Once Upon a Blue Dot

Vic Lucero and Gus Liloan grew up in an exclusive boys' school in Manila, the Philippines and remained friends until Gus Liloan went to America and the two lost touch. When they meet again in 1973, Vic Lucero is a henchman of the general tasked by the brutal dictator Ferdinand Marcos as the enforcer of Marcos' whims and caprices. ­ is appals Gus Liloan and the two go their separate ways, living their own lives. After the People Power revolution in 1986 that toppled the Marcos tyrannical government, a posse is formed that is tasked with catching the soldiers who were the main instruments of torture of Marcos' perceived and real enemies. The rest of the book relates what happens to both the posse and the ex-soldiers during the cat-and-mouse chase. It also tracks the life of Gus Liloan as he makes his odyssey back to the Philippines.







A short-story writer while in college in the Philippines, CESAR FERNANDO LUMBA immigrated to the U. S. in 1967 and pursued a career in corporate America. His accomplishments, while enviable to most Americans, including an inclusion in the Marquis Who's Who in Business in both 1988 and 1989, never met his high standards for himself. His MBA in Finance at Seattle University opened many doors for him, doors that led to drudgery and restlessness in Corporate America. ­ rough it all, he longed for the chance to self-actualize and after his retirement in 2004, he realized that he had a chance to reach one of the dreams of his youth. He started writing again, but this time he concentrated on writing novels instead of short stories. He has written and published three novels, two of which were written under the pen name Jules Lombard. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his family.