Tag: Hockessin

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Bekker’s Burial Book Launch

John & Madison move from Northern California to Suburban Delaware to get a fresh start in careers and marriage but soon find themselves fighting for their lives. A series of events including murder, coercion, threats, invasion of privacy, and kidnapping leads to a discovery that may be worth millions—if they find it first, if they’re not killed, and if their marriage survives.

Madison Bekker is a corporate lawyer who inherits a box of books and papers from her father. She and her husband, John Verano, an NBA player, follow the clues hoping to discover her family’s heritage in seventeenth-century America.

Book One in the Village of Hockessin Novel series, Bekker’s Burial is a contemporary novel that starts in Walnut Creek, moves to Wilmington, and finishes in Amsterdam. The story is a search for happiness, identity, and meaning.

This novel is a combination thriller, suspense, and place-based fiction. It is international in scope, spans multiple generations, and includes themes of trust, fear, envy, and faith. The book can be pre-ordered as an ebook now and will be available as a paperback on February 21.

After completing an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Tampa, Paul has written several nonfiction books. His fiction writing started with a collection of flash fiction short stories. Bekker’s Burial is his first novel.

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Bekker’s Burial Launch

I am excited to announce that the launch date of my debut novel will be February 21, 2026.

Ten years ago, I completed the MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Tampa with a dual emphasis in fiction and nonfiction. At the time, there were a few nonfiction books I was ready to write. But in the back of my mind, several fiction stories started to form and I began outlining them. Bekker’s Burial was the first one.

I wanted the background of the story to focus on early American Dutch history and started doing some research. That’s when I discovered the village of Hockessin, about eight miles west of Wilmington, Delaware. In October 2024, my wife and I spent three days in Hockessin in order to get a feel for the place: restaurants, churches, libraries, schools, parks, roads, and people. Together, we studied the history and took a lot of photos, and the story started coming to life.

Then in November 2024, I used the occasion of NaNoWriMo to write the first draft. For several years I had wanted participate in NaNoWriMo but life circumstances kept preventing me from doing so. This time, however, I succeeded in writing 71,000 words during the month. Here’s the plaque I got for completing the first draft in the month of November with NaNoWriMo 2024.

Many edits later, with the input of several beta readers and my editor, the finished novel has 84,000 words and the plot has more depth and texture. I am thankful for their input and pleased with the outcome.

The novel is Book One in the Hockessin series and here’s why. I originally intended the story to be about a young couple (John & Madison) with the primary focus on John. But as the story took shape, the light shined more on Madison and she took the leading role. So now I need to write Book Two to finish the story about John. My editor told me a week or so ago that there very well could be stories focusing on other characters in Hockessin, too. This is getting fun!

Here’s the cover of the book. The picture is one that I took when we were in Delaware. We saw the actual places I had studied online and in some books. Coffee Run Cemetery is the first Catholic cemetery in Delaware, and today is adjacent to an Assemblies of God church called Trinity Community Church. We met the pastor, and he’s allowing me to put him and the church in the novel.