian immigrants. His family later moved to Milwaukee where, at the age of twelve, he became a cub reporter for The Northwest Reporter. He was paid a penny a word to write phony letters to the editor to help fill out a half-empty newspaper. He attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison during the political upheaval of the 1960s, worked at the East Side Bookstore in New York's East Village during the Summer of Love, traveled around Europe for three months, and designed and distributed psychedelic posters in Berkeley, California, all the while putting off a planned career in psychiatry. As Woodstock dissolved into Altamont, he headed back to Europe and supported himself as a blues musician, playing harmonica in bands from London to Amsterdam to Stockholm. Soon after, he hooked up with an international brigade of travelers, a new generation of expatriates who took their cues from Henry Miller, Paul Bowles, and Jack Kerouac as they pushed further down the road. That road led to the coast of Kenya and the plains of Tanzania, to the deserts of India and the mountains of Nepal, to the war-torn villages of Laos and the islands of Indonesia. Along the way, Terry lived in experimental communities, explored the mysteries of Hinduism and Buddhism, played with an African band in Mombasa, performed as a singer-guitarist in the Far East, and was a member of a rock band in Goa, India. After eight years on the road, he returned to San Francisco in 1978, where he continued his musical career for several years before turning to writing. He has since worked as a screenwriter, had four scripts optioned by Hollywood production companies, taught two film courses, driven a taxi, managed an African art gallery, and written for an internet film site. His first book, The Bone Man of Benares, was published by St. Martin's Press in 2004. A one-man show adapted from the book was produced later that year by the Encore Theatre Company in San Francisco. Terry is currently working on a new novel. He lives in San Francisco.